I had what I thought would be my final meeting with any staff member from Boston University last Friday, ever. The purpose of the meeting is to hand in the signed copy of the dissertation and some other forms. Should take about 15 minutes. Well, I have everything printed out and signed, ready to go.
Everything goes fine. Signature page? Check. Correct margins? Check. Full source title names in the bibliography? Check. Other forms? Check. $100 money order paid to BU? Check $65 money order paid to PQIL? “$65?,” “Yes, the fee went up from $45 so you’ll have to get a $20 money order.” Transcript? Check. “There’s no recorded that you passed your qualifying exam?” “What?”
Back in March I got an email from the department’s academic administrator that there was no record of me having passed my oral exam. I thanked him for being proactive and filled out the required paperwork, thinking that it was all taken care of. Well, it wasn’t, he and I figured that it got stuck on somebody’s desk or was pitched. Actually, looking trough my file there was no record of my ever having passed said exam. So, how did I manage to do 7 more years worth of research and was allowed to defend my thesis.
The solution to this problem is to file a half-page form with the graduate school. I have this and my final defense form in my hand, ready for my second meeting with the records coordinator at the graduate school. Hopefully all of this will be taken care of and I can get my precious letter that states I am done and I’ll be able to start my job at PNNL. More on that later.
