Hi Rina, I can send them to you if you let me have your email address

I meet mine about 3 times a term. I changed supervisor at the end of my 5th year as a part-time student and I am much happier with my new supervisor. There is probably a tutor who has responsibility for research students that you can talk to in confidence. I was told that it's not huge deal to change - students do it for all kinds of reasons. It was very stressful at the time but definitely worth it.

I don't think you need to wear a suit - I've never worn one because I hate them - but you do need to look as if you've made an effort. I'd go for smallish skirt or trousers, shirt and /or a fine wool sweater or cardigan

Hello,

It seems you're in the US and I have no idea how things work there so I can only tell you what I would suggest to someone here in the UK, which is to go and talk to the tutor in charge of your master's degree. There should be a named individual in charge of coordinating all the different modules or courses on your degree programme. If you submitted your work on time, you have a right to have it marked, and if your supervisor can't/won't do it, then there is almost certainly another tutor who can. At the uni where I work, there is system for adding grades to exam board and registry records if a tutor makes a mistake or misses a deadline. Transcripts can be changed and reissued. Good luck.

Sent!

It might be useful to contact either the students union or find out what your university offers in the way of student support/advice services and contact them for advice. I never heard of someone having to pay the full module cost to resubmit before but it might depend on how badly you failed. If they think you will need a lot of supervision to pass, they might be justified in asking you to pay again. But if you just need to improve by a few marks, then asking for £4000 is outrageous.

Speaking as a lecturer and a part-time research student, I think your supervisor has a duty to be available to meet you for certain number of hours each term (at the uni where I am a student, it is 3 meetings per term for part-time students), and if you're willing to travel there in working hours then s/he should find time for you, and I would just be firm about it. I don't think you can necessarily expect a supervisor to travel to meet you or to meet you at weekends or evenings. Some do, but they're not obliged to. My supervisor sometimes suggests skype as an option but I just ignore it because I prefer to meet face to face meetings.

Alternatively, you could offer to give skype/phone supervision a try and then if you really feel it doesn't work for you, your supervisor might respect that.

Hi Nana, if you really feel your supervisor isn't helping you, could you ask for a different supervisor? I know it's quite stressful because I did it, but I'm much happier now. At my uni, there is a tutor in each faculty that you can talk to if you're having problems. She assured me it's not a big deal to change supervisor. I know it's not the same everywhere and it might be more difficult to change if you have funding attached to a particular project but still it's worth a try.

When I was really stuck I sought help from a colleague who is an experienced PhD supervisor, but i was very aware that if she gave me advice that I liked but my supervisor didn't I could end up in a big disagreement with my supervisor. I find it helps to talk about my work with as many people as possible, especially other research students and colleagues who are at least a bit familiar with my field. That way I sometimes get useful suggestions which I can discuss with my supervisor but I'm not depending on someone to replace my supervisor, which I think might be a bit dangerous. Good luck!