Thanks so much guys. Good point though, I have the document 100% ready to go just in case (it has actually been that way for about a month, because I was hoping to submit every single day).

Thanks Eds, I really liked your message - now I have a chance to really make sure I hand in a "as close to perfect as possible" thesis come November. At least it's something positive to focus on.

Kelpie, I agree 100%. Loads of things can affect graduation - usually if there are issues you just graduate later because there are more deadlines after submission - dates for vivas, approval of corrections, approval of viva results etc. If you can't make them (for whatever reason) you just graduate later. It's just loads of red tape to be honest, but what can you do? I'm not about to take on the system ;-)

Cheers El

Thinking about it though, if it's ready, why don't you submit it anyway? The worse they can do surely is not accept it- and in which case, you come back in NOvember and nothing's changed. Or they might know what's been happening and and deal with you as normal? Seems worth chancing an arm for?

Just to echo I think you have been very understanding, and seem to have done everything right.

Is there anyone else in a position of responsibility you can go and see urgently? Dean of the graduate school? Head of your college? And so on?

This is exactly the sort of situation extensions are meant for - completely out of your hands, and nothing you have done, but issues with a supervisor, with grave implications for you.

If it was me, I'd submit anyway. However circumstances are very different and individual

Good luck!

I'm sure it will all work out Ellebelle, I've been following this thread and hoping you would get it in time but I guess things don't work out perfectly sometimes. At least you have that time until November to get it sorted and hopefully still have a month to relax before starting you new job. I'm in the complicated situation of having a main supervisor who isn't based at my university, who is generally happy with my work, and then a university supervisor who is very picky and doesn't like writing that isn't in his exact style. So I think my chapter is finished and then it comes back from the uni supervisor torn to shreds, I just hope my examiners aren't as picky as him as I don't have time to get it to his style in time with a couple of weeks to go! Supervisors eh...=)

Any update for us, Ellebelle? Thinking of you :o)

Guys, you'll never believe the weekend I've had! But let me just say - I have good news! It's not "officially" submitted yet, but I was told that I would be allowed to submit! (This was after quite a few fights with admin and a few "dead ends", but it was confirmed this morning that I would in fact be allowed to submit, if I manage to do it today. So I sent my thesis off to be processed by the plagiarism software, and if all is good with that I have until 16h00 to courier the hard copies.

It was a very unpleasant weekend, with lots of tension between me and my supervisors, and I think they resent me a bit for being so pushy, but hopefully the relationships will recover, and at least I now have a shot again at graduating on time. Plus, for my bursary conditions this was good enough - I merely had to submit on time, not graduate by a specific time. Oh and I will probably still have to pay the penalty fee (for the administrative chaos I caused, or so I'm told) but if all goes well I won't have further (unexpected) expenses so it is not the end of the world.

Sorry for the rush-job update, but I just wanted to give a shout-out to everyone who was rooting for me on this forum - your comments and advice helped me to assert myself and to fight for this chance, I appreciate it so much!

Oh and for those who are wondering when I got the feedback - I got an e-mail at around 9 on Friday night, and it was four comments - two clarifications, an extra footnote and a language error. In the end he only read the chapters he has not seen before. If I had more time I would probably have gotten more/better feedback, but under the circumstances I think we all did the best we could. Hopefully the examination process will go smoothly.

Thanks again to all of you! :-)

Talk about going to the wire! Great stuff El, wishig you all the best.

Oh Wow!!! Good on you for standing your ground. I'm sure we'll all be rooting for you today.

And when you get chance to take a breath, let us know how it went.

Good luck!

Great news! Fingers crossed with the submission - hope you get to have a week or two off to recover!

Well done, Ellebelle! Hope all goes well today and definitely do something nice once it's submitted!

Brilliant news. Yeah I thought he'd push it through at the wire! Still don't understand why the late fee in the circumstances? Hope you do something nice for yourself after submission.

That's great news Ellebelle, all the best for submission today! Hope you get some time to celebrate afterwards!

Great news! So pleased for you! I would question the payment though (it was your supervisors causing the chaos not you surely!) but maybe pay it and then try to claim it back later?

I'm very glad this has all worked out. Question the admin fee with the bits that were out of your control, and it'll get waived. if not, then what are the admin staff actually there for?

Good luck with the next steps!