Have you ever had that sudden, gut-crunching feeling when the wheels fall off? I can honestly say I hadn't until near the end of my grad school career. I'm what many like to call "organized." I like to get things done (sometimes even before the deadline). So, I made sure that my final paper for my grad school thesis-like project was turned in with plenty of time to spare. I think my final draft was turned into my advisor sometime in late February and it wasn't necessarily due until early April. At any rate, I got it done, got it pretty much off my mind and continued to prepare for my oral presentation of the paper that was to come in mid-April (which means I made the Power Point and never looked at it again. I never practice speeches). About two weeks before my presentation I get to thinking about my panel committee (previously selected and scheduled for my big presentation). I start to wonder if I was supposed to give them my paper or if my advisor would do this. A little panic sets in, but I email my advisor and he says just to put hard copies in their mailboxes and all should be well. Ok, no problem. I can totally do that. I print the copies off five minutes later and in a matter of 10 minutes I have them dropped off to the appropriate people. While I'm dropping them off I receive an email from one of my committee members (and the chair of the department).
It says something to the effect of, "I haven't seen your paper yet, have you submitted it?" I quickly reply back that yes I had (it was done many moons ago) and that a hard copy is now in the mailboxes (which is required, no electronic copies will do). She emails back, "I don't feel like one week is adequate enough time for me to review your paper and perhaps you should reschedule your presentation." Panic. Pure panic sets in. Here I am, I have everything done, I worked hard to make sure I'm all scheduled and ready to go and this person wants me to reschedule?! There's that "wheels fell off" feeling. Just like a punch in the gut. I'm frantically searching through the handbook thinking, "Can she do this to me? I am all ready to go and I don't have time later to fit the presentation in my schedule!" I find the section in the book that says the paper must be submitted to the committee two weeks in advance. So, she's right. I didn't provide the paper in the proper amount of time for review. Now I'm really freaking out. My advisor is usually awesome at giving us deadlines and reminding us to do things like this, so I'm trying to figure out how I missed this one. I'm a graduate student, I should know better and don't need to rely on other people to remind me!
I forward the email to my advisor with a note simply asking, "What do I do!?" In the meantime, I haven't replied to her other than to say the copy is in her mailbox. My phone rings. It's the advisor. "What the heck does she think she's doing to you!?" He's pretty mad at this point just like I am. He goes on to explain that apparently nobody has followed this rule in the last 2 years and it's never been made a big deal of. He's all fired up and says he'll just find someone else to be on my panel if she can't find the time over an entire week to read a 40-page paper. He tells me not to worry and not to let it ruin my day. I'm a little relieved, but glad that he's on my side at least. He could've easily told me that I'm a grad student and I'm responsible for the hole I dug myself into.
Of course I worry. And of course, I never hear back from her. I have to have at least 3 people present at my panel so I go there the following week not knowing what to expect. She is there in the room for the previous panel but leaves before mine. So, I'm thinking, well, we'll use the advisors backup pick who shows up right on time. She ends up coming back and sits down without saying a word. I'm just silently running through my presentation, trying to calm my nerves. My advisor decides to ask her why she's here. She says, "Well, I'm on the committee." He scoffs in disbelief and says, "Well, I didn't know if you'd be here or not since you sent that email." She says she would have told someone if she wasn't going to be there. By this point, it's five minutes past my time to present and our backup pick (it feels like the draft or something!) says he'll just stay because it doesn't look like my other comittee member will make it. So I start. I'm doing well. The door opens, here comes the final committee member.
To make a long story short, I ended up with a bonus committee member and I passed the presentation with distinction. So, I ended up with a Master of Science in Technology with a 4.0 Grade Point Average and distinction for my presentation. What started out as a scary week, turned out to be just about the best one ever. Even if it did mean nearly having a heart attack.
