I promised my supervisor (and myself), that I would write my chapter by next week. I have been trying my best but it is not happening. I am supposed to be sending him the draft this weekend. I am on my final year, never missed a deadline. Even if I wasn't happy with the work, I always managed to send it in time. But this time, I can't see it happening. It is not in a state to send. So, I wrote him an email to explain and I am feeling so guilty.

Have you ever missed a deadline, and how did your supervisor take it?

in time = on time

Yes. I did this with my first chapter and my supervisor was fine about it. We had a chat about why I was finding it so difficult and renegotiated the deadline. I felt guilty but it was all ok honestly.

You have emailed him now, and he will appreciate that. In my opinion it is better to be honest now and admit it might not happen than simply not send it and pretend to ignore the deadline (I know people who have done this with work stuff!) Hope all goes well and try not to give yourself a hard time (from someone who does the same!)

thank you so much fluffymonster. I can't wait for his response. I think you are right. It is better to be honest. It is still a horrible feeling though

No worries. Hope you get a response soon.

Echoing the words of Gandalf -

'Work submitted by a PhD student is never late...nor is it early. It is handed in precisely when it is meant to be.'

i like that

That sounds more like Agent Smith in the Matrix

Hi 404. I kind of know how you feel with thesis chapter deadlines - I am in my final year too and promised my supervisors that I'd hand in my first results chapter by the end of the month after talking about it for around 2 months! My supervisory basically told me that I'd need to try and stick to thesis chapter deadlines, at least at the start as there is no sense in wasting lots of time trying to get it right in your own eyes when they will probably rip it to shreds anyway! Sorry, hope that doesn't depress you, it's just my take on thesis prep. For me, it's very different to anything I've written before which has just been end of year reports. Basically, my advice would be to just get something to them as soon as you can. You were right to email though if you def won't have it in state to hand in.

Thank you cellguy. I've finally heard from my supervisor and he was very understanding about the situation. I don't think I can ever be 100% happy with my work, but this time it wasn't at all in a state to hand in.

I think you are right with your advice. It's not depressing, it's the truth. Good luck with your work.

Cheers! Good luck with yours. So what stage are you at? When does your funding run out? When do you think you will finish your research, hand in etc.?

I have grand plans of handing in roughly on time which is maybe unrealistic but think it's best to aim high than just accept that it won't happen which seems to be the feeling I get from students around me. It's a stressful time for sure but I think you have to stay positive.

everyone suggests my plans are very unrealistic too, but I'd like to at least try. My funding ends at the end of August this year. So that will be the end of my 3rd year. It would be great to finish writing-up by then. I have only started writing. The main reason is, I had to do practice work as well as research and experiments (funding requires practice element).

How about you? When does your funding run out?

What is practice? I'm not sure what field you are in?

Mine is a medical sciences PhD. Completely lab based. I discovered recently my funding runs out at the end of August too - actually my last pay will be the end of July as I get paid in advance which is annoying since even if everything goes to plan and I finish on time and I get a job starting in September, I won't be paid again until end of Sept and that's the best case scenario. Just need to hope all goes to plan and expect to have a tough few months...

I understand in some PhDs the practice can be the whole process. In my case, it is the usual thesis + practice (involves setting up something that public can take part and producing a prototype of your idea)

I wonder if you can apply for some top-up grants for August and September. I remember seeing small grants especially for medical research. Have you looked at Welcome Trust's grants recently?

I can't find anything available in my area.