Dear Daithi,

I can imagine how that would be a tough thing to go through! One way of thinking about your situation that might help: the external examiner did not reject your thesis, which is good; he asked you to resubmit it, which means that he must have seen enough value in it to request a resubmission. (Otherwise, he might have rejected it.)

It sounds like it will take longer to finish your master's than you had anticipated, which must be disappointing. But you are most definitely not a failure! You've gotten far enough into your studies to write a master's thesis. And I think if you plug away at doing whatever the external examiner requested data-wise, you will reach your goal of earning your master's degree.

And I doubt that needing to resubmit your thesis would in any way affect your future job prospects. Unless you disclose to prospective employers that you're resubmitting your thesis (and I don't think you'd need to, although if you're applying soon, you might want to let them know that you're still working on your degree), they would never know.

Best of luck!

Michelle Jones, PhD, ELS

Hi RockSalt,

I'm sorry to hear that your advisor has been treating you so badly! I can see how it would be difficult to keep trucking after receiving some pretty harsh insults.

Here are a couple of suggestions on how to proceed:

1.) You could meet with the Dean of Graduate Students at your university and discuss your situation with him/her. He/She may have the authority to step in and mediate the situation or, at the very least, could advise you on how best to handle it. When I was in graduate school, I met with the Dean of Graduate Students to discuss an advisor-related issue and was pleased to receive the support I needed from him.
2.) If your university allows it, you could consider having your thesis professionally edited. A good editor could smooth out the writing.

I hope that helps! Best of luck!

Michelle Jones, PhD, ELS