u/Clear_Gene5555

I completed my oral thesis defense on July 10, but I missed the July 24 thesis submission deadline for Summer graduation.

My college told me that I would need to register for 2 credit hours and graduate in the Fall. However, I had already proceeded with my post-completion OPT application, which is currently pending.

Now I’m confused about what I should do. Am I still supposed to register for the 2 credits for Fall even though I applied for post-completion OPT? Or is there another way for the university to keep me enrolled/allow me to submit my thesis and graduate in Fall without registering for additional credits?

I also tried to register for the 2 credits, but my PI’s name was not available in the registration system, so I couldn’t complete the registration.

Has anyone been in a similar situation where they completed their defense, applied for post-completion OPT, but had to delay their thesis submission/graduation to the following semester? How was your enrollment handled?

i failed miserably to extract dna from my bacteriophages. i had 59 phages against pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates and 44 phages against salmonella enterica and 4 against enteroccous faecalis and 4 against e.coli bacteria. from high titre lysate i first tried to extract dna but the concentration was too less for sequecing. then i tried concentration using centrifugal filtration where i got reasoably good concentration for sequencing. 20-30% of my phages are sequenced and 70% are not sequenced. i am almost done with research but i am curious what went wrong from my side. also i feel i was a bad researcher

I am a mother in my mid-30s currently pursuing a master’s degree in microbiology. Although I completed my research work, I was unable to submit my thesis by the November 2025 deadline and submitted it one week late, which required me to extend my semester. Despite extending for an additional semester, I have struggled to make meaningful progress on my thesis revisions.

My PI reviews only one subsection at a time, and each time I submit a draft, the feedback mainly focuses on “silly mistakes.” Complete drafts have never been reviewed in full, and corrections are usually limited to only the first one or two pages. Over time, this process, combined with my underlying anxiety and perfectionistic tendencies, has led to severe procrastination and avoidance related to thesis writing. There have been moments where I have even considered quitting the program entirely.

At this stage, I do not want to place blame on anyone else, and I recognize my own role in the delays. However, I now need to extend my semester again, and despite having a complete thesis draft prepared, I remain extremely hesitant to send it for correction. I have postponed doing so for more than five months. I constantly fear that something negative will happen if I submit the draft, and the entire situation has left me feeling hopeless and emotionally exhausted.