Query of a Thesis Grade..

Hi,

I recently received a thesis result, in the University of Limerick, for my MSc which counts for 50% of the total marks and was expecting to maintain if not improve my current B2/B3 avg.

All the feedback I had received was positive from my supervisor and anything he suggested to be changed I did..the grade I got in the thesis was a C3 dragging me down to a pass average and when I queried the grade he said I had gotten a fundamental equation wrong in the model and that my theory chapter didnt show an understanding of the project!! Now this equation was one of the first I did and very early in the project; when I asked him why I had not been given this feedback before he said he gave me feedback on structure not on content as I should have known all the basics myself!!

Where I am stuck is that an external examiner has marked and agrred with the grade but I think it is unfair that I was not given this feedback earlier...can I still appeal the grade? Can I realistically get it changed?? I think he was grossly neglegent..am I wrong?

Any help appreciated...

My opinion is that you don't have a hope. (sorry for being blunt). An appeal very rarely works on a matter of content. It's not the supervisors job to give you full feedback, only guidelines etc. Furthermore, considering you have to contend with the agreement of the extern leaving you in a two against one situation, and being honest it is only those 2 opinions count.

eoin3_17 said:

I think he was grossly neglegent..am I wrong?

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To be honest, yes.

As your supervisor stated, his comments are to help you out with the structure and formatting to ensure you go along the right lines, he's not there to ensure you get every calculation and formulae right. That's your job.

I'm sure your supervisor feels that you were grossly neglegent to get such a fundamental part of your project wrong. As previously stated, it's his opinion which counts, not yours.

Similiar experience with my thesis supervisor a few years back, feedback was positive and ended up with a poor mark. But thankfully it didnt make much difference really, I still got a job after college which was the main reason for doing the course.

You can certainly question it but I doubt you'll get much out of it. Its fundamentally your thesis and your responsibility to enure things are correct, the supervisor just gives broad guidance, if he\she was to fix everything in the thesis then its not really your thesis then is it?

True it is my own work and I wasnt expecting every word to be pre-approved by him, but surely when I handed up each chapter individually for some feedback he would have stated that my theory was not good enough or when I started doing the model he could have mentioned that the initial calculation was in fact wrong which made all my results fundamentally flawed?
The feedback I got from him on these chapters was that it was good..from what I can see he didnt even bother reading it..when i asked him why i hadnt received this feedback before he said he didnt notice it until he went to correct it!! A primary school English teacher could have advised me on formatting..Microsoft Word advises me on formatting..surely a supervisor should advise me on content and calculations first and formatting at a later date??

I feel your pain, having done a PhD myself a Being honest though when I sit back I relaise that once you get guidance then your supervisor has had his/her job done. If your calculations are incorrect then that is your fault (not trying to be nasty). It is Masters level, not primary school, and because of that you (and you alone) have to accept responsibility for everything you hand up.
I understand however how frustrating it must feel that your supervisor was unwilling to go beyond the bounds of duty to double check your work or even to be a bit more helpful.

In short though, an appeal like this would not be given any serious thought by an appeals panel.

eoin3_17 said:

True it is my own work and I wasnt expecting every word to be pre-approved by him, but surely when I handed up each chapter individually for some feedback he would have stated that my theory was not good enough or when I started doing the model he could have mentioned that the initial calculation was in fact wrong which made all my results fundamentally flawed?

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He could have, but he didn't. Nor, would I believe, was he required too. I'm trying not to sound harsh, as I too believe it was unfair of him to not provide a little more guidance especially early on in the project, but I do wish to point out you'll be fighting a loosing battle in trying to fight it.

It was nasty of him not to point it out, but not neglegant or breaking the rules. Whether he read it or not, he can simply claim it was an early error which he assumed/hoped you would catch later in your work. The rules will be entirly on his side with this one. Just hope that maybe karma comes back to bite him.

I think it was nasty of him too. He might say that it's not his role to do the work but if a supervisor gives someone the heads up to double check all equations etc., the student will usually do it.

Does the external examiner read through all the theses or just take a selection to see if the marking guidelines are correct? If it's the latter, then there might be some scope for complaint. However, if the basic information contained in the thesis is incorrect, then I don't hold out much hope for an upgrade.

The thesis information itself is not incorrect but with this new feedback a C grade is probably correct which is what annoys me the most as my supervisor knew I was aiming for an A so why would he not give me the feedback? He said my grades would not go down, however he could not gurantee it as the external examiner had not graded it yet..Im not 100% sure but I think he gave me a C1 and then I was brought down to a C3..I have requested a detailed Feedback report on where I fell down...
In reality have I any chance of getting it brought back upto the C1 as this would give me my 2.2 back? Is there an appeal process or should I just go to the course head then dept head etc.?

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Similar situation a few years back. Appealed the result because I knew I would always wonder about it. Had to apply for a recheck before I was allowed to appeal this didn't change so went through with appeal. Didn't change the result but gave me peace of mind that I did all I could. In my university I got the application form for appeal from exams office web page and submitted it with a fee. Its probably worth the effort since you will always wonder.......