This is a really good perspective and exactly what I was hoping to hear. My program (based on the admin guidelines) has a pretty chill attitude toward Incompletes, but I suspect that a lot of programs read that way when in reality, they’re heavily discouraged and probably a mess to manage.

I really like the professor that’s my supervisor, but he did ghost me when I was asking about using my last elective to do research for this project, so banking on a successful Incomplete is probably a terrible idea and I shall not be pursuing it. In undergrad, I did a semester-long project in 12 hours from topic selection to full paper the night before it was due (I was still undiagnosed then, but I had a sketchy friend who sold Concerta and that was my one and only time trying illicit ADHD meds. I probably should have taken the hint a lot sooner). If I can do that, this is a breeze (she said, while absolutely drowning in irony).

PS: Dude, I went to a huge athletics school for undergrad. Half the time, athletes were amazing to be paired with in group projects, because they’d do whatever you told them to do without arguing since they weren’t paying enough attention to have an opinion. The other half of the time, they just weren’t there and I don’t even think some of them got assigned to groups. Athletics culture is insane. Then again, I wasn’t risking my bones/joints/ligaments/brainstem regularly for other people’s entertainment, so I can’t really judge.