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Meaning of rejection feedback from the Annals of Mathematics
I have sent my paper to the Annals of Mathematics. They emailed me:

The expert consulted has determined that the paper is not suitable for the Annals.  The nature of the reporting was such that there are no details to share. There are no reports to be shared with the author.

What does that mean?

this probably just means that the submission was not notable enough for them to publish.

It also means that any feedback the editor did receive from referees was marked not to be shared with the authors.

The Annals is the most prestigious journal in mathematics.  Unless your paper solves a famous long-standing problem (correctly!), there is no point in sending your paper there.  The editor sent the paper to an expert and the expert determined your paper did not do something important enough to be published in the Annals.  Try one of the several hundred less prestigious mathematics journal.

Or the paper did not even go out for peer review.

Submit to another journal.
Do not be discouraged.  Most mathematicians never publish a paper in a journal as prestigious as the Annals.
If your papers are always accepted in the first journal you send to, then you are aiming too low.

Yes for the first two sentences. Maybe not the third. If you know your field and the quality of your work you can and should submit to an appropriate journal right from the start rather than aim/hope for unlikely prestige.

@EthanBolker: Keep in mind that the journal acceptance process is noisy.  Sometimes journals will reject work that they should have accepted.  If you aim "just right", then you will be rejected erroneously sometimes.  You would have to consistently aim "way too low" to never be rejected.

@AlexanderWoo if you consistently aim "way too low" it means you are picking the appropriate journal i.e. that your "aiming way too low" is consistent with your work being of "way too low interest/novelty" :D

All of my papers at top 10ish journals were rejected somewhere before they were accepted at a top 10ish journal. Absolutely one should be getting rejections if you’re submitting appropriately. That said, this particular response indicates that maybe for this paper the author ought to have known it wasn’t at the Annals level.

"then you are aiming too low." to paraphrase Groucho Marx, I wouldn't want to publish in a journal that would accept one of my papers ;o)

One of the problems with "low" journals is that the quality of peer review can be quite poor (at least in CS).  This is because there are increasingly large amounts of papers being written, but no real increase in real experts at the highest level.  You stand a higher chance of acceptance at a "low" journal, but less chance of peer-review improving your paper (or worse still, a higher chance of publishing a paper containing an absolute howler, which is not something you want on your CV).  Worth aiming higher.

This is similar to a desk reject. The paper is off-topic (out of scope) for the journal and you need to take it elsewhere. Everything after the first sentence just says there is nothing more to say.
If you send the paper elsewhere, make sure you know the stated scope of the journal to save yourself time and effort.
An outside chance is that it was considered unsalvageable for some reason other than scope. Further communication will probably not be fruitful.

The Annals of Math is a general mathematics journal, so the only type of paper that would be considered “off-topic” there is a paper that’s not a math paper. It seems much more likely that OP’s paper is simply not of a level of importance that’s of interest to the journal, rather than being literally off-topic.

I'd second @DanRomik's comment: "not appropriate" for the Annals just means "not significant enough", not "off-topic" in some way. A few other math journals will behave the same way.

@paulgarrett, there are many ways to be out of scope other than "not mathematics". Wild speculation? Recreational math? Elementary school math?

@Buffy, yes, and/but I'm well acquainted with The Annals, and the dominant feature is significance/status.

@Buffy Presumably, elementary school math wouldn't be sufficiently notable for them to publish. Most journals are only interested in papers on subjects that aren't already widely known.

@EJoshuaS-StandwithUkraine, actually, as a mathematician, I can imagine some things that aren't known (at all) but would be applicable only for elementary school math.

@Buffy If that's actually all that it's relevant to, though, that still doesn't seem too notable (even if it's technically original).

Prestigious journals (and Annals is very prestigious) will routinely contact one or more people for a "quick opinion" about whether the paper could plausibly be strong enough for that journal before sending it off to be properly refereed. If the answer is "no", they will immediately respond to the author with something like the email you received. Because all they asked the consulted expert(s) to do was have a quick look, and they probably based their opinion purely on the abstract and introduction, there will normally be no extra feedback to give you - the most you might hope for is "I think a more appropriate journal might be XXX", and the editor may well decide not to pass that on.
When this happens, you should normally get a response quickly, say within 2-3 weeks. The purpose is to avoid wasting time - it is far better for the authors to get a quick rejection and be able to submit to a different journal straight away than waiting 6+ months for the full refereeing process and getting proper feedback. It also avoids wasting referees' and editors' efforts.

Good answer. In my field, we call this a “desk reject” meaning that the rejection comes from the “desk of the editor” perhaps with a quick consultation of a member of the editorial board.


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Mention missing GRE in Statement of Purpose
I am applying to graduate school for mathematics. The school I am applying to requires the GRE subject test. I was unable to take it, however (both exams in Spring and Fall 2021 were cancelled due to the pandemic). I ended up emailing the generic grad school admissions office and they said that it would be alright if I submitted without the subject test (although they didn't really answer my question if my application would be seen the same as others--only something about "holistic" review).
There is no place on the application to mention how COVID-19 affected my application. So, I was wondering if I should mention the fact that I did really try to take the GRE subject test in my statement of purpose, which is the only place I can think of mentioning it (I guess I would like the admissions committee to know explicitly, instead of the email I sent to the generic grad school email). Or, should I just not even bother mentioning it?

Don't lose track of the purpose of the SoP. It is to detail your future plans, both for study and thereafter. It is not to explain the past or to make excuses.
I assume that if they are making exceptions for GRE scores then they will want to "level the playing field" for all candidates. I can't guarantee it, of course. But I'd assume that it can hardly hurt you if it is only used 'at the margin' for final decisions on a few candidates.
If you can work a short phrase (less than a sentence) into the SoP as an introduction to something more appropriate there then it is probably benign. But use the SoP to build your case for acceptance and your plan for achieving success.
However, you might also seek the same assurance from the math department on handling GRE that you got from general admissions.  The admissions committee (if one is used) will be centered there.

You should include

The GRE Subject Test I intended to take was cancelled due to COVID.

but no further detail because admissions will be really tired of hearing about this problem.

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If someone would have obtained two MSc degrees from the same university, how do you put that on a business card?
If someone would have obtained two MSc degrees from the same university for example MSc politics from UCL and MSc international relations from UCL too, how do you put that on a business card?

It would be helpful to know in which country you will be using the business cards.

Why would you put more than one on there if it´s the same degree (MSc)?

Why would you put anything about your degrees on your business card?

@JeffE Espcially when it is a master's degree. If it was an MD or something, that is one thing. But listing a MSc. seems a bit tacky IMO.

@JeffE: There are countries and businesses where this is the norm and expected. Please do not assume that because this is not the norm in US Academia, it is not the norm anywhere.

@Vladhagen: See comment for JeffE.

@user111388 Please do not assume bad faith.

@JeffE: I don't.

This will very likely depend on the laws of the country you are in and the norms of the business you are in (does it look complete or pretentious to list all degrees). For example, in Austria you would/could just list all titles (except if you work in an especially "young" company where you would probably not list degrees at all).
Since you seem to emphasize "from the same university", could you mabe explain why this could make a difference to "two master titles from different universities"?

Since JeffE asks in a comment why one would want to put degrees on a business card, let me say that there are countries and businesses where this is the norm and expected. Please do not assume that because this is not the norm in US Academia, it is not the norm anywhere.

Generally, it is up to you, but it is good to follow the customs and culture of the country and the workplace.
E.g. many universities and government positions will try to list all your titles, both of the respect to you, but also to give a better representation of the person in mind.
Many companies would also want to show that they have highly-skilled workers to their customers/partners. It is interesting to note that (at least from my experience) most companies will only include one (usually the top one) title. This is mainly done not to look too pretentious, but also to make it easier for any person who would read your business card to understand your general position without having to take a minute or two understanding how all the titles line up.

Some of the answers question why you want to include all your academic qualifications on a business card. Whether or not to do so, is very much a matter of local custom and practice. Only you, seeking advice locally if you wish, can decide whether you should do so.
If you want to include them then the answer is clear: you are  John Doe, MSc(Somewhere), MSc(Somewhere). Such a formulation might give rise to questions, but so what? You have a good story to tell.
You might like to check what the relevant university's exact title for your degrees is: are they both actually MSc? The exact abbreviation might differ. One of mine is in fact MMath, and another is in fact MSc, but the previous year's class got MSc(Eng).

Could you clarify what you mean by MSc(Somewhere)? Do people in some countries really write (or have to write) e.g. MSc(University of Riga) as their degree? That seems tacky to me (but to each their own, of course).

The official title of my MMath degree is MMath(Cantab.). Cantab being an abbreviation of the Latin name of Cambridge, England. My MSc is from London University, and hence I would write, formally, MSc(Lond.). Tacky or not, that is how it is, and I would argue that it is practical too. If you see that someone claims to have some qualification then you often wish to know where they obtained it.

The idea that people want to know/to tell where they obtained their degree is a part of US/UK culture which is very hard for continental europeans to understand.

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Where to advertise a postdoctoral position to widen the diversity of applicants?
I am planning to hire a postdoc (in mathematics), and have never done this before. My department is far from diverse. I have read that a good way to achieve a diverse pool of candidates is by advertising widely, including circulating them to special interest groups.
I can definitely see the benefit of this. Members of underrepresented groups may tend to be less "well connected" in the community and, as a result, the advertisement might have a harder time reaching them. At least, this seems to be part of it.
I would love to advertise widely, and specifically to organizations which will help me reach underrepresented groups. However, I am finding it difficult to find viable options for doing this... Many sites charge hundreds of dollars for each job posting. While I would love to post it everywhere, it doesn't seem realistic. The main things that I have come up with are:

Mathjobs (https://www.mathjobs.org). I expect that this will reach the largest number of interested applicants (the job is in North America). But this is really just the standard place to post things.
Association for Women in Mathematics (https://awm-math.org/). This actually seems like a really great option.
Distributing the advertisement through mailing lists dedicated to my area of mathematics.
Some professional societies in mathematics allow members to post jobs (I think).
Advertising the job at the end of research talks (although, it doesn't seem to be that commonly done in my area, so it might be awkward...).
Advertise to colleagues and ask them to spread it by word of mouth.
Posting to social media? Although I am a bit wary of this.

Apart from the AWM, I don't really see how any of these will benefit members of underrepresented groups specifically, and, even the AWM is mainly targeting one group. Does anyone have any other ideas? Suggestions?
This post focused mostly on where to advertise the job, but I would also love to get input on all aspects of achieving a large and diverse pool of applicants! Please feel free to share any advice you have.

Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been moved to chat.

I suspect you're attracting close-votes because you list things specific to math (MathJobs, AWM). I haven't voted to close, but if you generalized those, people might be less inclined to CV.

If the purpose of the hiring is, as in the title "to widen the diversity of applicants", does this mean that an applicant who is not part of the minority has zero chances of getting the position? If so (and legal in your jurisdiction) it might be ethical to signal it, to stop applicants with zero chances from wasting their time and effort.

@vsz I think that you are misunderstanding my objective. How diversity should be treated at the selection stage is a separate question. My aim is to put out an advertisement that all of the best applicants will apply to. From what I have heard, making the right adjustments can dramatically increase the participation of candidates from underrepresented groups while not having much of an impact on the applications from qualified members of other groups. I believe that widening the pool is ideal for allowing me to select the absolute best candidate, regardless of what group(s) they belong to.

@AzorAhai--hehim apologies if I have not written the question very well. I am not an experienced poster! I wanted there to be a chance that someone would give math-specific advice. Maybe that means I should have posted to a math stackexchange. I did get one good suggestion (can't find the comment now) that was math specific (https://www.nam-math.org/). So it served its purpose.

@bob No problem. People are fickle, but it doesn't look like the vote succeeded anyway

Where to advertise is only a small part of the challenge in ensuring a diverse pool of applicants.
Checking the language used in the advert is extremely important. It is quite easy to build in words that exclude certain groups of applicants. For example, are you tempted to write that you are a “young dynamic team”? You’re likely to exclude older post docs. The best solution here seems to be to get a diverse group of people to review the advert and ask themselves if they would apply. Use their feedback.
There are also gender decoders that can spot gender-specific language. Try e.g. http://gender-decoder.katmatfield.com/. This spots more than just using he/she to refer to applicants.
You should think about whether to use “they” or “she” directly in the wording of the ad (s well as "he") to make it clear that gender diversity is desired. This may require legal input in some jurisdictions.
Furthermore you could be very explicit in the types of diversity that you welcome. Give examples of how you support parents, LGBTQ, underrepresented minorities (do you have employee resource groups?), and so on.
You could try to be effusive - not just the classic “we welcome applicants with diverse backgrounds“, but “we cherish and celebrate the differences that all of our colleagues bring to our team” (seen recently in an ad for a startup).
I have to stress that the language used here is purely for example, and you need to get a second opinion or possibly a legal review depending on where you are.
Good luck in getting your Postdoc!

This is amazing; thank you so much! I had never heard of a gender decoder before. I will absolutely use it. With regards to your suggestions on wording: wow, yes! I have been wondering how to do better than just inserting "boilerplate" statements. This type of wording is fantastic. Indeed, I will do my due diligence by getting people to read it, both to try spot any language that could be seen as exclusionary and to be safe regarding legal aspects. But this is awesome! Thanks!

You're welcome! There's all kinds of other stuff here to be aware of, like including "we have regular social events" can be taken to mean, "I have to work more than 40 hours a week, and drink beer so that I can talk to the Prof and be heard". That would discourage some folks. So, mentioning that you hold occasional events that take place during the working day can be inclusive.

Generally I find academic job adverts avoid the use of pronouns altogether (this isn't a new thing, it's unrelated to current discourse around gender). I think the idea of using "a successful applicant" or something similarly wordy is supposed to sound more professional. I'd advise if you do decide to use "she" that you include "he" at some point too, otherwise some male applicants will think it is reserved for a woman. But personally I'd just avoid any trouble and use "they", or just word it so there are no pronouns, it's usually quite easy to do unless you have a strict character limit.

Good point - the "he" still needs to be in there. I made a small edit to include that. Feedback from colleagues has been that deliberate use of a mixture of “he”, “she”, and “they” in adverts is much more welcome than just referencing “the applicant”. As others have pointed out, being able to see yourself / read one’s self in an advert is very encouraging.

@AndyClifton I could see why that might be the case, avoiding pronouns can seem a little impersonal and "corporatese". But it does neatly avoid any traps around inadvertent discrimination or offence regarding gender identity.

I would suggest being careful of reading much into the Gender Decoder link. It counts things such as "Job Responsibilities" and "Must Support Faculty Research" as pluses (responsibilities, support) in the feminine category. So far all job postings I tried in it are considered "strongly feminine-coded" because of these (what I would consider) standard and neutral phrases. Granted, I'm not an expert on the topic, so I wouldn't read much into my statement either.

Please don't use "they", a woke US-millenial might know it can also refer to singular person. However for a foreign applicant which learned only "old-fashioned English" it will probably look very strange and confusing. As a non-native speaker myself I was very confused when I encountered the use of "they" in it's new context for the first time a few weeks ago.

@thieupepijn It's not reasonable to say that native English speakers can't use features of English that have been around since Chaucer! Old-fashioned English has always used singular they.

@thieupepijn If a non-native speaker is hoping to work in English, knowing singular they is quite important.

@001001 - good point. It can help to just check the body of the adverts and not the headings, but as you observed some headings do use coded language  - think of an ad that has headings about "opportunities" and "family-friendly working" versus "responsibilities" - the message is quite different.

The typical advise is that men tend to apply even if they are not a perfect fit for the position, while women tend to only apply if they feel they satisfy all the conditions. Thus, do not exaggerate the requirements in the job posting.
If your university/department/faculty website has lots of pictures of smiling students, make sure the pictures show diversity. According to some research (not public), this is not noticed by the majority but elicits positive attention from some minorities.
An illustrative link of how typical the typical advice is: https://hbr.org/2014/08/why-women-dont-apply-for-jobs-unless-theyre-100-qualified

Avoid tight deadlines
I am not in your field and not even in the same country, but one piece of advice I would give is to ensure that there is a reasonable span of time between the advertisement and the deadline. It can often take some time for advertisements to actually get noticed, because most people do not check a job site every day, and many people will have very large volumes of electronic mail (hence, it may take a while for them to actually see an advert posted to a mailing-list). Given that you mention a desire to recruit from a diverse pool, it is worth keeping in mind that people with poor health and/or caring responsibilities may find it harder to check for job advertisements regularly and assemble an application in a timely manner.
Basically, you want to avoid situations such as:

I would love to apply for this, but the deadline is 5pm TODAY. If only I had seen the advert last week, I might have been able to apply.

Oh, this job looks fascinating, but it will take a lot of effort to reformat my CV to show me in the best light. Oh, and the deadline is 9am on Monday. More weekend working. Oh, and I had better contact Prof. Domingo to ask for a reference. He never answers electronic mail on the weekend, so I will have to 'phone him and hope he will not mind.

Ah, this would be a dream job. But the deadline is less than 48 hours away, and I promised to take the kids to the beach tomorrow. Would I be a bad mother if I reneged on my promise? I cannot even blame the weather forecast this time! Or maybe, I can take the laptop with me, and be very careful not to get any sand or seawater in it.

Why do I always have to get ill at the wrong time? The mailing-list had an advertisement for this great job a week ago, but by the time I got out of hospital and went through my mailbox properly, I had missed the deadline.

This is really great, thank you. This is another great example of a potential blind spot. I hadn't thought of the deadline as being something that can exclude people, but everything you are saying makes complete sense.

In mathematics, essentially all jobs in North America are advertised at MathJobs.org, so getting more people to see the advertisement will be difficult difficult.  Indeed, what is allowed and expected when posting a job opening is very much country dependent.
The candidates will likely be very concerned with the atmosphere in your research group.  There are two obvious places possible candidates will look if they are trying to decide to apply or not.
One is the on-line CV that you and other potential supervisors have on your websites. If you did some mentoring be sure you mention that. All those ``synergistic activities'' in your biosketch are things you might want on your website on on an accessible CV.
Before anyone looks at your CV or website, they will be looking at the advertisement.  To whom is the advertisement appealing?  What campus resources did you decide to mention?
I am not sure about social media as my idea of social media is MathOverflow.  I have heard positions mentioned briefly at the end of a talk, so why not do that?

Thank you for this. I think that you are right. The way that we present ourselves and the advertisement is, actually, equally (or even more) important than where we publicize it.

I was recently at a diversity forum, and a Google rep gave a talk that included some of their research on this. They found that in their own job advertisements, there was almost a step function in the number women who applied vs the number of words in the job advertisement. Once the number of words passed a certain threshold, the number of women applicants fell suddenly.
(ETA: The theory was this was related to the length of the description of necessary/desirable qualifications)
Also including the boilerplate tagline along the lines of "We welcome diverse applicants of any race/gender/ability..." has been shown to increase diversity in the applicant pool too.

A reference to the effectiveness of the boilerplate would improve this answer.


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Can I submit an abstract to present already published work?
I recently finished a project that has accepted for publication in a preventive medicine journal.
I was hoping to submit the abstract to some conferences to improve my presentation skills, and my supervisor informed me that I should make sure my paper is not published before the abstract is presented.
The journal has given us a 12-week ETA on publication, and both conferences I was hoping to present at are much later than that (16-24 weeks). As a result, I was wondering what my possible options are? So far, I have four questions:

If my paper is accepted for an oral presentation instead of a poster presentation, could I still present them if the paper has been published?

Could I ask the journal to put a hold on production so I can present at these conferences?

Does it matter if one of the planned conferences is not international / if they do not publish abstracts?

Should I contact the managing editor to ask if I may present the abstract at the planned conferences?

You could make a normal conference paper and convert the journal paper into an extension paper if you have enough content. This gives you the liberty to publish both papers at the same time. Generally extension papers allow 30% similarity to the original paper. While this is a lot of work, its one way around your situation.

I worry that your advisor has it backwards and if you "publish the work" in a conference first, then the journal would want to reject it.

@Buffy Unlikely that matters; medicine usually follows the convention that conferences aren't "real" publications. As Azor Ahai's answer mentions, the norm is that conferences are for work "in-progress"; it's common for submissions to conferences to occur around the time authors are preparing to submit for peer review. Most often the conference presentation occurs while the peer review process continues. (as always, there can be exceptions for certain conferences or journals; there are a rare couple in medicine that are "fast track" and indeed expect no prior presentation either)

@BryanKrause, agreed, if a conference talk isn't considered a form of publishing then the issue goes away. And, the fast track issue seems to be a special case. Perhaps that should be spelled out to avoid confusion.

@Aymuos I don't think that concept of an "extension paper" exists in medicine. Apologies if you know otherwise. In any event, OP already has their paper submitted and accepted in a journal; they aren't going to be making changes to that accepted version unless some major error is discovered.

I used to work in a school of medicine, although I didn't do medicine, and this is the first I've heard of an "extension paper" or anyone using similarity metrics to evaluate papers.

Sorry about that, I must've misinterpreted the question. In CS, if you have an accepted conference paper, you can extend that paper with more experimentation and results with a more in depth literature review and submit it for a journal publication. I wasn't aware this was not the case elsewhere. Sorry about that! Should I remove my comments?

I think somebody from medicine should know. I can agree with both comments by Buffy and B. Krause, just to say that all disciplines confused the situation is fluid. In my field, conferences don't count as real publications. Still one avoid a proceeding written in a way that blocks full paper publication in std journal. If a paper is out, its content can be presented around the world as long the authors / organisers / audience find it interesting. This said, a wise timing of proceedings and full papers submission is always necessary.

@Aymuos I would write an answer saying what fields it applies to, so when a CS student finds this question, they can read your answer

I think generally speaking you're thinking about your advisor's point the wrong way round. The point isn't that the journal now owns your work and presentations thereof (re: point 2), it owns the copyright, and the right to distribute their presentation of your work.
Rather the point is that conferences are expected to be new work, ahead of the literature. People don't go to conferences to hear a paper read aloud, they go to hear about new things they can't read in the literature. It's a venue for feedback (which can't be applied to a published article).
I'm not in preventative medicine (but at one time was in a medicine-adjacent field), but have heard this before. Generally, an oral presentation might be the better avenue for work that was just published, but you should ask your advisor about point 1.
To point 3 - no.
To point 4 - no, the managing editor is not the one imposing the "restriction," if you wanted to ask someone besides your advisor, you would ask a conference organizer or someone else familiar with the conference to learn what level of novelty is expected there.

I'm worried about this and about your intent, though I don't know what you would intend to put into the "Abstract". If the abstract is nothing more than a description of a talk you will give on "recent results" or "recently published work", an ad, so to speak, then I see no harm. But if you are intending that you get another "publication" out of the conference proceedings then I think you are on very thin ice.
I especially worry that if you present at a conference before publication, that the journal will want to pull the paper immediately as being "old work".
However, in your field, where lives may be as stake there is certainly value in people speaking to an interested audience of practitioners to make them aware as early as possible about results that will appear soon. It may be that there is no understanding that such a talk is "publishing", in which case the issues may go away.
But, to be safe here, I'd suggest that you, the journal editor, and the conference program chair, all come to a common understanding of your submission and what it implies. Trying to finesse it could leave you in trouble with everyone. But, within certain constraints, I'd think that everyone could be made happy about what happens. But, you don't suddenly have several "first publications" of the same work. Don't try to go there. It is a dark and scary place.
And, of course, if what you say/write in one venue is an extension of what you have previously published then there is no issue, assuming that you cite properly.


text:
Slept through final, professor is giving me a zero and failing me – is there anything I can do to change this?
I slept through my 8 am final last Thursday, and I didn’t wake up until 11:50 am. By the time I scrambled to remember what day it was, it was already noon. I frantically sent the professor an email telling her what happened and asked if I could take it in her next section (the syllabus said no, but I was desperate). I found her at her office where she said she couldn’t meet with me unless the head of the department of marketing (her boss) was present. The meeting is tomorrow at 12:30, after two other finals starting at 8.
A 0 is the grade you receive when caught cheating. I did not cheat; I did not lie; I slept. I don’t believe an F is a reflective grade of the knowledge and work that I put into that course is an honest one. I don’t believe that a student should learn and learn for an entire semester and then have one time slot to prove their knowledge. People make mistakes and I need a chance. I need to think of an innovative assignment to turn in after the meeting that may interest her in giving me a few points to pass. Or, I need to market to the marketers my case.
Does anyone know what I can do? What I can take upon myself to do – even though my professor said there is nothing – to show her that I am willing to put forth the effort and that I am committed to learning.

Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been moved to chat.

Is the final 100% of your grade?

Looking at the comments to some of the answers, you should probably add what sort of consequences failing this course is likely to have.

Are there extenuating circumstances such as illness or death in the family that ought to be addressed?

let this be a reminder to only set an alarm, but set 7 other alarms just in case. https://goo.gl/images/zPbXC8

It feels like one of the deadly sins but it's actually a physiological need...

If it's a physiological need because you were sick at the time of the exam, then your school should have a policy about how such situations are to be handled.
While I sympathize with your plight, it sounds like the problem was that you were too tired and just slept through the exam. If that is the case, then I'm afraid to say that the professor may have every right to assign you a zero for not taking the exam. There are some schools where the policy would be to assign an incomplete in such circumstances, but this is entirely school-dependent.
The essential issue is that if you do not have an excused absence for an exam, you're at the mercy of the instructor and any existing policies. At my school, for instance, the policy says that anything other than an approved university activity cleared in advance is at my discretion. So if the instructor chooses to give you a zero, there's nothing you can do.
You also need to consider things from the instructor's point of view: giving you a do-over because you slept through the exam would require that she give any future students who did the same the opportunity for a do-over as well—after all, why should only you get special treatment? Granting your request would mean that, in the future, all you'd need is to say "sorry, I overslept" and you could postpone an exam you weren't ready for. This is simply unfair to the instructor and to all the students who prepped for the exam at the scheduled time. This is simply not a fight you can possibly expect to win unless there are exceptional attenuating circumstances that have not been mentioned.

I think this is the best answer because it mentions policies. The right course of action is to find out what the policy is and how it applies in the context fo missing by oversleeping. Professors can't make exceptions to policy. If they make an exception for student A, then students B and C come forward because they feel their circumstances warranted an exception too. It is doubtful the university doesn't have a clear policy on this, and that there are no makeup exams for circumstances that are not excused.

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And establishing such a precedent would create a pretty obvious loophole for cheating. Not saying that the OP is not being completely honest here. But if the precedent is set, then a future student could say "sorry, I overslept" and get a rescheduled test, and then in the interim ask all his friends in the class what was on the test and then have an unfair advantage.

Speaking from personal experience, I advise you to accept the consequences of the events that occurred and move on.
There are, and will be, many important situations in life that require you to be in a certain place at a certain time.  Punctuality and accountability are, quite arguably, even more essential in the workplace than in academia, where missing an important task or event can cost you your job or can put lives in danger.  Yes, mistakes happen.  But the most important lesson of one's formative years--one that I personally believe is increasingly lost upon each successive generation of students--is learning how to ensure that important tasks are not missed, and if unforeseen circumstances arise, that you can anticipate and make appropriate contingency plans.
So, rather than trying to plead for another chance, rather than trying to "see what can be done," the solution is to recognize that you have made a serious error that cannot be rectified.  It is no one else's place—not your professor, nor his or her supervisor, nor the academic institution—to burden themselves with the responsibility of fixing your mistake.  Please understand that if that sounds harsh or dismissive, it is not meant to be.  Again, I speak from personal experience.  The sooner you accept the fact that there are some things you don't get to "do over," the faster you will grow as a person, and the more well-adjusted and better prepared you will be when you complete your academic education.

So, in light of some of the comments that have been posted in response to the above answer, I find it necessary to make a number of clarifications, which I should stress are not necessarily directed at the individual who originally posted the question.
First, I am not suggesting that one should not ask if an exception or alternative arrangement could be made.  But any request must be understood to be made with the expectation that the answer is–and will be–no, that the default position and policy has already been spelled out clearly and well in advance, and that once the decision has been made, you are to abide by it.  This is not some kind of "negotiation" you are entering into.  This is not something where, if you "just try harder" you might convince someone to take pity on you and you can get your way.
For someone to respond to the above by saying "but I could end up in serious financial debt and be 'forced' to drop out," again, I am not unsympathetic, but surely such a consequence could not have been lost upon you when you were informed of the policy in the first place.  If something is that important, then a commensurate degree of preparation should have been made.  Why should you be given special consideration when others did not have this issue?
If you were a critically ill patient in a hospital, scheduled to undergo a surgical procedure to be performed by a skilled specialist, but that surgeon oversleeps and is not available, and you die, is that a situation where the surgeon can just ask the hospital for a do-over?  Conversely, what kind of patient would accept your excuse if you were that surgeon?  That is the kind of real-life scenario that adults must prepare for.  The notion that a student can even think that some kind of after-the-fact negotiation is even possible, is one that the professor has every right to regard as insulting and wholly inappropriate.

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It sounds like you're still in finals, so the first part is containment – you likely have other exams to be ready for and should probably focus on them.
Next, as from @aeismail's answer, it's likely that the instructor is in a position to decide.  If it's important and you have the time to spare, you might want to review your school's rules to confirm and look for any caveats or alternative provisions.
Now there's your meeting with the instructor and the department head.  It's hard to tell you what's right, but I'd think:

Don't expect to win this battle.  If it's important and you handle this gracefully, you may have a chance to avoid failing the class, but be prepared for it to not work out.
Don't try to undermine the instructor's ability to make the decision, assuming that the rules confirm that it's theirs to make.
Do try to understand the instructor's beliefs on the issue.

Do they believe that written policies are intrinsically important and to be obeyed?
Do they believe that you were negligent and deserve to fail?
Do they believe that your situation is an unfortunate consequence of logistics?

Do prepare arguments to address the concerns stemming from those beliefs.

If they believe that written policies are intrinsically important, you may want to stress that the written policies don't require them to fail you, but rather leave it to their discretion (or whatever the policies actually say; gotta read 'em).
If they're concerned that you were negligent and merely being lazy, you may discuss your situation if you're, say, working a side job or/and taking an overloaded course load.  Otherwise, for all they know, you were up late partying.
If they see things as an issue of logistics, you might comment on how the scheduling issue arose and then focus on how to reschedule the exam.

Do prepare actionable solutions, e.g.:

Retaking the exam in the exam center later.
Having your final exam grade replaced by the lowest grade you've received on a prior exam, possibly with a further penalty on top of that.
Taking an I (incomplete) for the semester and completing the exam later at a time of the instructor's convenience.

Incomplete may not be an option for missing the final. At my school, incompletes must be negotiated before the last day of classes, with the exception of an excused absence on the final.

@aeismail Yeah, a lot of this is going to heavily depend on their particular school's policies and the instructor's feelings.

This is most actionably constructive response.

The only thing missing is the prep for what happens if the answer is "No". (Although it has been covered somewhat in other answers, this answer is so close to complete otherwise.)

This is the only real answer here. I would like to add "DO own up to your mistake." It is a humbling blunder with potential academic and financial repercussions. The OP needs to both accept this, while engaging in damage control and bargaining.

+1, On 4.2: never slept through one myself but over-revision for the exam would have been the reason. With 40% of my final score fixed, an opportunity made me revise my target upwards from a 2:1 to a 1st. In that position every additional mark mattered, even on exams I already expected to ace. No matter how prepared I was at 10pm the night before, there was value in being a half mark better prepared by morning. Missing an exam is a huge error; harsh consequences are inevitable. But perhaps over-revision plus a power-nap-gone-awry is sympathetic enough reason that it needn't be career ending?

One other suggestion: Many instructors will be concerned about cheating on the final exam; to preserve fairness, they may not want to use the exact same questions for a retake. (because someone who already took the final could tell you exactly what to expect in advance) In that case, rescheduling is not a trivial speed bump- you could be asking the instructor to invest significant time and energy in revising the exam (and grading criteria) for one student. Be cognizant of this going in and respectful accordingly.

Sleeping is a physiological need shared by every other person in your class - who did get to the exam.
If you had a medical condition, you may be able to get special dispensation for that. Expect to need formal documentation from your doctor though.
Grading purely by exam may not be the best way to assess the course, but the fact is that they've chosen to assess it that way, and they have every right to do so. It's very normal for universities. Really don't try to fight that, because you'll lose.
In the UK, universities generally have the facilities for formal resits later in the year. Ask about this. For now though, your grade is zero.

Sleeping is a physiological need shared by every other person in your class - who did get to the exam.
Also the university staff have to think about consequences if they let somebody redo the exam because they overslept. What would prevent people from afterwards starting to not show up for a exam because they wanted more time to study and then just say they overslept.

One more "don't fight it" answer... What's the point of accepting a zero? You can't graduate with a zero. One has to fight - either you arrange a resit or a retake at later term or whatever. But accepting the zero and dropping out would be not be wise at all.

I didn't say drop out, I said find out about resits. But he almost certainly can't change the result of this exam.

@PeteyPete, that's not true at many universities. If you resit an exam at mine, your grade will be capped at the pass mark (40%) and that means you'd be better off trying to get 41% in the original exam and resitting if you failed.

@TheGreatCabbage I don't really understand how this relates to my comment?

@Graham The OP already specified in question that she emailed professor about the possibility of taking the exam at later date. I don't see the question as "how do I retroactively change the mark?" but "what do I say to get a resit and what do I do if it's denied?"

@PeteyPete isn't that the answer to your "What would prevent..."?

Ah I think I get it now. Since OP did not mention anything about resitting the exam (and which would be the obvious way to go if it was possible) I meant to comment on making exceptions for individuals in this case redoing an exam which (apparently) has no official regular resitting option for all students.

@Džuris The OP says that they asked if they could take it "in the next section" - by which (from context) I assume they mean the following section of exams that day.  They simply cannot take the same exam later, because of the risk of cheating.  They haven't mentioned resits at all, which of course would happen later in the year (maybe July/August) with a completely different exam paper. If that's what they meant, that's unusual for universities, but the OP must have known the score when they started.

As someone who has struggled with sleep disorders my entire life, I find this kind of talk really upsetting. Everyone's experience regarding this physiological need is most certainly not the same, trust me.

@ASimpleAlgorithm This is why my second paragraph mentions getting dispensation for a medical condition.  Of course we make allowances for that, in the same way that we make allowances for access with someone in a wheelchair. But for someone with full physical ability, we don't let them off an exam simply because it was upstairs; and for someone without a sleep disorder, we don't let them off simply because they were too disorganised to set an alarm.

@Graham yes my apologies.

@ASimpleAlgorithm No worries.  You're right that it's important to be clear that some people will genuinely need some disorder or disability to be taken into account; and it's fair to say that because sleep issues are not so well understood, it's a good idea to warn the faculty ahead of time instead of asking for dispensation afterwards.  But I personally feel that someone without those problems asking for dispensation is disrespectful to people who do actually need it, which limits my sympathy for the OP.

@Džuris a 0 in an exam means no graduation? There is no way to take the class another semester and pass it then? I am..... surprised by this

@PeteyPete At my uni, people could simply not show up to the exam and receive an "absent", which won't influence their grade. I don't really see a problem with that, there's a lot of different obstacles this could present, but we do have the chance to reschedule.

@Džuris Why is one failed exam that bad? I don't understand this at all, in Germany you normally have multiple tries for every exam. What system lets you not finish if you just failed one exam?

You need to apologize for missing the exam.
Yes, you needed to sleep - you may even be overworked. It's pretty common in college curriculums these days for students to be overworked.
But every other student also needs sleep, and if they have a curriculum anything like yours, they are also overworked, and they still made it to this exam - so you really have no ground to stand on for this being an acceptable excuse.
A grade of 0 is also completely appropriate for someone who did not take the exam - you got none of the questions correct because you did not take it at all.
So, your only option left is to apologize for sleeping through the exam - you can explain the situation, but you should not expect, or ask them to expect, a special exception just because you were tired.  If this were a situation where you missed work because you overslept, you'd lose your job.
As it stands, you're in a better situation than you think - you have an opportunity to present your case, and you should show that you are deeply sorry for your actions, and ask for an opportunity to retake the exam.
Be very polite and apologetic for your actions - teachers often don't get to choose exam times, and make-up exams can run even more afoul of their already busy schedule.  Being able to retake the exam is a favor - not a privilege that belongs to you.

+1 for deserving the 0 as it stands. OP says 0 is the grade reserved for cheaters - that's not true, it's also the grade for someone who did nothing at all.

It's worth noting that, in some cases (everywhere I've taught), teachers don't schedule the final exams; there is so much demand during finals that only the registrar, with his or her system-level overview, can handle (or, cough, mishandle) it.

@LSpice That's a very good point - so good that I'm going to add it to this answer.  Thank you.

Consider it a cheap life-lesson in the importance of punctuality.  Once you are in the workforce, the penalty for sleeping through an important meeting can be much more severe.

Much more severe? Normally losing a job is the worst case scenario. I'd rather have that than get dropped out of school where I have years invested already.

@Džuris From what do you conclude that OP gets dropped out of school for having a failed course?

@lighthousekeeper do you know any university where you graduate with an F in any of the courses? The question was - what to do with this F.

In the event of failure of a course, most students just repeat it.  Dropping out over course failure due to sleeping in would be a pretty extreme reaction.

I know multiple people who have graduated after failing classes. In fact, I know one person who failed a course twice and scraped by with a C- on her third and final attempt. Still graduated on time (somehow!).

@Džuris Google "retake a failed course" and you'll find an essentially unlimited sea of pages in Google for all the college and universities that allow you to do this. In the U.S., at least, this is standard procedure.

@Džuris: Sure, I failed partial differential equations 2 the first time I took it, took it a second time, did fine, and graduated on time.

With a job you don't accrue a huge debt up until you get paid many years later.  This is one of the reasons why school is a bit overrated when you think about risk/reward.  Losing a job is a lot less severe, presuming that you can find a job within a few months; because it's just an income gap during that time.

@Rob: That "just an income gap" makes tens of thousands of people homeless every year.

@LightnessRacesinOrbit for sure, but when you lose your job, you don't have a $20k loan to your employer that needs to be paid back.  If you are generally employable and got fired for an understandable mistake, you may be ok in a few months if you have a little savings (rather than a gigantic loan acquired before you could get a job) and severely cut spending.

@Rob: Student loans must work very differently in your country than they do in mine!! Losing a job is much, much worse than having to drop out of a top-tier higher education degree that you probably didn't need in the first place.

@LightnessRacesinOrbit As a computer programmer in the US, I have come in to work on some days, and 1/3 of the company had 5 minutes to leave.  Almost all of them were ok within a few months.  The debt that they built up during the time without a job wasn't as much as paying for college and getting nothing in return.  At least when you are cut in those circumstances, you have job experience; unlike some kid who is truly at the bottom with a huge debt.

@Rob: Then they were lucky individuals. As I alluded to earlier, not everybody is in such a formidable financial state that they can just "do without" a job for a few months!! Ironically student loan repayment is part of the problem in that situation.

This is not necessarily a cheap lesson. There can be financial aid, scholarships, and academic probation on the line. OP made a blunder, but it's still worth fighting for. Exhaustion is real. Also, want to note that if this was supposed to be the OP's last semester before graduation, then there would almost surely be economic losses.

@Rob In the UK, student loans are backed by the government. Repayments are conditional on you earning more than a certain amount, so over here we aren't in that position. Clearly this will be country-specific though.

@Graham in the US, student loans actually have a special status, in that you can't escape these loans in bankruptcy.  All the bankruptcies here seem to be related to student loans or medical bills.  If you get an opportunity to get a skilled job before going to college, you can be a better off by skipping it until you can pay for it in cash later.

@Rob You're still better to get a skilled job than a degree without prospects in the UK too. I don't believe student loans over here are wiped out with bankruptcy either; but since you don't have to repay until you're earning above the threshold (£18k or £25k), it's unlikely to force you into bankruptcy. However it does stop people being able to save for the deposit on a house - most young people in Britain today will never be able to afford to own their own home.

I agree with @zahbaz that this is not likely to be a "cheap" lesson - I downvoted this answer because of its cavalier attitude towards the student's plight. The student may deserve the grade - and thus, deserve to fail, lose financial support, have to pay to retake a course, put off graduating or getting a job... the student may even decide to drop out as a result of this issue. Let's not be so cavalier about it.

@Aaron: What is "cavalier" here is the utterly groundless speculation that the failure of this exam is accompanied by a raft of secondary consequences that were not specified in the OP's question.

-1 For condescension and justification of the harsh treatment of workers by employees for a very human failing.

Usually you one doesn't have to dropout due to failed class itself, but failing a class can cause one to lose scholorship or other funding, and it is quite possible that one will no longer afford to continue education.

Yes, sleep is a physical need.
No, that does not excuse missing a test.
To provide some perspective, I'm narcoleptic, so I'm painfully aware of the influence sleep has on your body.
I've also never missed a final because of it.
That's not to say I haven't slept through tests.

I've gotten to a test and fell asleep waiting for it to be passed out (the helper woke me up).
I've fallen asleep while taking the test (the proctor was kind enough to wake me up).
I've fallen asleep while reviewing my answers (the proctor woke me up to collect the test)

I'm very familiar with sleep causing testing trouble.
Missing your test because you slept in doesn't really stir my sympathies, and it probably won't earn you any pity from your Professor.
You should prepare for the probability that they're going to say "No". The requirement that a witness be present implies they expect you to react poorly when this happens, or that this would trigger something like academic probation.
While it's unlikely you'll be kicked out from failing one course, the consequences of making a scene can be significantly more severe - particularly if you lose your temper.
So, make sure you're well rested and fed going into that meeting, keep in mind your position is about as weak as it could possibly be, and accept whatever response they give with grace.

There is one thing that actually worked for me when I was a student and slept through an exam and then when I was teaching students myself and had students who slept through my exams.
You can attempt to negotiate that you are allowed to take an exam and if you pass with an A, you get the minimum passing grade (61% or D or whatever) for the course. If you get B or less, you fail. It should work with the professor, unless the school policy forbids such arrangements.
As scaaahu pointed out in the comment, that is a pretty disadvantageous position, and that is why it has a high chance to be accepted. Of course you should try to bargain to retake the exam on standard terms, but your bargaining position is pretty weak there so you might have to settle for whatever works.

If the school allows re-taking the course next semester, I rather re-take it. Dropping from A to D is an insult to me. I should be worth more than that.

Did you or any student of yours in that case try to negotiate the deal from A to C? In terms of GPA, that's from 4 to 2, half the grade. It sounds more fair to me.

@scaaahu Actually, I don't remember. In my experience none of us sleep through courses we are excited and care deeply about. They just want to get it out of their way. I think there was a less strict arrangement when passing with B or C gave them a minimum passing grade, but it was a pretty laid back course. I would personally not give anyone anything higher than a passing grade if they missed the exam without excuse. It is not very fair towards other students and creates a dangerous precedent for future students.

This strategy might very well be the one with the best possible odds to let you take the exam. Nice find!

@scaaahu "Dropping from A to D is an insult to me" This is completely alien to me. We're talking about sleeping through a final. What honor do you have to insult?

@16807 Q: What honor do you have to insult? A: Grade A to Grade D.

Just to give a bit of a third-party perspective from the professor's PoV, that maybe profs don't even realize. I lived with a prof for a few years and we would go on nightly walks which often turned into taking turns venting about the day's/week's frustrations.
Frequently she would complain about students that were habitually late on assignments, tasks, attendance, and then would beg special consideration when their procrastination finally ended up costing them points. I noticed that peak frustration seemed to coincide with big tests and finals as this is when poorly prepared students would finally realize that they might not pass.
During this time she was inundated with students like this begging for any latitude to give them a benefit. It would get to the point where she would commute her office hours to keep her sanity. Every student at this time, unfortunately even the good ones, were fighting against her indignation backed by wide latitude to help or not.
When it was a problem student the inner-monologue that I'd hear was "why should I go out of my way, spend my own limited time, to help you when you won't even help yourself?"
Remember, this would be an additional load on her. She would have to take her own time to proctor the test for you, or to design an alternative assignment (she was particularly annoyed by this). Professors, especially researchers, are incredibly busy and this will be seen as an intrusion on their busy life.
If I had to make a recommendation: make a plan, and make it zero-impact on your teacher. Find another teacher willing to proctor the exam on their own time, design and plan an alternative assignment that's as substantial as the final, offer to do something in exchange during your free time to make it up to her.
I can't overemphasize the need to take the initiative here, it will speak volumes to your teacher and administrator about how serious you are. It was your screw-up, if you want to expand the teacher's compassion, you need to do better than meet half-way; you need cover the whole distance yourself and make the journey seem as impressive as possible.

"offer to TA or grade exams during your free time to make it up to her." Under no circumstances should this be offered. At best, it's free labor, which many schools are cracking down on, and at worst, it could be perceived as bribery and would get the student into worse problems.

@aeismail Fair enough, I've updated my answer, but I think a tit-for-tat would be rather effective still.

This is a mostly reasonable answer, except the part about “plan an alternative assignment that’s as substantial as the final”. There’s no substitute for an exam, and it would be blatantly unfair to all the other students to allow OP to do a different sort of assignment instead. She has to do an exam, and unfortunately she can’t write her own exam, only her instructor can. So while your other suggestions and general advice are good, there is no getting around the fact that the instructor will have to do substantial work to accommodate OP (and hence will almost certainly refuse to help).

While a tit-for-tat would be effective, it would also be highly unethical and put the instructor in a bind because it would set a precedent.

Where on earth would you find a prof/lecturer willing to proctor a random exam for no reason in the middle of final season?

I cannot sympathize with the prof in this case. Having a final at 8am is practically an invitation to miss it. There is a lot of evidence showing that young people's circadian rhythms don't allow for early starts.

@Sentinel: Faculty members do not schedule final exams at any US school that I know of. The university sets the date and time, often based on when the class meets during the semester.

I don’t contest any of the answers, but it is possible that the policies they assume could be different in your school.  If there is a counseling department, I recommend visiting them for additional advice.
I suspect that the school would like for you to not drop out.

It sounds like you might be out of luck for this one.  The policy for most universities is failing to show up for the final means you fail the final, which (depending on the requirements laid out in the syllabus) usually means you fail the class.
That being said, your only hope is to convince the teacher/department head during your meeting to have some sort of mercy on you.
Here is what I would recommend.

Don't argue you deserve to pass the class.  You messed up big here by forfeiting your 'right' to pass
Do argue that you put a lot of hard work into the class (mention your pre-final grade if it was good) and that you really don't want to see that go to waste. (again, this doesn't mean they should give you a second chance, but it is something that weights the scales in your favor)
Offer to bend over backwards to make things work. (Take a new final any time, do a very large remedial project in addition to taking the final, ect.)

Your biggest problem is that the rest of the class has already taken the final, and that gives you a big opportunity to cheat by talking to them in order to learn what was asked on the exam.  Even though most students wouldn't cheat in this way, every teacher I have had assumes that students will if given the opportunity.

This creates a dilemma where the teacher feels like they need to write an entirely new final in order to prevent you from cheating, but the teacher also doesn't want to go through all that trouble just because one student was irresponsible.

In light of all this, I would say your best bet is to offer to do anything in order to be given an opportunity to pass the class. You could suggest offering to do a large remedial project of the teacher's choosing in addition to taking the final late, with the stipulation that the teacher can still fail you if they detect any sign of perceived or actuall cheating.  This still has the drawback that the teacher will need to grade/review your remedial project, but it might be your best bet.
Good luck and do let us know how things turn out.

Do you have a health issue that might explain you sleeping in ? I made it to the exam but fell asleep during it. Needless to say I failed. Subsequently I discovered I had chronic renal failure. 7 years later and with a lot of support from the University I got my degree. So please check your health.

I believe that, if OP actually has some sleep-related health issue, this answer has greatest chance of actually achieving positive result. It would be worth to add that checking rules first is good idea - some schools and universities do not allow any special arrangements for illness / disabilities they were not notified about beforehand. In such case, checking health is always good idea but can't help with this specific academia issue.

Forgot to mention with the help of an Organ Donor and their family.

Like many other answers that were already given, I would say that the most recommended course of action is to accept the failing grade and to not fight it.
However, I think the second paragraph you wrote contains quite a bit of logical reasoning that I didn't notice addressed in the other answers.  So I wanted to do that as well.
The original poster will not like this information, but enjoyment doesn't equate to accuracy.  I believe what is about to be said to be true, even if such information may not be a nice and pleasant experience.

I don’t believe an F is a reflective grade of the knowledge and work that I put into that course

A grade of F does not reflect your knowledge and work you  put into the course.  However, the grade of F does reflect what happened.
You had very specific instructions, and those instructions were not successfully met.  The grade of F does reflect that.

I don’t believe that a student should learn and learn for an entire semester and then have one time slot to prove their knowledge.

Perhaps such a restriction should not exist.  However, whether you believe this to be decent or not, the simple reality is that this restriction apparently does exist.

People make mistakes and I need a chance.

Many people would say that what is actually needed is a lesson, even if that lesson is as harsh as lowering a GPA and requiring the repetition of the course.
Understand that many people think of a university as being more than just a place to learn knowledge, or even a place to demonstrate that you can work hard.  Many people look at the university experience as a test that evaluates whether you can do what is required, which may include things like passing an unenjoyable course, getting work done on time, being at a specified location when specified, going through any efforts required to sign up for courses and get any required signatures, and any other tasks that the university decided is required.

I need to think of an innovative assignment to turn in after the meeting that may interest her in giving me a few points to pass.

Your instructor may not be easily persuaded.  An instructor may have a lot of power to make decisions that affect a grade.  This could include making a decision to be rather strict about a specific policy, even if you view the results as very harsh.  As much as I may disagree with the decision that your instructor is making, I am an instructor myself and can say that I have found such ability/power to be very useful in many circumstances.
Trying to circumvent a decision is the exact opposite of accepting natural consequences for your actions, which may be the precise lesson that the instructor is hoping to impose upon you.  Therefore, demonstrating that you are desperately seeking to avoid such consequences, by any means possible (including newly invented ideas like performing additional work) might serve no purpose except to reinforce the instructor's belief that winning this battle is of paramount importance.

What I can take upon myself to do – even though my professor said there is nothing – to show her that I am willing to put forth the effort and that I am committed to learning.

See, if you demonstrate your ability to put forth effort and be committed to learning, that doesn't necessarily help your case.  It only shows that you are trying to invent your own way to try to achieve the goals you desire, and not that you are willing to submit to authority or accept justified consequences.

Does anyone know what I can do?

There is one thing that you said that may provide a key clue...

she couldn’t meet with me unless the head of the department of marketing (her boss) was present.

The instructor has provided you with a recommendation.  Arrange a meeting that involves the Marketing department's head/chair.

The meeting is tomorrow at 12:30, after two other finals starting at 8.

Excellent.  You have done so already.  (And, unfortunately, already had that meeting before this answer was posted.)
Note that even if you miss the scheduled times when other people took their final exams, you could still get a good solution.  Some time might be allocated for when you can take the final exam on your own.  This might or might not be a decision that some people (who may be rather sympathetic, or might not be) may provide.  There might be other consequences too.
Understand that you have the powers to politely request and to hope, but not to demand or insist.  Fighting is most likely going to cause you to experience the people who have power in this scenario becoming even more uncooperative, perhaps even in the long term while a class is repeated.  A humble approach is much more likely to serve you well, even if the final result is not what you hope for.

The same thing happened for me some years ago. I slept and missed a final exam. The irony was, the course didn't have any midterm exams or homework and its qualification was solely based on the final exam!
Here's what I did. I wrote a letter to the professor explaining my excuse and admitting the consequences, but I asked him to have mercy on me. The grading system was a 0 to 20 scale (and not F to A+), and the minimum grade for passing was 10. I asked the professor whether it was possible to give me a 9 to minimize the damage.
The professor did so, and although I failed that course, I remained grateful of his generosity. Next semester, I took it again and passed. So my personal advice is: it's not a big deal. These things happen. And life goes on...

How does it differ if you fail with 9 points or 0 points? The system I know is "fail and try again next semester", independet on "how" you failed.

@JayFromA do I really need to explain the difference between failing with 0 and failing with 9? The most obvious one is its impact on the average of grades.

Do I really need to explain that in some systems the failed exam doesn´t count at all and is just documented as a failed try to pass the exam? Using points of failed exams for comming up with a grade is a foreign (and strange) concept to me.

@JayFromA and it seems I really need to explain that in my experience, most people just look at the GPA and don't care about the details, e.g. whether you passed a specific course or failed it once.

My point is that there are systems where points/grades of failed exams are completely disregarded and not considered for the calculation of any grades. Coming from such a system the 0/9 points difference would have absolutely no effect and therefore seems strange.

@JayFromA I wasn't aware of those kind of systems. Your point is totally valid in that case. Anyway, my whole point was the lase two sentences of my answer.

At my university, a repeated grade replaced the previous grade (higher or lower), so that's an option, too.

@user3067860 God, my life would be so simpler if we had that option too. Back in my day, we had some sadist professors (well, most of them) who didn't even give the courtesy of minimizing the damage. And I considered myself to be soooo lucky by getting a 9 and failing anyway :p

@polfosol Well there was also always the over-confident person who attempted to upgrade a C but ended up with a D or an F (especially if, for example, the professor changed).

@JayFromA: My point is that there are systems where points/grades of failed exams are completely disregarded and not considered for the calculation of any grades. – I would even argue that that’s the defining property of a failed exam. I thus really wonder what the difference between failing and not failing is in the system in question. Is it just an arbitrary threshold on the grading scale where you should feel really bad once you are below it?

@Wrzlprmft In the system of that kind I am familiar with (in Danish high schools), you do not need to pass all your exams to graduate. You just need your average to be above a passing grade. This means that getting a lower failing grade makes this harder. There are also some further requirements on not having too many failed courses (I think), and if studying a certain topic at university has a course as requirement, then you need to have passed that course (one would think that nobody would want to study math after having failed math in high school, but well, students...).

In Italy where I studied a failed exam and a no show are completely equivalent to not having taken the course in the first place. You just have to retake it (of course this might give you trouble if you have a scholarship requiring you to pass a certain amount of exams per year).

There's nothing ironic about a course not having a midterm or homework.

@DeanMacGregor but sleeping through the final exam of that course is like, super ironic. I even read somewhere that there was this man among our caveman ancestors who overslept and missed a hunting. When he woke up and looked at the sun which was in the middle of sky, he said: that's ironic. They didn't know what it meant since the guy was pretty hungover. But the word sounded nice and so they adopted it right away.

@poftosol Final-only evaluation as an emergency measure or as a regular element of that course's syllabus?

I agree with all the people that say you can ask, but be ready to accept a "no".
I'll add that sleeping through an exam shows irresponsibility, and expecting to be able to make it up shows a disrespect for the process.
I would recommend to approach this by suggesting a fair mitigating penalty.  For example, if a zero on the exam would result in a failure, I would offer that suggesting your overall grade be calculated based upon the remainder of your grades for the course, with a substantial penalty assessed (maybe a full letter grade), would be an equitable outcome.  You receive a substantial penalty, creating some fairness toward all the students that managed to follow the rules, but maybe you pass the course.
I'll add that a zero is probably only a part of the smallest penalty you would get for cheating.  You would likely have an additional assessment against your grade, and you would also have a record of academic dishonesty, which would profoundly influence penalties on future incidents.

It sounds like you are simply out of luck. The best advice I can give is see if your school has a policy wherein you can re-take a course and substitute the new grade for the old one (sometimes called 'gapping').

As others have said, it certainly makes sense to ask for another chance to take the exam, but don't be surprised if the answer is no.
If the answer is yes, there are two responses you might have: 1. Sigh with relief and forget about it. 2. Learn from the experience.
If the answer is no, there are two responses you might have: 1. Complain about the unfairness of the world. 2. Learn from the experience.
I suppose from the way I worded that, it's obvious that I think the smart response in either case is #2.
Let me say up front that I have a lot of sympathy for you. It sucks to have worked hard all semester and then potentially fail the course because of one mistake.
But why did you sleep through the exam? Do you have a medical problem? If so, you may have a valid excuse. But if the reason is because you were up late, whether you were studying or partying, that indicates poor planning.
Years ago I heard a piece of advice that I have never forgotten: If something is important, be on time. If there is any possibility that something will cause you to be late, plan plenty of extra time. If an event is extremely important, allow ridiculous amounts of time.
Once I was late showing up for a job interview. I didn't get the job. Maybe I would have gotten the job if I'd been on time, maybe not.
Since then, if Google maps says it will take, say, an hour to get from my home to the interview, I leave 2 hours or more before. If I get there early, I make sure I know exactly where the place is, exactly what building, and if it's a big office building, which suite. I don't want to be 5 minutes before the appointment and be wandering around the wrong building because I got confused about the address. If I'm still way early, I find someplace nearby to get a cup of coffee, or I otherwise sit around and kill time. It is better to waste an hour sitting in front of the building than be late.
If I have to get up for something, I set two alarm clocks: one by my bed and one across the room, so that I have to get out of bed to turn off the alarm. Also, I make sure that I go to bed early so that I will, in fact, be able to get up.
I'm not a very punctual person. I'm often late for work and I usually show up for doctors appointments and the like at the last minute. But when it's something where I have a lot to lose by being late, I simply make sure I'm not late. It's much, much better to allow so much time or have such a good backup plan that you will not be late unless there is literally an earthquake or an alien invasion, then to rely on offering an excuse like "there was a lot of traffic" or "I got an important phone call just as I was about to leave". Are there times when there are circumstances beyond your control? Sure. But most of the time, you could still have been on time with a little better planning.
Suppose the worst case: What if you fail the class. Is your academic career ruined? When I was in college you could always retake a class that you failed. They would even take the failing grade off your GPA and replace it with the new grade. I see a lot of comments on another answer about how extreme the consequences are of being forced to drop out of school. I don't know the details of your situation, but I don't see why this should force you to drop out of school. So it costs you time and money, but it shouldn't be the end of the world.

One option I have not heard mentioned, but which may become necessary, is to take the F and then retake the course next year.  Depending on the topic, might even be available in the summer (especially if you broaden to looking at other schools, etc.)
Of course F drops the GPA some and could hold up eventual graduation, especially if in last semester or it is a prerequisit for other classes.  But still, I would not equate a single F with stopping school.  Heck even failing out of an individual college doesn't stop you from going elsewhere.

The following answer is from my experience in an Australian university; the USA universities perhaps have a similar policy.
In all Australian universities, when a student can not attend an official assessment or an examination, she can apply for an academic consideration in which you need to provide evidence and valid reasons as to why you could not attend the exam and what stopped you from attending. The academic consideration application is taken very seriously in that you need to have applied for it on or before the day exam was due (you can not submit an application any day after exam day) and your medical certificates can not be back dated. You also need to provide the evidence within three days of the date of submitted application. Once, you apply for academic consideration and your medical certificates are approved by the university (some students provide fake medical certificates so university will check if the provided medical certificates are authentic), they send your application to an academic and you will be a given a chance to attend a deferred exam.
Now assuming your university also has a similar procedure and that you actually were sick because you were so exhausted and could not wake up to attend your exam, you can see a medical practitioner, get a medical certificate and then apply for an academic consideration (or whatever it is called at your university). I suggest that when you see the head of department and your lecturer, be honest with them. Hopefully, they will understand your situation and allow you to sit a deferred exam.

You should try to figure out why you overslept. Is this something that's simply caused by lack of sleep, is it caused by poor sleep quality due to e.g. noise,  are there medical issues that you need to get to the bottom of? If you understand better why this has happened, then that will help to prevent this from happening again. Even if you're not allowed to sit this exam again, you will want to prevent missing out on yet another exam.
If you have figured out the cause of the problem and have implemented good remedies, you'll feel a lot more confident speaking to the staff at your institution about the incident. By basing a request for a makeover exam on a problem that you have spent some effort on to fix, you are demonstrating responsible behavior. You have done whatever is possible from your side to fix the problem first, and now you are asking the staff if they are willing to do what only they can do.

Actually where I work 0 can only be assigned if the student is found guilty of academic misconduct.  Otherwise, even if no work is submitted, the minimum mark is 1.  I’ve seen this happen many times: while 0 for the final exam is appropriate, anything more than that is IMO not appropriate.
The OP should plead to redo the exam during the exam period, but expect nothing: I fully understand why an instructor would not be amused at having and would refuse to prepare another test for a single student who overslept.
I do not think asking to submit extra work will go very far unless this was an option for everyone in the class.  The final mark is not a statement on the student but on the performance of the student as measured by the instructor, so personal circumstances completely within control of the student very rarely result in the possibility of doing extra work for credit.
The argument that “I put a lot of work into this course” will unfortunately likely carry no weight: some students do no work and pass, others do a lot of work but still fail.  The final mark does not reflect the cumulative work done by a student but the overall performance of the student within the framework of a course given at a college or university, including exams where the individual performance can be assessed.

Find out if you have the option of testing out of the class from the school and request to take that test instead.

In the US there are CLEP tests.

Unlike others, I sympathize with you. I am almost always on time, I have spare time for bad traffic and other common causes don't make me late. But still I've had two occasions like this myself.
Once I had a food poisoning- I started throwing up at like midnight before the exam and at 5 in the morning I emailed the professor that I can't come because of sudden health issues. He replied something along "come at one of these dates when I'm having some other students".
The other time was when I was an examiner myself. I had no excuse. I had like 8 alarms and I just closed my eyes after the last one to wake up to a call 2 hours later when students went to complain that I'm missing. I arrived as fast as I could (still nearly 2 hours late), apologized, held the exam for whoever was still willing to take it and arranged another date for the ones who had left. I explained it all to supervising department and had no consequences other than working another day.
The last example is what I'd suggest if "can I please take the exam at another date" fails on your meeting. I would ask the head of the department what would they do if the examiner was the one who slept through. I suspect they wouldn't drop faculty member because of a single sleepthrough. But it's far more important to have examiner present than to have a student's, so how would it be fair to have more severe consequences for you than to the examiner?
Note: if "can I please take the exam at another date" is responded with "you can take at the July resit" or "you can retake the whole course next year" - it's fine and you don't use my final advice.

Your first example does not really help OP's case. You were actually ill and any doctor, even one appointed by the uni, would have given you a notice. The second case is also different, because you may have angered many students, but there was no direct consequence you had to fight. You did not get automatically punished. You just had to apologize and clean up your mess. Lastly, comparing OP's situation to that of a faculty member is a large stretch and I would advise against this.

I sympathize with the OP, too, because her mistake was unintentional and really bad luck. That said, I would very strongly advise against the comparison to a faculty member. First, failing a class is more like receiving a severe reprimand rather than being fired, and a severe reprimand is what I would expect if I missed an important work obligation, such as proctoring an exam, due to oversleeping. Second, it might be taken as implying that her professor is the kind of person who might miss an exam due to oversleeping, which could offend them.

@Ian why would you advise against that? If retaking the exam at a later date is denied, it can't get worse because one fights it.

@Džuris, yes, it can get worse. OP could give her professor and department chair the impression she's not mature enough to take responsibility for her mistakes, which could hurt her going forward.

Ok, @PersonX, I added note to my answer to clarify. The advice is for the case where they offer no later exam - there is no "going forward". At the institution where I work there are no course retakes. If one fails a course, they can have exam session extension of two weeks and has to arrange resits with the professor individually. You either pass the courses within those weeks or you're out. Or fail more than 3 courses and you're out without even an extension.

@Džuris I'm curious hat type of institution is this that failure of a single course leads to being dropped from the program. What is the subject matter? Is it high stress in other ways? Heavy competition for few available positions(if you are not in the top x% you don't get through anyway)? How is it funded? (I could see maybe in some government or community funded institution with limited resources, if you fail your spot gets opened up to give someone else a chance...) Perhaps some military program?

Downvoted. This answer, and most of the comments you’ve posted to this question, are neither helpful nor sensible and do not show a good understanding of the higher educational environment of a typical western country (which is where OP is, with 99% likelihood). Your implication that other answers lack sympathy for her is also objectively false. One can sympathize with OP’s predicament without thinking that she deserves to be shielded from the consequences of her actions, and without advocating illogical and unhelpful ways to try to get out of said predicament.

@Mr.Mindor mostly maritime. The students pay for it themselves and the there are almost always free positions for more students. And each year I see a couple of returning faces rerolled from the start again. They plan to earn back the fees in one voyage.

"I would ask the head of the department what would they do if the examiner was the one who slept through." -- If I were the department head, my response would be, "Why in the WORLD is that relevant? You are a student... not an examiner. You were given the requirements. You failed to meet them."  This displays an appalling lack of responsibility and is a sure-fire way to get on the wrong side of the DH. Yes, the OP should plead for mercy, but should also acknowledge fully that this situation is totally THEIR fault. Implying anything less is guaranteed to fail.

Ultimately, your outcome will depend on the policy of your school. A possible saving grace is that your professor may be overly strict even by the standards of the school.
First, while I'm familiar with a 0 given for cheating, and an F given for missing an exam, an "F" meant 50%, at least in "my time" (which was the late 1970s). I'm a bit surprised that the two grades were conflated. If your F grade for the final is 50% and averaged in with your other grades in the course, it might give you a C or D.
A similar solution would be for you to be allowed to retake the final, with that grade being averaged in with an F on the first final to arrive at your final grade. The average of the F and an A would be a C; the average of the F and a B or C would be a D, etc.
In my time, a dispute of this sort went up to the dean, who typically tried to broker this kind of a compromise, because they didn't want students to fail. Hopefully, someone higher up will see it this way.

Is the policy of missed exams spelled out in the syllabus, i.e., if you miss an exam the score is equivalent to 0? I have a policy of no makeups, unless there is a major earthquake at time of the exam or you proved that you could not come because you broke both legs on the way to class. Even if you proved the aforementioned two cases, I may not give you a makeup, if your past performance (like zeros on previous exams) indicates it would be a futile exercise. That is for the legals. Once I cover the legals, I tend to look into the issues. Mostly, if the student misses the first midterm I tell him that I would like to see how he does on the subsequent exams. If they are reasonably good, say 60% I would allow him to take the first test makeup. Mostly, missed exams are an indicator of trouble student, irresponsible, poor performance, etc. One should however always have one's ear also tuned to a possibility that this was an honest mishap. It is actually easy to discern the two cases. Then, of course many people do not bother, just give a makeup and all... I do not know how your story unfolded, but having other assignments good will help your case a lot.

Is this a UK thing?
In the UK if for any reason you miss an exam you can resit it later in the year but the maximum grade you can receive is the minimum pass mark usually around 40%.
Also I’m pretty sure there is a way to defer your whole course by one year, keeping the points for the current modules and just redoing the maths part next year. Not sure about fees tough.
It is a cold harsh world out there man. You screwed up.
But maybe a good thing for you as it sounds like you are not a 9 to 5 kinda guy. University degrees are for people who want to join a company and spend their life working as an unwitting slave 9am to 5pm to make someone else rich.
If you believe sleeping in is not screwing up and you shouldn't lose your job (or grade) over it, go find something more fulfilling to do with your life and reach your full potential whatever it is.

This might apply in England, I haven't studied there, but it isn't true in Scotland. You can just fail there.

The first half of your answer is potentially useful if true (I don't know how exams in the UK work); the second not so much, it's more of a rant, really.

I worked as a slave 9 to 5 many years for a big aerospace company climbing the corporate ladder before realising that I was unhappy with my life of pointless meetings and bureaucracy. I broke free and started an indi game dev company. the kids need to know that there are other options apart from going from school to uni to corporation to retirement and death. and someone who cant get to an exam for 8am should probably explore those other options as they wont be successful or happy in the corporate world that demands you be at that 8AM meeting early and well prepared looking and talking sharp.

Good for you! But it's really only tangential to the question. You might as well suggest OP should drink a cup of camomille tea before going to bed so as to sleep better and not oversleep. We don't know if she has sleep issues, and we don't know if she's really into marketing and secure 9-5 jobs.

You called the P "man" and "guy" but I'm pretty sure they are presenting themselves as a woman here ...

One of the highest rated answers (by heropup) does not answer the asked question at all and is just a rant about punctuality and consequences, yet that answer's score is higher than 100. This answer does at least provide an actual answer to OP's question, one which could potentially be exactly what OP is looking for and needs. And the rand on this answer is more appropriate, correct, and useful(even if not worded as well) than the rant on the other answer I mentioned. And this answer's rant could be very important to OP if OP fails out. The score for these two answers should be swapped. +1

Even the non-ranty part of this is unreliable - policies on resits and the maximum marks that can be obtained vary between UK universities.

@Aaron ISWYM, but coming to a site populated almost entirely by people with at least two degrees and insulting them is probably not a great strategy for getting an answer upvoted ;-)

@aaron sorry for being unclear; I was not suggesting that you had insulted anybody. I was referring to this answer's text, "University degrees are only for people who want to join a company waste their life away working as an unwitting slave 9am to 5pm to make someone else rich."

@Flyto I see, you were talking to me but about PJF. Given your quoted bit, point taken. Deleted my previous comment. While I think PJF's points are good and useful and stand by my original comment, you are correct the delivery is poor. So maybe "scores should be swapped" is an exaggeration on my part, though I merely meant to point out relative usefulness. I will suggest an edit.

@Flyto Assuming you can see pending suggested edits, is that better? Some might still be insulted, but I think even most professors would now agree with the paragraph you quoted, though not publicly and especially not to the president of their establishment (the one getting rich off them, per OP's intent).