Is my viva my last chance? I feel like I have already failed my PhD
Hi looking for advice and support really. I have my viva in early jan 2014 and I am wondering if by doing a good viva I can convince examiners to give me another shot at writing my PhD. I submitted after a drama of losing work on a laptop and just running out of time to complete my phd - so only 3/4 of it was done.
Plus to boot its in a real state - my supervisor never saw it and I had to submit or fail. I feel like the viva will just be hours of humiliation as the writing was poor and not fit for a phd, is there any way a viva can convince examiners to give time to do a full rewrite and submit again or is it a case of forget it and I will walk into the viva only to be told thanks for coming but you have failed. Any advice or support much appreciated, I feel pretty much alone with this problem. Thanks
Plus to boot its in a real state - my supervisor never saw it and I had to submit or fail. I feel like the viva will just be hours of humiliation as the writing was poor and not fit for a phd, is there any way a viva can convince examiners to give time to do a full rewrite and submit again or is it a case of forget it and I will walk into the viva only to be told thanks for coming but you have failed. Any advice or support much appreciated, I feel pretty much alone with this problem. Thanks
Where I am, there are four possible outcomes of a viva:
- Outright pass (I've never known this happen in the five years I've been around the place!)
- Pass with minor corrections (most people get this), which means that small changes like typos or formatting have to be corrected. The viva doesn't have to be repeated, but the corrected thesis must be approved by supervisors.
- Major corrections (only known one of these). A substantial part of the research is incomplete or needs to be reworked. The thesis has to be significantly improved and resubmitted, and the viva must be repeated.
- Outright fail (I've never known this happen).
If your worst fears are true, then you'll either get the third or fourth option. Pragmatically, it's not in the uni's interest to have you fail as this reflects badly on the organisation, the department and your supervisors. Wherever possible, an inadequate thesis will be returned with Major Corrections after the viva, and the candidate will be given a further chance. It's only my opinion, but I'd think that your thesis would have to be an utter disaster area with no redeeming features and no mitigation, in order for it to be failed completely on first submission. It doesn't sound as if that's the case.
If the writing is poor, then the viva is partly intended to gauge whether you actually have a good understanding of your subject, rather than just some kind of problem writing it. You could be in for a sound grilling, but as long as you know your stuff and you have a decent viva panel, you'll be able to discuss the shortcomings of the thesis whilst still being able to communicate your knowledge.
- Outright pass (I've never known this happen in the five years I've been around the place!)
- Pass with minor corrections (most people get this), which means that small changes like typos or formatting have to be corrected. The viva doesn't have to be repeated, but the corrected thesis must be approved by supervisors.
- Major corrections (only known one of these). A substantial part of the research is incomplete or needs to be reworked. The thesis has to be significantly improved and resubmitted, and the viva must be repeated.
- Outright fail (I've never known this happen).
If your worst fears are true, then you'll either get the third or fourth option. Pragmatically, it's not in the uni's interest to have you fail as this reflects badly on the organisation, the department and your supervisors. Wherever possible, an inadequate thesis will be returned with Major Corrections after the viva, and the candidate will be given a further chance. It's only my opinion, but I'd think that your thesis would have to be an utter disaster area with no redeeming features and no mitigation, in order for it to be failed completely on first submission. It doesn't sound as if that's the case.
If the writing is poor, then the viva is partly intended to gauge whether you actually have a good understanding of your subject, rather than just some kind of problem writing it. You could be in for a sound grilling, but as long as you know your stuff and you have a decent viva panel, you'll be able to discuss the shortcomings of the thesis whilst still being able to communicate your knowledge.
Original post by Paper cloud
Hi looking for advice and support really. I have my viva in early jan 2014 and I am wondering if by doing a good viva I can convince examiners to give me another shot at writing my PhD. I submitted after a drama of losing work on a laptop and just running out of time to complete my phd - so only 3/4 of it was done.
Plus to boot its in a real state - my supervisor never saw it and I had to submit or fail. I feel like the viva will just be hours of humiliation as the writing was poor and not fit for a phd, is there any way a viva can convince examiners to give time to do a full rewrite and submit again or is it a case of forget it and I will walk into the viva only to be told thanks for coming but you have failed. Any advice or support much appreciated, I feel pretty much alone with this problem. Thanks
Plus to boot its in a real state - my supervisor never saw it and I had to submit or fail. I feel like the viva will just be hours of humiliation as the writing was poor and not fit for a phd, is there any way a viva can convince examiners to give time to do a full rewrite and submit again or is it a case of forget it and I will walk into the viva only to be told thanks for coming but you have failed. Any advice or support much appreciated, I feel pretty much alone with this problem. Thanks
From what I know (mostly anecdotal) it is quite difficult to fail a PhD. My understanding is that at realistic worst they will get you to correct either small or large portions of it and resubmit.
(edited 10 years ago)
Thanks so much for your post , really really helpful and given me hope to concentrate on a doing my best for the viva -
What Klix says is pretty much right for most institutions I would think. Hopefully, your supervisor will have primed the external and s/he will be sympathetic. I'd have thought, from what you say, major revisions wouldn't be unreasonable, and you never know your luck.....
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