"too quiet" said Custard

AAAAAAAHHHHHH, please tell me to stop being stupid. IT is only 3 weeks since I submitted, and the waiting game is already driving me mad. I think once I get a viva date I 'll be OK (within reason), but now I'm plagued with all kinds of anxieties - like what if my thesis is too crap and they're not even going to bother examining it?!? and what it the point of a viva when they've pretty much already made up their minds when they read it?

Anyone else who's submitted, do you feel like this? At my uni there's alot of info about submission guidelines, and applying for a PhD at the beginning, etc. But once you've submitted it's like everything goes into some sort of black hole and you're left wondering "what happens now"? What does happen anyway? Does the examiner write to you and ask when to do the viva? Or is it managed by the university? Would they actually bother setting one up if the examiner thought that the thesis needed major changes? Please help as I'm going out of my mind with worry!

DJWicked might be able to shed some light for you...that is if she isn't sailing off into the sunset with the lovely Sam!

Or Ann - she's been there and done that so she should help you.

Why am I telling you this? They can answer for themselves. I'll shut up now and do some work *pulls head in*.

I have HUGE anxiety about my phd actually being far too bad for anyone to even bother viva-ing me. I went to see my supervisor last week for a chat, and got the impression that now that I've sumitted and am not officially a funded student anymore (hence she isnt being paid for supervising me anymore), I am nolonger her concern. She was nice to me, but didnt exactly encourage me to come by more often for a chat!

"What does happen anyway?"
Hopefully, before you submitted the thesis, you and your supervisors would have discussed and agreed on a potential team of examiners. These recommendations would have been submitted to your Uni research degrees committee who would have mulled over your suggestions and then approved the team (or asked for alternatives). Sometimes, this procedure doesn't happen until after you've submitted, in which case there can be a long delay.

"Does the examiner write to you and ask when to do the viva? Or is it managed by the university?"
The director of studies (your main supervisor) sometimes acts as the person who contacts the examiners to arrange a mutually convenient viva date. Sometimes it is the internal examiner who does this.

"Would they actually bother setting one up if the examiner thought that the thesis needed major changes?"
Not usually, if one of the examiners really thought that the thesis simply wasn't up to scratch, they might return it to the uni with recommendations to re-write before re-submission - this is very rare and the thesis would have been be especially lacking.

Does your Uni run a 'preparing for viva' workshop? Most do, find out because they can be very helpful, if only to reassure you that all pre-viva students are freaked out about the same things! Also, get your supervisors (or anyone suitably qualified) to give you a mock viva (or vivas!), this is really important I think. Good luck!