I'd love to hear someone's opinion on this, if at all possible? Finishing up revisions as part of a Revise and Resubmit and I asked for some clarification on some really vague instructions - but the external refused to clarify further. So far, the whole process has been a nightmare from start to finish and my supervisors have been less than supportive, so I'm well aware that I have a propensity to catastrophise (I suppose it's the notion that no-one's got my back so I have to prepare for the worst) but does that seem... unusual? Or is that fairly typical? In my paranoid brain, it means that the external has already decided not to pass the thesis but, like I say, I'm well aware that I have a tendency to think the worst. Anyone have any experience with this? Thanks for any and all responses.

Hi, I'm afraid I have no first hand knowledge of the situation as I haven't yet submitted but there must be someone you can talk to at your university about it? Do you have a Research Registry Unit or a support unit you can talk to? Is there no way you can ask your supervisors what they think?

I wouldn't jump to any conclusions as far as the outcome goes, they can't have made their minds up without even having viewed your revisions, surely? I do feel for you though, I'm really not looking forward to the whole submission thing and I have a horrible feeling next year is going to slide by before I know it...!

Hi Elimeo,

I'm nearly half way through the revise and resubmit process (resubmission deadline end of summer 2012), in similar circumstances (supervisors and nightmare process) and increasingly thinking about outcomes following this process.

I'm a little surprised by the externals blunt reply! Not exactly helpful at all! But there could be numerous reasons why the external is refusing (ie busy or other factors completely unrelated to your PhD).  I haven't approached my examiners for clarification on anything yet (and they kept saying I could approach them at any time during this r&r process), but I would hope they would be at least willing to offer any further clarification if required Their expecting us to make changes in accordance with their requests, the least they can do is be clear on what they want from us! What do your supervisors think of the ambiguous items? Any thoughts from them?

I'm trying desperately not to think the worse (I know I catastrophise all the time!) by trying to cover each and every point raised in my examiners report and generally just trying my best really.

Reading from recent posts on this forum and thinking back to my own viva experience, the examiners are not out to fail us. By giving you the option of a revise and resubmit, there is every possibility that you will receive your doctorate eventually.

Don't have any direct experience, but I just wanted to wish you the best. I know I'll be in your shoes during spring/summer and I can already see that I've got the whole resubmission anxiety to face yet- which I know will probably be just as stressful (if not more so ) than submission the first time round....eeeek.

Hi - and sorry if I've made you more anxious about the submission process! My situation is the result of a really specific catalogue of errors happening one after the other and it's not typical as far as I can tell! None of my friends have had similar issues with submission; I've just been really unlucky.

Yeah, it's already escalated to the Head of the Faculty of Arts (who's the person that actually gave me the news that the external won't answer any questions. He's been liaising with her on my behalf) so there's no-one else, really. I'm hoping my sups can give me some advice when they get back after Christmas and trying hard not to panic in the meantime.

Pineapple29, thanks for your reply! It's such a relief to hear from someone in the same situation (I don't know anyone who's had Revise and Resubmit). Supervisors are keeping quiet for the time being, but they're probably on their Christmas break by now. In any case, they're not precisely helpful. My first advised me against getting in touch with my external at all in case she "confused me". My biggest issue is that my external is from outside my field and is asking me to do a lot of work that's specific to HER field, in which I'm not even nearly an expert (and my university doesn't even have a department in her field, so there is literally no-one in my institution who can advise me!), and now won't comment on what it is she needs me to do. Yep, she was a disastrous choice for external! This is what makes me think she's already made her mind up: it's like she's setting me up to fail...
:-(

Thanks for the good wishes - and the very same to you! If you wanted to swap horror stories via email, I'm up for that! :-)