Hi Guys,

I have had 12 months to complete major corrections on my PhD. I am now very short of time before I re-submit, as for the last 10 months I have worked solidly in order to pay back 4 credit cards I ran up during the completion of my PhD. Can I apply for an extension to my PhD re-submission deadline based on financial difficulty? I only need at most an additional 4 weeks. If I submit it now it will not satisfy the corrections suggested by the external and internal examiner and will likely fail out right.

Any suggestions please!?!

Hi Sam,

I don't know if this is helpful but I put back the final submission date for my PhD by 3 months. I know your situation is different as you are talking about a resubmission date. It really pissed off my supervisor; not just because it made me run over the four years and fucked up the department's funding but also because one of my externals was being flown in from overseas and it meant the viva date also had to be changed and thus plane tickets altered etc. What did become apparent though was that if you aren't going to make one of these big PhD deadlines you should let your supervisor and departmental head know as soon as possible. They may not like it but it is always better for them to have more time to go into bat for you. I guess what I am trying to say is let them know asap but also really plead the financial difficulty case: exaggerate your financial situation if you have to and really try to drum up some sympathy. Remember that neither your supervisor, your department or your externals want you to fail so give them some really good reasons to think of you as a special case. Also read your university's bylaws, or call your registry (anonymously if need be) and get a handle on the rules and any loopholes there may be as you cannot guarantee that your supervisor or dept head may know what to do in a case like this. That is, if you have an unsympathetic supervisor they may just be tempted to say the date can't be altered so you need to have this information yourself in case they are wrong.

Finally, if you don't get your extension don't just give up. Do as much work as you can and resubmit anyway as you never know you may still get through.

Good luck and get working; in a few months you will hopefully have a PhD that nobody can ever take off you and it will all be over.

Hi Biddy,

Were you successful in the end?

sam

I'm not sure if your asking if I was successful in the PhD/viva or in getting the extension. The answer to both is yes. I applied for the extension at about the same time before my deadline as you are.

The other thing I forgot to say is another piece of advice I got at the time from a friend of mine who is an academic at another university. When asking for your extension make sure that you give yourself all the time you need. That is, don't just ask for a little bit of time because you feel guilty at having to ask at all; be really realistic about how long you need as you would hate to have to apply for a second extension.

Thanks Biddy,

I'll get onto it right away!

Many thanks for your supportive words.

Sam.

Just called the registry and they said if it is a case of only a few weeks (due end of nov needs may be only extra 3 weeks needed) then it will be ok, as long as I inform my supervisor and internal examiner. I have just emailed my supervisor to break the news (I'm at home now). I said I wanted it by Christmas for my own sanity. I really hope he is ok with this. There is no formal paper work needed. I'm worried how he might reply!!!

Yea I remember feeling exactly the same after I had contacted my supervisor but I had to take a grip on myself and think "I have enough to worry about with getting the thesis finsihed to get too depressed/embarrassed over this'.

I hope that you have given yourself enough time. Good luck with it all. Keep me posted on your progress.

Hi Biddy,

Thanks for the support.  I aim to get it in by Christmas, i.e. 24th December this year as the last day the registry is open is Fri 24th December. Both supervisor and examiners were happy to accept the delayed thesis. Now all I have to do is find a decent job search site suitable for PhD qualified people!

Hi,

I am interested to know if you got it done?