It was a long journey which was difficult and lonely. The forum has helped me to remain sane at times and provided entertainment at others. Now that it's all over I do not feel like celebrating but empty and in need of a new balance in my life. I need to leave this behind, including this forum. I would appreciate if my forum membership is terminated by the administrators.

All the best to everyone on here who travelled with me through the virtual spheres of our common challenge. I hope you all get a PhD in the end, and if not, remember, there are so many much more important things in life.

Jouri

P.S.: special wishes to H, ChrisRolinski, Juno, jojo, 404, Golfpro, thecoastman, sylvester, smilodon, insomnia, athina and all the others who were there so many years ago when I joined the forum.

======= Date Modified 16 Nov 2008 13:19:40 =======

I have to admit my reply was a bit rude. That's what happens if painkillers stop working and the viva is looming on top- but no excuses so I hereby apologise for the tone of my earlier reply.

What I originally intended to express was nothing but "life is tough". Hierarchies seem to be very rigid in academia and PhD students are, after all, students and should not expect better treatment than Undergraduate Students from admins and faculty. However, the issue with the payment is pretty annoying - I hope it will be sorted out quickly.

Stop moaning - listen to yourself. We've all been going through the same shit. Try to live with it - it's part of the test a PhD constitutes. Some give up because they are too weak. Even if you are working in a normal company you have to earn respect for more than 1.5 years and work your way up the ranks before important people remember your name. I understand the problem but it's just the way it is.

I will have a complicated emergency wisdom tooth extraction on Monday and my viva on Tuesday - now that is life kicking your arse. I could throw it all in and start crying but I won't. Probably won't be able to speak without pain in the viva but that's life.

I do understand your frustration.

However, I strongly advise that you conduct all the revisions your supervisor wants. If you feel they are inappropriate, try to get an independent opinion of an expert in your field and discuss the outcome with your supervisor. But don't try to submit without supervisor's approval. You would most likely fail.

Doesn't make any sense. Do you mean someone who is interested in a discussion about theology? If that is the case, why would that only be possible with people who are doing a PhD?

OR

Do you mean you want to find out more about PhD studies in this discipline? If that is the case, be more specific as you will otherwise be ignored.

Flakey, how could you possibly advise someone who cannot cope very well with stress to do a Part-Time PhD (i.e. DOUBLE the stress)????

It might help to do a Masters degree first. That extra year or two could potentially narrow down your research interests. Apart from that it is important to remember that a PhD has nothing in common with studies at Undergraduate or even Masters level, so think hard if you really want to be miserable, lonely and working long hours for the next three to four years. You say you are not good at handling stress. In this case be warned that a PhD does mean stress, a lot of it, by its very nature.

======= Date Modified 16 Oct 2008 19:15:36 =======
As a general advise, stay away from round emails, unless they have something to do with your PhD. I usually press delete before I even read them, hasn't done me any harm so far (Post-submission/Pre-Viva stage).

Two problems: book summaries carry no prestige, i.e. they are not regarded as "proper" publications by your colleagues, hence doing little to improve your reputation. even the opposite.

Secondly, sounds like donkey work, nobody wants to do it, takes a long time, rewards are little. Given that you are a new PhD student you obviously don't know this and might get exploited for more donkey tasks in the future.

Do yourself a favour and focus on your PhD. There are too many distractions and side paths which lead into misery, only.

Sorry, Alice - I simply regarded your "problem" as so ridiculous that I replied to you in private. Didn't want to bore the rest of the world with it. But if you feel offended by receiving PM's - please go ahead and ask the forum administrators to disable the function (or block me).

For the general public: I told her that the archives are not lost with a new username and that this is only a bloody forum anyway. May I just add to that: get a life.

======= Date Modified 14 Oct 2008 19:52:04 =======
What's the fuss all about? Just register with a new username...takes a minute.

======= Date Modified 13 Oct 2008 19:06:44 =======

I second what A116 said. This internal's behaviour is absolutely UNACCEPTABLE. I think it is a very unfortunate situation for you because a formal complaint is the only way forward (because the internal should be punished for this behaviour which is simply unacceptable - I hope she will face repercussions for her future career and the boss of your faculty gets informed about this) but at the same time it is very late to get a new examiner (as you've probably already sent out your thesis to both internal and external?).



On top of that, the emotional turmoil pre-Viva. Hard to bear. If I heard that the viva was cancelled one week before the actual date I would get really angry, depressed and sad. The psychological pressure builds up before the viva and to hear news like this is just too much to handle. Therefore I wish you the strength to go through these difficult times. Don't expect family and friends to understand what you are going through, though, they wont.

It makes me so angry to hear a story like this. This internal examiner takes herself so serious to screw up a viva date???? It is unbeliable(down)

If you want to make a good impression, don't talk too much. Listen to what your supervisor has to say and take notes. Apart from that, try to avoid making silly comments which you might regret later. Agree on the frequency of meetings, never leave a supervision meeting without setting up a new one. Remember, at this point you don't know if your supervisor is supportive (i.e. any good) or not (i.e. useless). So be careful and alert...

I slightly disagree.

1. Only if they deserve it, if they really do, yell at them (but not in front of other witnesses or co-workers. Otherwise they'll lose their face and you'll lose your job). It's better to tell them what you think (polite) than to swallow it down all the time.

2. Make sure people you don't like, start to like you. As a consequence you will like them and everyone's happy.