Unsuccessful following job interview.

No real surprise as really messed the interview up. Underlying concerns about PhD results is probably not helping matters!

Oh well, good interview experience I guess.....

No news :-(

======= Date Modified 02 Nov 2012 14:24:35 =======

No meetings or correspondence with the internal examiner whilst sorting through thesis corrections following viva. I don't think it was an issue about whether he cared or not, but more to do with the fact that my supervisors were required to check my progress during resubmission process rather than internal examiner. They both said I was allowed to contact them if I had any questions, so I suppose I could have contacted them, but was (and still am!) a bit scared to contact my examiners!

Internal examiner and the external examiner listed corrections for me to work through within the examiners report. Supervisors kept checking in with me to see my progress and whether I understood examiners points correctly.

======= Date Modified 02 Nov 2012 11:28:51 =======
Ok, update. Due to annual leave of key people involved with this whole process, I won't receive any news until next week. Which partly explains why I haven't heard anything. Devastated as this means waiting a little longer, but also means I can get on with other things.

Tempted to go down there myself and see if there are any big envelopes from my examiners of potential news waiting to be opened in the departmental office.

I WISH I was out celebrating. Sadly, no news. I'm really starting to worry now :-(

I think results will come tomorrow or early next week....

I've got a few interviews next week, so I won't be able to check my emails as frequently next week.

I promise to let you all know as soon as I find out! ;-)

======= Date Modified 01 Nov 2012 14:47:56 =======
My uni calls us postgraduate research students. Within my CV, letters, presentations etc, I usually state 'PhD candidate'.

At the beginning of my PhD, a research officer (without a PhD) rudely commented that 'Well you're only a student' as justification for moving me out of my desk space within my office which she preferred whilst I was away conducting fieldwork (I knew nothing about it until I returned!). Despite the fact that the head of department wanted me to use that office! Same staff member made comments within team meetings that 'I was only a student' therefore X, Y, Z (basically implying that I was of lower status to everyone else in the department). I also overheard her comments to other members of staff that I was only a student therefore did not deserve to have my photo taken and placed on the staff notice board with other staff members. Yes, I am a PhD student, but I was NOT happy and didn't appreciate to be belittled like that!

The bitch in me would relish the chance of jumping to a more senior grade 7 research associate post if awarded PhD (and gently make that known to this member of staff!). ;-) But, I've moved on from that and can't be bothered with such unnecessary office politics.

So, in my experience, amongst some rather unpleasant staff, there were definite overt divisions made between a student (funded by scholarship) and members of paid university staff, so from that experience, I tend not to refer myself as a student (although I know I'm a student!) If that makes sense?!

Thanks for your posts/concern! Nice to know there seems to be quite a few people following my story and interested in my results!

I'll create a new thread as soon as I hear anything. Hopefully title of new posts along the lines of 'Dr Pineapple' or 'Resubmission success' and not 'Resubmission Rejection' or 'Failed Resubmission'.

Trying to concentrate on postdoc job interview prep, but I'm just really really tired, drained, a bit tearful and just feel like sleeping.

Really should go out for a walk or something, maybe get some icecream or watch a scary movie if I don't hear anything before 5pm.

Still no news. Torturous wait continues.

======= Date Modified 30 Oct 2012 18:49:27 =======
======= Date Modified 30 Oct 2012 18:38:44 =======
Hey!

Oh wow, thank you all so much! I wasn't expecting such lovely advice. Really very helpful.

Hi SN! Massive congrats on submitting and your new postdoc job.

Marasp- Hope all is well with resubmission progress.

I'm sitting here literally shaking with nerves/anxiety/worry re tomorrows result. Not good sign at all, but trying to keep myself focused on job apps and job prep,if only to stop me from shaking by concentrating on next steps. I don't think I'm going to be sleeping tonight though!

Oh well, there's nothing I can do now, but wait just a little bit longer. They've made their decision by now. Whatever their decision, I've tried my best with it and tried to meet all their major recommedations and almost all of their minor suggestions. Can't do anymore than that.

Hi all,

Well I'm expecting my R&R submission results in less than 48 hours now. eeeek.

This morning, I received an email inviting me for an interview for a postdoc position at another university (completely unrelated to my PhD, but highly relevant for my health psychology training).

I'm absolutely delighted as this is a long term post and will allow me to complete my chartered health psy training.

It's a 30 minute interview with a 5 minute presentation on a research article attached to the invitation email. I need to focus my presentation on statistical analyses used in this paper.

I would be grateful for any tips?!

Many thanks! :-)

======= Date Modified 25 Oct 2012 11:05:11 =======
Hi Dan,

I similarly received an R&R outcome (expecting examiners results next week). Prior to my viva, I was convinced my examiners would fail me with an MPhil or an outright fail. My supervisors were overtly expecting extensive major corrections (or an MPhil) and it was up to me at the viva to switch the balance to a resubmission.

However, at my viva and within my examiners report, my examiners were mostly positive and emphasized the enormity of my PhD work (results and coverage) and seemed to be really confused and perplexed why I was so worried about an MPhil outcome and why I clarified the resubmission verdict with them twice (showing them again that I was expecting an MPhil).

It seemed to me that given thesis coverage and the fact that my examiners noted in the examiners report that some of my findings were breaking new ground and could lead to significant new avenues of knowledge, an MPhil was simply not an option. At my viva and examiners report, I was criticized for being overly ambitious and as result, I was primarily required to reduce my thesis down and narrow my research focus onto 2-3 research questions rather than 5-6 research questions. In the end, I ended up deleting almost two results chapters and submitting a completely different reworded and narrowly focused reduced PhD thesis. Furthermore, my external examiner strongly encouraged me to think about publishing bits of my thesis and she mentioned at least 5-7 publications after I've finished with the corrections (and not to permanently delete omitted material, but publish as separate publications) so I guess that also gives an indication of thesis being substantial enough.

As my thesis was very different from my submitted draft (but adheres to their requests) I have to wait until next week to see if I've done enough. Mega eeeeek!

I would imagine an MPhil is awarded if the
- thesis fails to reach doctoral level standard, (ie weak literature review, research questions, weak discussion, lack of evaluation, poorly presented, weak/no contributions to knowledge)
- fails to make a significant contribution to knowledge (the 'substantial enough' bit).
- Perhaps poor performance at viva? ie at the viva, the candidate demonstrated that they don't have the capacity to succeed at doctoral level?
- Alternatively, the candidate decides to leave with an MPhil rather than working towards a PhD.

As every PhD is unique, I'm not sure it's useful to consider number of pages etc to ascertain whether something is substantial enough. I think the point is whether the PhD is advancing knowledge in some way and to do so the thesis needs to show some evaluative insight and research investigation into a specific niche within a particular field.

Also, asking questions on how much data completely depends on the project, especially if conducting qualitative rather than quantitative research. When my external examiner commented on the number of methods I've used to answer all of my research questions, she mentioned something about a PhD candidate receiving a PhD from a very small number of extremely in depth interviews. So, in some cases, ie qualitative research I don't think it's useful to think about numbers required for enough data. Alternatively, I think excessively large data collection (above and beyond numbers indicated from power calculations) raises some ethical questions in collecting reams and reams of data which maybe deemed as unnecessary and adverse for participants and resources.

Hey Bilbo,

Apologies, perhaps failed to make myself clear. Yes, I understand that PhDs and professional doctorates (ie clinical doctorate) are both doctorates. Just wanted to make the point that not everyone openly declares they possess doctoral level qualifications.

I would similarly assume that the vast majority of people within academic conferences would have PhDs, so this persons comment of 'I have a PhD' probably raised some eyebrows! Implying that someone is an expert in something because they have a PhD in a specific area always raises question marks for me as my PhD has taught me the importance of subjectivity and limitations of peoples work (including my own) and probably links to Popper's arguments of falsification.

Ok, I'm still waiting for examiners decision following a resubmission and I don't have a PhD. But, thinking about this more generally, this kind of question/issue is making me reflect on usage of doctor or openly declaring 'I'm a Doctor' (latter of which I would never say as I don't hold a doctorate!). I noticed that some friends who completed PhDs and completed professional doctorates seldom posted things like 'I'm a doctor' on facebook etc or did not mention passing vivas etc etc and at the time, I wondered why and wondered if this was a sign of humbleness or just because they don't post things like that on social networking sites.

For me, if I get it, I would like to shout it from the roof tops as I've had such a horrendous journey. But, seeing that others sometimes hide their achievements and considering these points, I'm wondering if others may view me as 'arrogant', 'egotistical' or 'showing off' if on the chance I'm successful I declared my success.

Don't get me wrong, I certainly would not say at a conference that because of a PhD, this makes an argument more significant or valued, but this sort of questioning and issue does make me think about others (ie non graduates) may perceive someone with a PhD or encounter someone who is determined to announce their doctor status.

Just a thought........

======= Date Modified 19 Oct 2012 12:07:33 =======
Heard from uni. No news yet. Been told to 'hang in there'.

Their expecting results on the 31st of October or as near to that date as possible (I resubmitted mid August).

======= Date Modified 12 Oct 2012 16:05:09 =======
Hey Pam.

I completely understand frustrations with waiting limbo!

I submitted my thesis in September and had to wait until the following March for a viva date, only for my examiners to cancel viva 2 weeks before viva, which then involved waiting for a new viva date and search for a new examiner. So, all in all, about a 9 month wait between submission and viva. But, my story is a complete outlier to other PhD candidate stories, so hardly representative of other waiting times.

I was just told to sit tight and wait. In my case, the admin lady knew of the dates and my examiners names before my supervisors!?

I've been waiting for the past 2 months for my examiners to let me know if I've passed my PhD or not following submission of a reduced thesis in accordance with their requests from my viva last year.

So for me, the wait continues and is starting to really worry me now, especially as a long wait for me has usually resulted in bad news, so I'm trying my best to cope with it all and will utilize counseling services if my distress gets any worse! (Although must keep in mind that their not expecting any news until end of this month, so I'm probably not doing myself any favours worrying!).

BUT, excluding my story, wait for viva date is due to lots of factors nothing to do with the quality of a thesis- ie annual leave, agreeing on dates, busy schedules etc etc.

Hope you receive your viva date soon.