Hi everyone. I just wanted to drop in and say that my examiners reports came back this week and I have passed subject to minor revisions. I say this not to "rub it in" to you poor folk who are still pre-submission, but to say that IF I CAN DO IT, YOU CAN TOO! When I submitted, as you can see from my posts, I was pretty convinced that my thesis was rubbish and that it would come back with major revisions... I really only submitted because I had a job offer and thought I'd just submit and deal with the awful examination results later. But my comments were overall very positive and the changes they want quite minor.

I know other people have said this, and it is probably easy to dismiss it thinking you are clearly so much more of a failure than anyone else here. But I thought that and it's just not true. Please remember that you are the worst person to judge how good your thesis is now, so trust that your supervisors won't let you submit if it's truly going to fail, and have faith it'll all work out okay!

Thanks Hugh, chickpea and Zutterfly! I submitted yesterday and organised drinks with friends last night to celebrate. I have a few days break but back to work part-time next week, then starting a new full-time job the week after.

Hi all, just dropping in to say that I finished my thesis and had it printed today, ready to submit on Friday. Definitely echo litphdgirl... I didn't ever think I'd get here, even last week I was telling people "hopefully" I'll be submitting next week! Just keep doing the next little step and the next little step, and before you know it you will be at the finish line...

Welcome PracticalMouse! The last two months will fly by, which may or may not be a good thing...

Thanks Zutterfly and Hugh! Yes, it's amazing how it doesn't feel like a big deal. Just six months ago I was so desperate for submission day and imagined how wonderful the day would be. Then every time I hit a milestone (like having a draft of all my chapters) there was still so much more to do so it didn't feel like a big deal.

Good luck to both of you in finding work, I feel very grateful I'm in a not pursuing academia and going into a less competitive field.

Congrats on getting the draft in Zutterfly!

Things are going well on my end, after a really torturous weekend I sent the full thing off for proof-reading, so it is basically done and I'm not going to change anymore content. My supervisor has signed the forms, and I just booked my appointment to submit for next Friday.

I am so unhappy with my thesis but trying to tell myself that everyone feels that way, and I might be blowing things out of proportion. Either way, for a number of reasons, the best option is for me to submit, get feedback from examiners and spend time re-working things next year if need be, rather than trying to guess what needs changing now.

It's a strange feeling being almost done... I'm hoping it sinks in a bit after I actually submit!

Woo hoo, congratulations Zutterfly!

It's so great to hear that other people feel the same way about their thesis, makes it easier to believe that is part of the process rather than a sign that I'm going to fail!

Today has been pretty tough, as I'm working on a chapter I particularly dislike, where my supervisor has been quite forceful about analysing things in a way I disagree with, and I gave up trying to convince her and am just hoping that my examiners don't see it as a major problem.

I've ended up instigating a process where every time I have a negative thought about the thesis, I decide whether it's something I can fix in the next few days (if so, it goes on my to do list) otherwise, I write it down on a bit of scrap paper to get it out of my head, and then put the thought into a bowl (can you tell I'm a psychologist? Trying to practice what I preach!). I'm not sure if it helping... the bowl is looking pretty full!

Thanks for the support guys! It's going well so far, the main challenge is that the more I immerse myself in my thesis, the more I'm swamped by a belief that all my research is all rubbish. I know it is not (necessarily) a realistic thought, and it's certainly not a helpful one, so I just need to let that thought be rather than getting sucked into it, and work on the bits I can change (i.e. the writing).

What are you guys up to this week?

Okay, this week is crunch time at the end of a year that has felt like crunch time! Basically, I have three days off work to finalise everything to send off to the proofreader. If need be, I have next weekend too but I think I should probably be okay. Things seem to be taking a lot less time at the moment because I don't really have an option to procrastinate, and knowing that in just a few days my thesis could be basically finished is incredibly motivating!

Hope everyone else has a productive week too.

Congratulations! I am so in awe of PhD students who manage to keep tiny humans alive whilst doing their thesis. I'm so glad you hung in there and thanks for sharing your story.

Agree, this is a good strategy. Someone I used to work for used to write papers with lots of authors and would send round a final version and say "Let me know if you have any edits, if I don't hear from you by COB tomorrow, I'll assume you are happy with it as is".

It has been a more difficult week... I have my final oral presentation today (like a viva, but way less pressure as your examiners aren't there) and I didn't expect to be anxious, but I am, to the point that I haven't slept very well! But it'll all be over in a few hours, and I'm feeling heartened because a bunch of friends are coming.

I also made the decision to invest in professional proofreading and I think it is going to make things a lot easier for me and result in a better finished product. The downside (which isn't really a downside) is that to make my planned submission date, I need to get the whole thing finalised and off to the proofreader by the end of next weekend. This means a really big week for me to get everything done, but then I will be sooo close to finishing! Also, if I don't make the deadline, it is not the end of the world to delay by a week or so... my actual deadline is in February.

Yes, that's the thing, I am just not going to be any good proofing myself! I turned down offers from people to proofread my Honours thesis and did it myself (and that was a lot smaller), and ended up with SO many mistakes and my examiners commented on it! Not doing that again.

The back up plan is divide and conquer.... get my husband to do a few chapters, get a friend to do another couple in exchange for proofing his next year, and I can probably find a couple of other people to do a chapter each in exchange for something! But it sounds so much easier to just give the whole thing to a professional and I'm sure they'll do a better job. Will keep pondering.

My supervisor isn't reading mine cover to cover either. For me, I'm really glad about that, because apart from getting me submitting quicker, my supervisor is big on minor shuffling of words around (not uncommon for her to ask me to change something, then ask for it to be changed back on the next draft!) so I don't think it will be that helpful. She's read most chapters a few times, so I think it'll be okay.

Question: do you guys have any thoughts on professional proofreading? My husband had initially agreed to do it and is really good at it, but has got a bit overwhelmed with his own stuff and I don't want it to turn into a source of conflict. It's quite expensive, but I'm considering it and have asked for some quotes. At the moment I'm working 2.5 days a week in a pretty well-paid job, even though I could have just stayed unemployed and have more time to work on the thesis. One of the agreements I made to myself was that I would use some of that money to make things easier for myself during this time.... but I was thinking more like take away and a massage rather than something that costs 2 days salary!