Jojo's viva journey - preparation and viva - sigh...
Hi jojo.
thanks for posting your story much as I wished you hadn't now i've read it ;-)
I find it incredibly disturbing that your ext could be allowed to behave in this way, i think you used the word odd in your post - spot on.
But, and i don't mean to sound like your mother.. but don't you dare take an MPhil you get those corrections done my girl :p
There is nothing to be gained by trying to understand this self absorbed twerp .. just make something from it.. Your PhD..
and when you're examining others in the future.. remember what not to do.
It certainly gives us pre-vivas something else to be mindful of, so thanks again.
Chuff
Congratulations Jojo on a pass. And it is a pass, and if you do what's specified on the corrections you'll walk away with a PhD. Focus on that. Don't think of walking away with an MPhil, please?
How long have you been given to do the corrections? Do you need to resubmit? One year in my department several students were given 1-year resubmissions. Very scary. But 2 of them are now very happy post-docs, so you can get there ;-)
Congratulations ( somewhat belated) on your pass, Jojo. A pass, after all, is a pass!
Your external seemed to have been terribly hung up on himself and the need to have the thesis reflect him/her in terms of research and then how they would have done the work itself...well, it was not their PhD--so those do not seem like very valid objections to your work. The whole idea that an examiner MUST be included in lots of references where and how they like in the thesis is a very bad one IMO-bad angle for an examiner to take. Its about meeting the criteria for a doctorate.....not about stroking an examiner's ego...:-s:-s
Which shows that sometimes "objective" appraisals of work are very much "subjective".
I can certainly understand why you would be upset, but it sounds like you did a fantastic job and held your ground in the viva.
Congrats again (up)
======= Date Modified 01 Feb 2011 13:40:37 =======
thank you all! i just got back from a holiday in the sun.. so i've had quite a bit of time to take it all in and decide the way forward. i've decided to carry on with the corrections though there are those days when i see no point in it. your posts are really encouraging and i will be reading them time and time again. thanks again for your support everyone and i do wish you decent vivas lol.. not like the one i had. am still waiting to get the examiners report and as soon as i get it i will let you know how long corrections are to take. initially they said 12 months. after my one month holiday that's 11 months now. yipee!!! am killing time already..
needless to say it was devastating but.. it's amazing how resilient the human spirit is. there are few things that can totally break you. am down about how it all went but not broken. like someone said, there is really nothing to be gained in figuring out how it all happened. instead i'll try to make the best of it.
pineapple - have you had your viva yet? if not, keep positive. i bet if i hadn't believed my work was good my examiners would not have passed me. so there is something to be gained from being your biggest fan! :-)
J.
Hello. I had my viva last week and I was given corrections and six months to complete them. Being given Major Corrections is a dispiriting experience and I felt utterly defeated for about a week afterwards and hated bth examiners. I was given the list of corrections a few days ago, which initially mad me feel worse. This last couple of days my anger and frustration have gradually faded and for the first time in years I feel very relaxed. I have started doing the corrections and now just want to get them done. It was a bit annoying as my supervisor had encouraged me to submit and I trusted that he knew it was ready. For anybody given Major Corrections my advice would be to get on and do them. In the scheme of things 6 or 12 months is nothing. 8-)
wow Gingersnaps - i love your attitude: "In the scheme of things 6 or 12 months is nothing."
i hope you are feeling better now and corrections are going well. i begin working on my thesis towards the end of the month. and true.. i've never felt this relaxed for years.... good thing i deliberately switched off from the phd for a while. infact, i spoke to a phd student yesterday and thought.. they don't have a life. is that what i was like then? lol. all they talk about is the thesis, methodology, data collection.. supervisor.. theory.. sigh.
hope everyone else is doing fine. :)
Hi Jojo, I am so glad that you are relaxed now and addressing those corrections. You deserve this doctorate for pure determination and resilience for sure. I am one of those 'not so relaxed' students waiting for sups to comment on my final draft. I am in a tense state of limbo awaiting to address their comments in the hope of submitting soon. I think the viva is the beginning of the end of the journey for me. I hope that once the viva has passed and I know what the examiners have in store for me I can reflect, relax and deal with it. I feel more anxious at this point than any other time in my PhD journey so I am looking forward to being able to relax with my family! I hope the examiners have been specific in their report so that it all goes smoothly for you.
I have been thinking about you jojo and also about other people that used to be regularly on the forum but have suddenly disappeared - like PinkNeuron.
Are you still around? I would love to hear from you. I read back my post in your thread and I cannot believe how many things have changed in these past 6-7 months. When I last posted here I still was in the middle of writing up and felt very miserable. I found your posts very helpful and kept me motivated till submission.
:-)
======= Date Modified 23 May 2012 16:52:49 =======
HOW IT ALL ENDED :) Yap! it ended -.... at least the worst part of it anyway.
First apologies for my silence in the last year. I've been thro a lot after my Wacko viva recorded in this thread.
So things even went from bad to worse after I had been told its a pass with major corrections. Examiners later wrote asking me to resubmit thesis. Needless to say, I was beyond devasted. This after 5 years of hard work was not easy to take.
I was in denial for some months - somewhat grieving and coming to terms with the fact that the examiners now wanted a new thesis from scratch.
I went through 4 months of depression, after which i moved in with my parents for two months - for moral support to start writing again.
Everything was ok, til i went back to uni and morale was low again but i pushed on. my supervisor was aloof as usual and despite my sending numerous drafts, he never ever gave me feedback.
So eventually what i submitted was a first draft with the last chapter and abstract written in 3 hours on the day before submission and lists and tables done on the day of submission. my sisters helped with bibliography and that way i was able to hand in a thesis 6 years in.
i then moved back with parents - thats where am staying for now - to rebuild the person i am and recover from the experience. i have been waiting for the viva date - as i was told i'd have to redo it - and guess what? examiners wrote waiving my viva. ((celebrations!))
its a pass with minor corrections! :)
finally! 6 years on! + snobbish supervisor and no feedback.
all am saying is you can do it!!!!!! hang in there.
prayer worked for me. that's my top tip. it kept me going.
i now got two teaching jobs at pretty reputable unis. am working full time at one and part time at another. waiting for examiners report to finally address corrections and move on with my life! Teaching is hard - preparation and all. but its nothing compared to my phd experience. am working late preparing for a class tomorrow..
Pineapple - this is for you! You can do it!
cheers everyone!
Jojo.
(up)
Hi Jojo! Congratulations!
I often thought about you and how you were getting on - well done for bringing your PhD to completion. I am sure that it was a very difficult journey, but you didn't surrender. You fought for it and won.
You are a great example for anyone battling with unsupportive supervisors and major corrections. You can be very proud of yourself, and thank you for sharing your experience with us.
DrC x
:-)
Never really spoke to you on here Jojo as I was more of a lurker/reader back when you initially posted about this but I just want to say a huge congratulations to you. You've been through so much and to keep going and get through it shows great resilience. Big congratulations on the jobs too. That's the main thing - getting a job at the end of those 6 years. So well done you! You truly deserve it. Wishing you ever success with your future academic endeavours
(up)
Never really spoke to you on here Jojo as I was more of a lurker/reader back when you initially posted about this but I just want to say a huge congratulations to you. You've been through so much and to keep going and get through it shows great resilience. Big congratulations on the jobs too. That's the main thing - getting a job at the end of those 6 years. So well done you! You truly deserve it. Wishing you ever success with your future academic endeavours
(up)
