Passed after R&R within 12 months
Dear all, I passed my viva last week, subject to minor revisions.
I hope my experience can encourage others if they are undergoing revise and resubmit (R&R).
I initially submitted my phd thesis in 2009 after 4 year of full time study. In my university, students need to submit their work to internal examiners within the department, and then, the thesis will go to external examiners. At first, my report from internal examiners looked great - they graded my work between excellent/very good. However, when I submitted my work to external examiners. I was very depressed. Both external said, "You cannot have viva with this quality". I received revise and resubmit in max. 12 months. One external even doubted if I was a PhD candidate. Friends, you can imagine how shocked I was!!!
In the revision period, I was so upset. "Should I quit? Why I have to put myself in such a difficult situation?" It is a very difficult period. During the whole phd study, unlike others, I received plenty of supervision. however, sorry to say, my supervisor is not a very good researcher, some of the advices from internal examiners were wrong in the theory. Just like a blind leading another blind. Cos I didnt think my phd supervior or the internal examiners could teach me anymore, I just interpret external examiners' comments myself, I just did the revised thesis -- in the way I like!!! I submitted the thesis again in 2011 early summer. Everyday I prayed, please let me have viva. However, bad news came again. One of my external, she was sick and took leave, no one knew when she can return to work... Once again, I had to wait extra time to know if I'm qualified to have viva or not. I wasnt very upset because I dont care the result after these facing these unexpected diffculties. No more expectation.
But thanks God! After 6 months, in Nov 2011, I finally received a report from external examiner saying "the thesis is much improved". They arranged me with an viva in early Jan 2012. (I purchased a cake for myself to celebrate. haha!) On the viva day, I tried my best. After the presentation and Q&A, the external and internal examiners discussed for 55 minutes. I remember when I returned to the room, my Board of Examination chair told me, "Congra, you will be awarded Doctor of Philosophy subject to 3 month revisions".
Overall performance is 'GOOD' (Excellent-Very Good-Good-Satisfactory-Fail). They gave me a lot of revisions to do. Indeed, one of the external examiners (the one doubt if I'm a phd student) wanted to have revise and resubmit again in 12 months (but no viva is needed). However, my internal and supervisors fight for my thesis, they believe my thesis is solid enough.
Today, even after a week, I still cannot believe I passed. Frankly speaking, I'm still lack of confidence. >.<
But what I want to say is: it is very painful if you have R&R, however, many people walk with you.If you dont give up, people will come and help you! Support always!
Give yourself a couple of days off then deal with the minors.
You'll still be a bit shaken at the moment, but that will go with time.
Well done!!!
Ian (Mackem_Beefy)
JenniOne I agree that this is a great post. Nice to hear from someone who has had substantial difficulties yet managed to overcome them. Sometimes I am a little concerned that posts on this forum overrepresent the downsides of undertaking a PhD but yours is truly uplifting.
You deserve to be very proud of yourself. In fact go buy yourself some more cake..!
Dafydd
======= Date Modified 27 Jan 2012 09:35:37 =======
Thank you so much for posting this!
I have so much to do with my R&R (well deleting 3/4 of my result chapters) and I'm really struggling at the moment. I woke up this morning really want to quit my PhD. :-(
Anyway, it's really reassuring to see that people do pass with minors following a R&R.
Congratulations! xx
Thx Ady, Dafydd, Lughna! ?
Ian, you are right, I feel better after having a few days off. Now, I’m working on my minors . HAHA!~
Pineapple29, I know the hard feeling. I removed 50% from the original thesis.
However, after I conducted new data analyses, I found my finding chapters looked more professional and solid than before. That’s good!
A few tips for R&R:
1. Truly believe this statement: R&R is helping me to gain a PhD. I guess quite a lot of people receive R&R, it is definitely more than 1/12 (at least in my school, I know 3, and we don’t have 12 phd students – haha!). However, maybe due to face problem, candidates tend to keep secret even they receive R&R from examiners.
2. R&R looks terrifying in the beginning as you have a long list. Just starts with something easier, you can gain satisfaction. Later, dealing with the difficult parts step by step. ?
3. Examiners are helping you to reach the PhD, although sometimes, their wordings can be a bit hard to accept. Trust their original goals of being an examiner, i.e. help you!
4. Don’t compare yourself with other classmates. Every life is unique.
5. Have a good time plan for R&R. Try to seek some reliable financial sources, and then, no fulltime/part-time job, just fully concentrate two to three months before the deadline.
6. If you are okay, spend some money to hire a professional editor to help for language problems and formatting – Your thesis will look good.
7. Lastly, no quit… This is the most unacceptable thought. I CAN FAIL, BUT I CAN’T QUIT!
