Hi,

I'm interested in the different award classifications across universities to award PhD. I wrote on here a while back about how I got Resubmission but at Manchester University any revisions over one month is automatically classed a Resubmission. I recently gave a talk on viva preparation to some postgrads where I currently work at newcastle and the window for revisions is up to 6 month. Had a look at a couple of universities' guidelines and they are widely divergent (4 weeks to a year!)

Basically this seems a bit of an odd one in that the same qualification can be assessed so differently across institutions and I wondered if there was any link that showed the differences across universities and why they exist. Surely it's in no one's interest to have different criteria-students or universities?

Any help much appreciated


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Hi,

I'm interested in the different award classifications across universities to award PhD. I wrote on here a while back about how I got Resubmission but at Manchester University any revisions over one month is automatically classed a Resubmission. I recently gave a talk on viva preparation to some postgrads where I currently work at newcastle and the window for revisions is up to 6 month. Had a look at a couple of universities' guidelines and they are widely divergent (4 weeks to a year!)

Basically this seems a bit of an odd one in that the same qualification can be assessed so differently across institutions and I wondered if there was any link that showed the differences across universities and why they exist. Surely it's in no one's interest to have different criteria-students or universities?

Any help much appreciated

Hi everyone,

Just wanted to say a really big thanks for all your positive feedback as has really been beneficial to hear other people's stories and sorry to hear other people have encountered similar situations.

After having the weekend to think about it I am feeling actually quite positive about it as it does seem Manchester does have very strict guidelines compared to other institutions as despite 'revise and resubmit' I don't have to include any new data or even change the context of any sections so really it does sound like I have major corrections. Being only 6 months makes me realise my supervisors were doing me a favour as i've already had the examiner's report and while there is nothing too difficult I need to perform, it would take me longer than a month (which is major corrections at manchester!). Plus it gives me more time to immerse myself in the thesis and get more publications out of it.

From what you have all said it does seem a bit of a poor system how a viva can be so subjective anyway due to different examiners but then when the actual guidelines differ between institutions it is almost a lottery what you'll get.

Once again thank you as you have all really helped me out and wish you all the best who are still trying to get their awards (we will get there!)

Cheers
James

Hi everyone,

Just wanted to say a really big thanks for all your positive feedback as has really been beneficial to hear other people's stories and sorry to hear other people have encountered similar situations.

After having the weekend to think about it I am feeling actually quite positive about it as it does seem Manchester does have very strict guidelines compared to other institutions as despite 'revise and resubmit' I don't have to include any new data or even change the context of any sections so really it does sound like I have major corrections. Being only 6 months makes me realise my supervisors were doing me a favour as i've already had the examiner's report and while there is nothing too difficult I need to perform, it would take me longer than a month (which is major corrections at manchester!). Plus it gives me more time to immerse myself in the thesis and get more publications out of it.

From what you have all said it does seem a bit of a poor system how a viva can be so subjective anyway due to different examiners but then when the actual guidelines differ between institutions it is almost a lottery what you'll get.

Once again thank you as you have all really helped me out and wish you all the best who are still trying to get their awards (we will get there!)

Cheers
James

Hi,

I had my viva this week and was very straightforward, not particularly gruelling and my examiners were VERY positive about the work I had done. In the time where they make the decision I thought I had it in the bag however I was awarded a B (i). At Manchester University this is a resubmission within 6 months. Although this is not the worse case scenario I'm devastated as i have been responsible for every aspect of my study (getting funding, designing the study, recruitment, all the analysis etc.) and don't see how I could have done more.

The examiners unofficially told my supervisor that I would have passed under the guidelines at her university (sheffield) but as they wanted extra analysis done, that automatically makes it a resubmission. Also they said it was really A (ii) (award with major corrections) but because I have gone on to get a job as a postdoc they thought I would not have time to complete the corrections appropriately-so I feel i've been penalised for using my phd to boost my career!

I feel I've been robbed of my 'moment' after a 3 year build up and the worse part is that I don't really know what i've done that's so wrong. The same thing happened to a fellow phd student a fortnight before who has a fellowship at oxford whereas the only person to pass of our year worked on a project of someone else's design and was essentially a 'dog's body' to run the lab test. It just seems really unfair.

What also makes it worse is that I'm not so sure how often this happens as people are really shocked when i tell them as they don't think it ever happens. Does anyone have any similar experiences?

Cheers

Hi,

I had my viva this week and was very straightforward, not particularly gruelling and my examiners were VERY positive about the work I had done. In the time where they make the decision I thought I had it in the bag however I was awarded a B (i). At Manchester University this is a resubmission within 6 months. Although this is not the worse case scenario I'm devastated as i have been responsible for every aspect of my study (getting funding, designing the study, recruitment, all the analysis etc.) and don't see how I could have done more.

The examiners unofficially told my supervisor that I would have passed under the guidelines at her university (sheffield) but as they wanted extra analysis done, that automatically makes it a resubmission. Also they said it was really A (ii) (award with major corrections) but because I have gone on to get a job as a postdoc they thought I would not have time to complete the corrections appropriately-so I feel i've been penalised for using my phd to boost my career!

I feel I've been robbed of my 'moment' after a 3 year build up and the worse part is that I don't really know what i've done that's so wrong. The same thing happened to a fellow phd student a fortnight before who has a fellowship at oxford whereas the only person to pass of our year worked on a project of someone else's design and was essentially a 'dog's body' to run the lab test. It just seems really unfair.

What also makes it worse is that I'm not so sure how often this happens as people are really shocked when i tell them as they don't think it ever happens. Does anyone have any similar experiences?

Cheers
James