Hi spiderpig,

Everything you have written here is exactly how I felt the week before my viva. I swung between feeling that I was doomed to failure, and feeling fairly confident that my supervisors wouldn't have let me submit a rubbish thesis. Overall, I was pretty convinced I would get major corrections, as I expected my viva to go fairly badly (like you, I was dreading the 'unknown' of the possible questions they could ask).

As it turned out, I had a really 'nice' viva, if it doesn't seem too weird to use that word! I expected my examiners to be really tough on me, but actually they were firm but fair. Having spoken to other viva survivors since then, I have come to realise that the vast majority of examiners want to help you bring out the best in yourself and are not actually out to get you! Therefore, even if a question comes up that you aren't sure of, it's ok to say you don't know or only give a partial answer. Feel free to ask them to explain the question if you haven't understood. I got a question that I couldn't really answer, but the external examiner actually helped me out quite a lot and I got there in the end!

For preparation, all I can say is know your thesis inside out, and study in detail the 5 or 6 main references. I also got asked a few questions about how my work would develop in the future, so it is handy to know if any relevant papers have been published in your field since you submitted.

Best of luck, and I hope to see another post from you next week with your successful viva story!!

WOOHOO!! Huge congratulations!!! I had a strong feeling that would be the result, and I am so happy for you that I was right!! You really deserve it after all the hard work you put in, and I hope you feel that all the torture was worth it in the end. It must have felt like this was dragging on forever, but hopefully you can look back on this and feel proud of what you have achieved and forget about all the stress and anxiety they put you through. It makes me so angry on your behalf that they dragged this out for so long, they could have put you out of your misery weeks ago! But at least this tale has a happy ending, and I can finally say - well done Dr Pineapple!!!! Now go and get plastered :)

If you have the money to fund the entire PhD yourself then you will probably manage it. If you want some form of funding, then I'm afraid you've got no chance. It would be very hard to justify why you want to do another PhD instead of doing a postdoc, and as competition is fierce already then I would imagine universities would much rather take on a 'new' PhD student rather than someone who already has one.
Why do you think you need another PhD rather than starting a postdoc? You say you're 'not ready', but if you have a PhD already then working as a postdoc is pretty similar. The only real difference is that you're expected to work independently and you don't have to write a thesis at the end of it!

I had 3 supervisors when I started my PhD (2 in academia, 1 in industry), and to be honest I saw it as a bonus. Each one provided something different to my project. For example, my main supervisor is the absolute expert in my field, so he was the one to go to for any tricky technical questions. My second supervisor was the one I could always rely on to actually look at my work and reply to my emails, so if I needed a response I would go to her. My third (industry) supervisor gave a different perspective on my work.
I can see why you're a bit annoyed at not being told, but I honestly think having more than one supervisor is a good thing. It also came in handy at the interview for the job I'm in now - they asked if I had any experience dealing with difficult clients. I said I had a great deal of experience juggling 3 supervisors who all had different ideas about my work, and I had to coordinate them all as well as making sure I got my own ideas across. They said it was a very good answer!!

Yes, your studentship does rise slightly every year. You should be able to see what it's going to be for the next year a few months before the increase kicks in, as it should be in the student handbook on the ESPRC website (I was funded by the BBSRC and they always did it this way). You don't pay national insurance or tax. To get a rough figure of what your 'real' salary would be, you divide by 3 then multiply by 4, so if you take home £16416, this is roughly equivalent to a salary of £21888.

Wow, I can't believe you are still waiting! Well done on submitting those complaints - I think you've been remarkably restrained and I hope this has finally given them all the kick up the bum they needed. I don't want to give you false hope as obviously I have no way of knowing for sure, but if they have made a decision and are now finalising things over the phone, then that implies to me it will be a pass with some corrections. I am keeping everything crossed for you and I really hope you hear this week.

PLEASE do not act on this! I can only see it ending badly. Your supervisor may well be aware that you fancy him and is flattered by the attention, but that doesn't mean it would be a good idea to take this any further. As for warning you about men at conferences, in my experience he was completely justified in doing this and is probably just looking out for you as he would any of his students - I had a particularly unpleasant experience with an old, lecherous drunken academic at a conference and I would warn any other young women to be wary of the same. The one that behaved so badly towards me was a highly-respected man in his field, married with children, but this was not enough to deter him from acting like a complete ****.

I don't think age gap relationships are a problem; however, I do think that superviosr/supervisee relationships are an extremely bad idea and could end up ruining your academic career. That may sound a little OTT but if something were to happen and it all went wrong, you could end up leaving your PhD on a very sour note. As I said, I really don't think from what you have written that your supervisor has genuine feelings for you anyway. Please be very careful not to get taken advantage of and I hope for your sake that your crush just goes away!

I worked mostly from home during my PhD, so I shared a lot of your worries, particularly at the beginning! When you first start, I think it is perfectly normal to require a fair bit of support from your supervisor, regardless of how much graduate study/research you have done previously. I tried to show my face at uni as often as possible in the first year, and I had regular fortnightly meetings with my sup to check my progress/ask for advice, as well as regular email contact inbetween if needed. If you feel you want to be more independent, then that is fine, but I think regular monthly meetings should be the norm at the very least (even if just over the phone rather than face to face). By my final year, I barely had any contact with my supervisors at all, and once went over 6 months without even speaking to one of them!
During the first few months, most of my time was spent reading the literature and generating ideas of where I wanted my research to go. I also spent some time shadowing people in the lab to learn techniques that I would be using later on. It was only once I got to about 6 months in that I started doing any actual 'research'.

If they said you would hear back in January then I would definitely wait a bit longer, it is only the 10th of Jan now! Most universities only started back this week, so they probably haven't even got round to thinking about making a decision yet. I know it's difficult when you're anxiously waiting to find out, but I wouldn't contact them until Feb.

Although you will often see advice to keep chapters around 10,000 words, try and keep them all roughly the same length, etc., every PhD is different. In subjects such as the humanities, it may make more sense to try and stick to a more set structure, as the PhD is more like a story and flow is very important. However, a science PhD is very different, as the chapters are often individual sections describing different experiments. Therefore, it is difficult to 'force' them to be a certain length.

My PhD was in pharmaceutical science, and the structure was very similar to yours. My intro was about 10,000, followed by four result chapters of 10,000, 7,000, 6,000 and 12,000 words. My discussion/conclusions chapter then came to about 8,000. If I were you, I'd try not to worry too much about the length, as long as the overall thesis isn't massively long or obviously short, then it will be fine! If you feel you've covered each section in enough depth then that is all that matters.

Hi,

In a 'normal' 3 year PhD, you have a topic title/research area (either one given to you by the supervisor or one you come up with yourself), and the entire 3 years is spent researching that topic alone. In general, you don't take any courses at the uni and there are no rotations in different labs, you just get on with it! In 3 years, you certainly should be learning enough techniques and gaining enough experience to get a postdoc. Lab techniques are usually learnt from other students/postdocs/your supervisor depending on how your particular lab is set up. You apply directly for the PhD, and if accepted you then register as a student with the university but do not have to register for any specific courses.

4 year PhDs are now becoming more popular - usually, the first year of this is taught courses, and then the remaining 3 years are spent researching your specific topic. This sort of PhD is probably more suited to students coming straight from a BSc, who don't have the extra experience from a Masters.

However, you do not need to do a Masters or a 4 year PhD coming straight from a BSc; it is perfectly possible to go straight to a 3 year PhD and be successful, it just depends on how committed you are, how relevant your BSc work is to your PhD etc. For example, if your PhD work is an extension of the dissertation you did at undergrad then it makes sense to go straight into it without taking a break for a Masters.

As for funding, my PhD came with funding attached so I didn't have to apply separately for the funding part. Fully funded places are fairly common in the sciences and make life a lot easier! In my case, the topic had already been decided upon by my supervisors, so they had already secured the funding.

Hope this helps!

I have to say I agree with bewildered here. If your stipend is witheld until you have successfully completed the year end proposal, then this implies that it is much more important than a mere 'formality'. In my university, the 1st year report is vital, as if you fail to produce work of a suitably high standard, you will get kicked off the PhD.
I have been to many national/international conferences, and I have never seen a first year student present work. It is rare for enough work to have been produced in the first year to justify a presentation. My first presentation was a poster after about 18 months. Is it possible that you just don't have enough data yet, and so your supervisor is discouraging you as he doesn't think the paper will be accepted? I am sure he has your best interests at heart, as if he thought your work was ready to present he would want you to do so, as it would reflect well on him.
There is nothing wrong with showing enthusiasm and initiative; however, sometimes you also have to believe what you are being told and get your priorities straight. I'm sure your supervisor is only trying to help you, so if he says forget about presentations and focus on the proposal, then that is what I would do.

Hi Larry,

I felt exactly the same as you after my viva. Mine lasted just over an hour, and I came out feeling bewildered as they hadn't asked me any of the 'big' questions I had spent weeks preparing for. I think I had built it up in my head to be this big final battle between me and the examiners, and in the end it was just a nice gentle chat with them just asking for clarification on a few minor points. Like you, I felt the whole thing was an anticlimax at first, but after a few weeks I just felt really grateful that I could look back on my viva as a pleasant experience and a nice end to all that hard work. Hopefully you will feel the same too!

Smoobles

Congratulations Dr, and well done on the (very) minor corrections! Enjoy the celebrations :)

Congratulations, Dr Pam! Sounds like you had a fab celebration :)