I had the same thing happen to me - don't panic! Just make the corrections as indicated. After my second submission, all was well.

This has nothing to do with your competency as a PhD student!

Tenzin

Hi everyone - me again!

Now that the initial sting of receiving a referral at my recent Viva has somewhat worn off, I've given the situation some more thought. I don't know if I want to appeal the decision for a referral and continue with the revisions, however the following issues with the process have come to mind:

1. How can two supervisors sign off on my thesis as an excellent piece of work and ready to submit, and then both an external and internal examiner deem the thesis insufficient for a PhD?

2. The internal examiner was approved of by the supervisors as the best choice out of the department, because he has research expertise in a related area but no familiarity with my subject area; however, how can he agree with the conclusions of the external examiner, who is an expert in my field of research, if he is not an expert in my field of research? (He informed me of his agreement).

3. How is it that I am to rely only on the advice of my supervisors in regards to further corrections as assigned by the examiners, if the supervisors have deemed themselves too subjective to be able to judge the quality of my work (this is what I was told by my primary supervisor)?

4. Finally, my primary supervisor is the Department Head. The internal examiner was appointed the Postgraduate Research Tutor after he had agreed to be the internal examiner. The former Postgraduate Research Tutor was appointed the Director of Postgraduate Research, who has now become my point of contact instead of the Postgraduate Research Tutor because of the conflict in interest; however, the Director of Postgraduate Research is a very close friend of my primary supervisor, i.e. the Department Head. So I feel that there is some conflict of interest, so I don't know who to turn to in the department for unbiased advice or even a sounding board.

These administrative changes in the department were very recent, and will last for at least another two years. Thus, should I decide to continue with the resubmission, and should I disagree with the final decision of a resubmitted thesis (downgrade to MPhil or worse, a fail), I think it would be even more difficult to appeal an already complex situation.

Any thoughts?

Tenzin

Hello all!

I recently posted on the forum that I was given a referral at my recent Viva. Since then, I've been searching for statistics on this result in the UK - how many candidates are referred (neither pass nor fail, but major revisons and resubmit), and of those that resubmit, how many pass? I've not found very much information at all, other than a general 7 per cent are referred, and of those, 80 per cent of referrals go on to pass.

Does anyone else have any information, or a source?

Thanks,
Tenzin

Hi everyone again!

Thanks very much for the advice and kind words - I think what is so utterly confusing about this is the great sign off on the thesis I got from my supervisors before I had submitted.

So, yes, I will wait to see what report says. I have a meeting lined up with the internal examiner to 'informally' take a look at the corrections list that will have been sent to the administration for approval. In the meantime, I've gotten informed about the whole process, prospects of failing completely the second time around, my rights as a student (not many apparently!), etc.

I'm also taking a break now to settle down more emotionally.

I'll post again in a couple of weeks - hopefully my experience can benefit someone else in a similar situation!

Tenzin

Hello,

I just had my Viva yesterday, and was quite shocked to have been given a referral. At this university a student is given 18 months to resubmit. My supervisors who have been pretty supportive throughout the whole process, were also completely surprised.

As with most PhD students at the end of the proverbial road of the PhD journey, I'm exhausted, burnt out, drained and now very frustrated. Although I haven't received the report yet from the internal examiner as to what needs to be adjusted, I'm not sure if I want to continue any further. There is a possibility upon resubmission that I would have to do another Viva, and this would be the last chance. Anything else is either a fail or an MPhil.

Nothing positive was said about the work during the Viva, other than "It's an interesting topic". The external examiner did tell me, though, that she would be happy to answer any of my questions along the way to rewriting parts of certain chapters. I think I will be required to do further research as well.

So this could be an opportunity to either learn a lot more, or set myself up for another huge disappointment. Sometimes I think there are signposts in life that say "Go a different direction", and I think this is one of those moments.

I'd so much appreciate anyone's input or insights.

TK