Final year support thread on PostgraduateForum.com

Hugh
8 years ago

Quote From teegs90:

Quote From chickpea:
Btw, is anyone else getting increasingly ratty with relatives saying, 'we must arrange to do something/come and visit before Christmas' etc? I don't need the nearness of Christmas pointing out to me at this stage, thanks :p

DEFINITELY! I really don't want to know. Last years Christmas parties with friends/family were a bit stressful for me ("Are you STILL studying?" "Shouldn't you be finished by now?") and I vowed that by Christmas 2016 I would have submitted so I could tell everyone I was finished. It's been a helpful goal to keep me motivated for most of the year, but now it is just stressing me out given it is just around the corner...

I'm dreading this too. I accidentally told my dad I'll be submitting in Dec, and I didn't get a chance to explain to him that it's a very long procedure after it, so he's told everyone very proudly that my graduation will be in Dec 😳 (I just want to hide under a duvet)

C

chickpea
8 years ago

Quote From Hugh:

Quote From teegs90:

Quote From chickpea:
Btw, is anyone else getting increasingly ratty with relatives saying, 'we must arrange to do something/come and visit before Christmas' etc? I don't need the nearness of Christmas pointing out to me at this stage, thanks :p

DEFINITELY! I really don't want to know. Last years Christmas parties with friends/family were a bit stressful for me ("Are you STILL studying?" "Shouldn't you be finished by now?") and I vowed that by Christmas 2016 I would have submitted so I could tell everyone I was finished. It's been a helpful goal to keep me motivated for most of the year, but now it is just stressing me out given it is just around the corner...

I'm dreading this too. I accidentally told my dad I'll be submitting in Dec, and I didn't get a chance to explain to him that it's a very long procedure after it, so he's told everyone very proudly that my graduation will be in Dec 😳 (I just want to hide under a duvet)

Oh no! I've tried my best to give my folks fairly low expectations of when it will all be done. They have still asked if they can come to the graduation though - in a way it is nice that our families aren't even considering any other outcome :)

T

tuutikki
8 years ago

Hi guys, just wanted to 'pop by' after having my viva on Wednesday to say that I passed with minor corrections! So it can be done! ;) Good luck to you all for the final stages, you will get there!!

H

Hugh
8 years ago

Quote From tuutikki:
Hi guys, just wanted to 'pop by' after having my viva on Wednesday to say that I passed with minor corrections! So it can be done! ;) Good luck to you all for the final stages, you will get there!!

Wow congratulations! Well done! :) when did you submit btw?

T

tuutikki
8 years ago

Hi guys, just wanted to 'pop by' after having my viva on Wednesday to say that I passed with minor corrections! So it can be done! ;) Good luck to you all for the final stages, you will get there!!

Quote From Hugh:

Quote From tuutikki:
Hi guys, just wanted to 'pop by' after having my viva on Wednesday to say that I passed with minor corrections! So it can be done! ;) Good luck to you all for the final stages, you will get there!!

Wow congratulations! Well done! :) when did you submit btw?

Thank you! I have to say I actually kind of enjoyed the viva as well haha. I submitted at the end of July.

C

chickpea
8 years ago

Congratulations Tuutikki, great news - hope you are celebrating!

T

teegs90
8 years ago

Quote From Hugh:

I'm dreading this too. I accidentally told my dad I'll be submitting in Dec, and I didn't get a chance to explain to him that it's a very long procedure after it, so he's told everyone very proudly that my graduation will be in Dec 😳 (I just want to hide under a duvet)

Ugh, family! My dad is an academic so should know better, but because he's so excited for me to finish (ahh extra pressure!!) he got this crazy idea in his head that submitting by the end of the year = graduating in December.... and was really disappointed when I said that it wouldn't be till next July at the earliest....

I

IntoTheSpiral
8 years ago

Hey everyone,

I just wanted to pop by and say that I submitted on my deadline day of 30th September! I've written about the last two days on my blog

https://annashodgepodge.com/2016/10/16/i-did-it/?iframe=true&theme_preview=true

if you want to read more about how my final two days went!

All I can say is, I am so relieved to have submitted, even though I think it's not a great piece of writing. If I can do it, then you folk can too. Just. Keep. Swimming.

T

teegs90
8 years ago

Quote From IntoTheSpiral:
Hey everyone,

I just wanted to pop by and say that I submitted on my deadline day of 30th September! I've written about the last two days on my blog

https://annashodgepodge.com/2016/10/16/i-did-it/?iframe=true&theme_preview=true

if you want to read more about how my final two days went!

All I can say is, I am so relieved to have submitted, even though I think it's not a great piece of writing. If I can do it, then you folk can too. Just. Keep. Swimming.

Congratulations!!! Thank you so much for sharing, your final couple of days sounds really familiar even though I'm still weeks away... it's very encouraging to see that you got there and makes me feel that I will too. Good luck for the viva!

Also, I'm feeling very grateful that in Australia our PhD scholarship provides funding for getting the thesis printed/bound professionally!!

C

chickpea
8 years ago

Congratulations IntoTheSpiral! And thanks for sharing your blog - interesting to see how those silly niggly printing things can trip you up at the end - thanks for the heads up!

H

Hugh
8 years ago

Many congrats IntoTheSpiral, so pleased for you, you must be hugely relieved.

Z

Zutterfly
8 years ago

Well done IntoTheSpiral :D

T

teegs90
8 years ago

How is everyone going this week?

My mood/mental state has been pretty good over the last couple of weeks, I've started working 2.5 days a week doing exactly the same role as I was in my final clinical placement, except getting paid! That has really lifted my spirits, not having to put in any extra effort but being able to contribute to our income rather than my husband supporting me fully as he has done since February when my scholarship ran out.

I'm still planning on submitting in 5 weeks (!) and it's starting to feel like that is going to be possible. My supervisor agrees that things are progressing well and after looking at my Discussion chapter once more, she's happy to hand it all over to me to finalise. So much of thesis stress has been around the stuff that's out of my control (When will my supervisor give me feedback? Will that paper get accepted? Will I get ethics approval?) but once when I'm only relying on myself, I know I can get it done!

That being said, this whole year has been such a rollercoaster so I'm sure I'll be back here posting about some crisis within the week, lol.

C

chickpea
8 years ago

Sounds like things are really moving along, teegs! I know what you mean about the bits you can and can't control - certainly my big thing all the way through was recruitment, and it is so good to know I don't need to do that at this stage. I'm planning on making all the edits my supervisors have recommended to my chapters and getting it all as finalised as I can before Christmas, then giving the thesis to my supervisors in the New Year for final feedback. I had originally hoped to submit before Christmas but, looking at the date I'd need to pull it all together in order to give my supervisors a fair chance to look it over before the holiday period, it's not really doable. Good luck with getting everything finalised!

H

Hugh
8 years ago

teegs and chickpea, looks like both of you are progressing well, well done! :)

I've also found the most frustrating part is the part I have no control over, like waiting for feedback from supervisors. I have been waiting for almost 2 months now.

Zutterfly, how are you doing? I think we've got similar dates for submission (Dec?)?