I've got some bug so I'm off work for the day - I could do the very last bit of my corrections and get them sent off but I have managed to:

- Watch Jeremy Kyle
- Watch lots of Winter Olympics
- Sit on the sofa and not do a great deal

Well, I am ill after all, but I figure I must be worse than I thought if I watched Jeremy Kyle!

I had a list of about a dozen typos, about half a dozen sentences that needed altering as they weren't clear and then one section they wanted me to develop (very minor - I looked at extremes and they wanted to know what happened in the middle!)

Don't worry about errors, with the best will in the world there will always be a few.

Good luck, Moomin, it'll be fine - we all felt the same! Let us know how it goes :-x

Maria, I don't know if you know the programme Allo Allo, but when I was in french class at school I was taught to pretend like I was an extra in that to get the accent.

Hey presto, it worked, and it's worked well ever since!

Well I work in the private sector and just about to start a new job and, in both cases, having a PhD was what set me apart from the other candidates. You just need to turn it to your advantage - for example, presentation skills from all those conferences and seminars are a huge bonus, the 'kids' (as I call them :$) who have just come straight from a degree are awful in meetings as they have no idea how to write or deliver a presentation. To us PhD types, it's part and parcel of what we do. Similarly the ability to plan and deliver a project, deal with difficult people in more senior positions, time management, thinking away from the norm ... I could go on but you really do sometimes have to spell it out that's what you're about, more than the actual content of your PhD.

Oh and, I know you're joking (I hope!), but don't leave off your PhD - a gaping hole in your CV will only spur a lot of questions and you'll get found out. They always know...;-)

Whilst some of her points are valid, it should be remembered she is one person giving one opinion - speak to people who examine PhDs about what they are looking for and you'll get a whole host of conflicting views of what is acceptable and what isn't. As I remember only too well when asking about writing my own thesis...

Hmmm I did a science PhD so not sure about Psychology PhDs but my experience really was that of the 'independent researcher' - I never felt like a research assistant or skivvy to any of my supervisors once. I did use data provided by one and so was expected to do something meaningful with it, but by and large I was left to find my own direction and not be pushed through what my supervisor wanted.

Although having said that I also did a project that none of my supervisors individually were experts in so maybe that helped, that I wasn't just continuing their research. Jolly, are you just extending your supervisor's research?

Thankyou all for the replies! I do feel a bit better knowing I'm not the only one fed up with it all.

On a positive note for you all, however, you'd be surprised actually how much a PhD is valued in the private sector - not necessarily the content itself but the skills you pick up. The latter have been invaluable to me if not so much the former, especially presentation skills.

This is really for those of you who have done and finished a PhD. I'm just about to submit my corrections and, with any luck, it'll be all okay and can get it printed and handed in and forgotten about.

How did you feel at this point? I am just at the stage I couldn't care less. I work in private sector now and my colleagues seem far more impressed it with than I am - they call me Doc at work and I just can't get used to it, as if I just don't want to be reminded of it. They ask questions about it and I just never say anything much (even to the others who have PhDs).

I had an interview last week for a new job (which I've got, yay!) and one interviewer asked what I was most proud of - I said my PhD, but I felt like I was lying, as if I was expected to say that not because I genuinely feel proud of it. I really don't. I really don't have any love for it or any interest in it and just want it to go away.

Is it normal? Or is it some psychological issue that Freud would be frothing at the mouth over?

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Hi Scaredgirl. Firstly, your supervisor sounds like an a**e and should know better than to be acting like that. But it's not uncommon from reading some of the posts on here, sadly.

More productively, it's very rare to fail outright at this stage - it's actually a LOT of hassle for them to fail a PhD and , the idea goes, anyone who is allowed to get to the viva stage should really have work capable of passing a PhD. The main focus will be your work and your contributions but you'll be expected to at least know generally what is going on in your area although at my uni the guidelines stated you could not be asked about anything since submission of the thesis. If you've done a good literature review, you should be fine.

Just remember YOU are the expert of your thesis. Have you got another academic you can ask to give you an opinion on it? And as long as you have a good understanding of your work and made a 'novel' contribution, you really should be fine. I would be tempted to say ignore any emails from your supervisor until the viva is over but that wouldn't be very professional of me ;-)

And best of luck, let us know how it goes!

I wanted to be a psychiatrist from when I was about 11 until 17. Then I wanted to be a particle physicist!

Firstly, Happy New Year to you Danzig!

And I understand how you feel - I kind of wish I didn't have to do so many corrections as it's just prolonging the agony when I have so much else to be doing, especially at this time of year! I sympathise with the page numbering etc I was thinking yesterday "Oh no, I have to go and change all the references to figures!" and then just went and did something else more fun as the thought of that was a bit depressing.

But we just have to keep chipping away at it and remember that it'll all be worth it in the end :-x

Well done Olivia - are you THE Olivia I remember from the 'old days'? If so... helloooo!

And it's a lovely feeling isn't it 8-)

I thanked the usual suspects - supervisors, collaborators, parents, family, friends - including some I made here on PGF :D

Thankyou everyone! It still hasn't really sunk in yet to be honest. It was weird telling everyone at work today and I'm now "Dr Dan" at work. Can't wait to get my corrections list and crack on with it.

Agh and good old Clara, I've hunted high and low but still not found her, maybe she will be the focus of my next PhD...