15 weeks and I'm still waiting...I wrote to the PGR office a couple of weeks ago to chase it up but they just said that my examiner had been ill which had delayed things and that they were still waiting to hear. It's 12,000 words of extra revisions...it should take a professor a couple of hours to read through that and, fair enough, a couple of hours paperwork too perhaps. But 3 and a half months and still nothing...it's just not acceptable.

13 weeks and I'm still waiting. After being told I should hear two weeks ago, I was losing sleep and came down with a bad cold from the stress of it all. I was checking my emails about 20 times a day and all for nothing. I'm starting to get very anxious now - it shouldn't take someone over 3 months to read what essentially would take a couple of hours to look through (my revisions were about 12,000 words extra). I received an email today that was circulated to everyone in the school congratulating yet another PhD student on their successful viva and secured PhD. I must have read about 20 of these over the past couple of years whilst I've had to move mountains to get mine...that's if I've even got it.

Mine charged around £350 to resubmit. I've now had minor revisions after my R&R but no charge applied.

Congratulations! That is fantastic news! I wish you all the best with finishing your minor corrections. I'm still waiting for my result...!!

11 weeks since I submitted and still no word. I contacted my supervisor to get an update and he said that my external was 'proving elusive' and not replying to anyone's emails. However, a few days later I was told that she had been off sick and was now reading the thesis. That was a week ago and still nothing. My supervisor thinks I 'should' hear this week...but he's said that before to no avail. I have now resorted back into frantic mode where I'm checking my university email account at least 10 times a day. I'm incredibly anxious and feel quite run down with it all. I just want my result now...it's been nearly 2 years since my viva and I'm still waiting due to the incompetent and unprofessional attitude of both my examiners and the administration system. So fed up.

For anyone who might read this post in years to come: it's been over two months now and I still have no news. I feel very stressed as I've just started a new lecturing job and my colleagues have already put Dr next to my name...I've told them it's not official yet but I can hardly downplay it as they don't know the full extent of the issues I've had during my PhD. This long wait is making me very anxious and, after what has happened before, I'm now terrified I will fail. Will keep you updated.

Thank you everyone for your lovely comments and support. Unfortunately I am still waiting...it's been over 3 weeks now. I have a feeling I'll still be waiting come September.

I've been going for a lot of job interviews recently (for lectureships) so officially having my PhD would have helped me out but at least I am able to say that I've submitted.

Half of me thinks that, because it's the summer, my external is likely to be on leave and that's the reason for the long wait. However, the other half of my fears a fail because she's taking so long to read what essentially would take her 2 hours to get through. I'll keep you all updated...

What a lovely post to read! I've had some issues with my supervision (and even bigger issues with my examiners and postgrad office) but am at the final hurdle now having submitted last week with minor revisions. I'm still terrified I'm going to be failed...I feel let down on so many levels.

Have you heard any stories about PhD students who were failed? My long story made short is that I had my viva in 2013, was given a 12 month major corrections period, resubmitted, was told by my school 4 months later that I had passed...then that I had failed...then that they had given me the wrong result (yes, this is true!!)...then that I had been given minor revisions. After all that drama I have now submitted for the last time.

I'm hoping with all my being for a pass so that this ordeal can be over but, if my external decides to fail it completely, is there any advice you could dispense? Thank you! :)

I submitted my thesis with minor revisions a week ago after an incredibly turbulent process post-viva (see my old threads for the long and tedious story!)

I feel relieved that I've got through the gruelling task of making the final revisions and have submitted for the very last time. However, due to the bad experiences I've had with my PhD so far, I know the possibility of an all out fail could be on the horizon.

My thesis in its final submission is 163,000 words long and, due to my major correction period followed by my minor revision period, I feel like the actual thread of my thesis has become lost thanks to the examiners' pushing and pulling of my research topic. I feel hard done by as I've had to see friends and colleagues graduate with their PhD's over the past couple of years whilst I've been made to slog on with mine and write double what some of my peers have had to write.

All in all, the PhD system in the UK is unjust, biased and illogical on many levels. I hope to seek change within it after my ordeal is over.

For now, I was wondering how long other PhD'ers have had to wait to hear back after submitting with minors? Bearing in mind, my minor revisions were not fixing a few spelling errors - they were a 12,000 word addition to the thesis of further points my external wanted addressed. The examiner should be able to read through it in a couple of hours but last time took 4 months to get back to me with an incomplete report.

I know that other people have been reading my threads over the years (and will continue to) so I'm desperately hoping I can post a happy ending here soon. It's been one hell of a bumpy ride to get to this point.

I was given major corrections - resubmitted last November and didn't get the result until February I'm afraid...so a solid 3 month wait. I have now been given minor revisions (the saga never ends!!)

Good luck to you - I hope you get your result soon as I know how agonising the wait can be. You put your life on hold as you can't be sure when that result is going to come through. Let me know how you get on! :)

The best advice I can give you from my experience is to anticipate the kind of questions your examiners are likely to ask based on their research expertise. Also, be wary of your internal. Often students assume that it is the external who calls the shots but I found my internal also put me through her paces! Whatever the research interests are of your examiners, expect questions emerging from this. Good luck!

I thought I would update anyone who was interested in my ongoing situation as to what has happened now. (Long story short: had viva, given R&R, did revisions & resubmitted within a year, waited 3 months for result and was told by admin office two weeks ago that examiners had failed my thesis, got hysterical, then was told by the school to wait as the examiner reports were incomplete).

I have received my examiner's reports (much earlier than I had anticipated) and I have been given minor revisions! I was so incredibly relieved to hear this. Considering I'd been told that I'd failed two weeks ago, it was like my thesis was given back to me after I thought I'd never get control of it again. So obviously I am very happy and rang my partner followed by my mum in tears of joy!

However, having read the reports I'm feeling terrified again. Firstly: there are two distinct categories of minor CORRECTIONS (within 2 months) and minor REVISIONS (within 6 months). I got the latter. What my examiners have asked me to do makes very little sense and is incredibly vague. It is only my external who will see the thesis again but the short report I received from her was wholly critical and gave no positive feedback whatsoever. Although the official letter I received from my university says that "the thesis has met the standards for the award of PhD, but require me to make satisfactory revisions to the thesis within six months", the report from my external says that my 12 months of R&R corrections have "improved the thesis somewhat but do not bring it up to the standard required for a PhD".

Although these minor revisions are of course great news, I'm still terrified that I will do them (and they are not as 'minor' as the title suggests) and will still be failed. Bearing in mind my word count is 153,000 and will now rise even more.

Thanks to everyone for all the advice and support!

Hi everyone,

Thank you all so much for your helpful and insightful responses. It really has meant so much during this difficult time.

I thought I would give you all an update...the situation has (perhaps unsurprisingly) become even more bizarre. I was told by the school last week that the reports received by the admin office were incomplete. Apparently they had only been sent the examiner's preliminary (individual) reports and an incomplete joint report. As a result of this, I've been told that my result cannot be confirmed until a completed joint report has been received. I was told that I'd have another 3 week wait for this.

I continue to be upset about the situation - am currently in bed with a bad dose of flu...I guess the stress hasn't helped. What's worse now is that the school have put a 5% glimmer of hope in my mind about my result. Maybe they hadn't failed it? Maybe it was only the verdict of one examiner and not the other? Maybe the overall result will change once they have met and discussed things further? All probably futile questions seeing as I spoke to my internal on the phone in tears and told her that I couldn't believe I had failed. Surely if they weren't going to fail me, she would have said something?!

Anyway, I will keep you all updated. I will of course appeal on varying grounds (not academic judgement as I understand) but will be keeping these confidential in case examiners look at this forum...you never know. I am unable to begin the appeal until my result has been confirmed by the board of examiners which, like I said, should be in the next few weeks. And there I was thinking I could finally shift all my focus to my career...sigh.

Thank you all again for your advice :)

I don't even know what to write. I've been crying for hours trying to understand what has happened.

I submitted my PhD, did my viva and was given an R&R (please see my old posts for more details). I worked so hard over a 9 month capacity to do all the corrections asked of me. I provided my examiners with a separate document detailing all my corrections etc. My resubmitted thesis was massive (153,000 words) but they had asked me for more chapters and told me to take NOTHING out.

After a 3 month wait, I received an email this morning from the office saying that I had been given 6 months revisions. After much confusion, they then clarified that this meant minor corrections. I was relatively happy with this - it looked like no second viva needed to happen and that the end, although prolonged, was in sight.

An hour later I received another email from the office apologizing that they had given me the wrong result and that my examiners had actually decided it was insufficient standard for a doctoral award and that I could resubmit in 6 months and endure another viva if I wanted to go for an MPhil.

I've been ringing my supervisors and they're not responding to my emails or phone calls. I just got off the phone with my internal examiner (she was the only person to pick up the phone). She was clearly gobsmacked by the fact I had called her in tears but no one is giving me any answers. The office said the reports from my examiners are still incomplete so I can't even find out the reasons why they failed it.

I have wasted five years of my life, have bound copies of two massive PhD thesis' just staring at me...all my career prospects have just shattered in front of me (I'm currently lecturing and wanted a career in academia).

Please can anyone tell me what my options are? I'm absolutely devastated. Crying whilst typing.