I thought BHC's points were spot on actually, not melodramatic, so I was rather surprised his post attracted the comments it did. You can't separate higher education from its economic context, hence the 'outrageously shameful advertising' (!) from spammers like this one trying to fill a niche in the market. Whether or not it's a morally dubious service is a different issue, though obviously related.

======= Date Modified 06 Apr 2009 12:25:32 =======
Oh, it's ok now - I should have checked before I posted. :$ Wow, 55 users online...?
Thank you Pete!

I noticed that yesterday too!

I got some missing page refs by searching for relevant text in Google Scholar. Also, Amazon happened to have a scanned section of a book I wanted for another last minute reference.

Failing that, would it make a huge difference to the article if you took that clause out or rewrote it to get rid of the need for that page number? Would your conscience bother you if you made up a page number?

I know it's not the same, but I lost both my copy of a book I used and my written notes that I really needed for page numbers for a couple of references the day before I submitted my thesis. I left the book and author reference in but without page numbers in the end, in the expectation that would go on my list of mechanical corrections as possible typos. Probably a bit sloppy in a perfect PhD world, but it was the choice between submitting it or not, and it wasn't going straight off for publication.

Have you tried Google?

Hi Buzby,

Even if you submit at the end of June, early 2010 for a viva is about 7 months from submission which seems quite a long time. Even including the summer and Xmas holidays when academics might disappear, it still seems rather a long wait. I'd suggest checking your uni regulations for submission and examination procedures, and if that's no help, ask your research or post-grad administrator what usually happens and the normal time-scales. Maybe you could find out from your supervisors if they've already got examiners lined up, and if they have, then is there a problem in getting these people together for your viva at specific times and dates due to any pre-existing commitments.

Our regulations say about 1-3 months between submission and viva. My supervisors started discussing examiners at least 3 months before my submission date so the paperwork could go through the appropriate admin procedures. They started earlyish as I'm interdisciplinary and there weren't many people who would be suitable to examine my thesis, plus I needed 3 of them and my sup as observer, so it had to fit around their various research projects and globe-trotting stints. In the end, I waited a month from submission to find out my viva date, and that's left me just over a month to prepare for it. Maybe not ideal, but I'll be glad to get it over with!

Posts like this are quite depressing. 250 people all effectively buying PhDs instead of doing the work.

I can't imagine even the bunch on The Apprentice stooping this low for a money-making opportunity. Though they do sometimes mention selling their grannies if the price is right....

I believe there are some pretty good primary schools in London too. Not sure which is best though.

You should really define what you mean by 'teaching professional programmes' too - what type of course, what level etc? Vocational, PhD, Masters, MBA...?

For example, we have some very professional teaching on PhD programmes in fashion theory at my uni, but I somehow doubt that is what you're after....

Oh, ok! I just mentioned it as one of our AHRC funded students was commended by our res committee for submitting within his studentship period. Maybe it looks good for the uni too, I don't really know.

My uni does a nominal writing up fee of £200, but students who take up this option don't have access to internal funding for conferences or other events which you can apply for as a regular student.

You sound like you're trying to do an awful lot at the moment though. Is it worth putting your various professional development ideas onto the back burner for now, and concentrating on getting the PhD finished? There are likely to be other career opportunities in the future, but it would look good if you could finish your PhD within your AHRC funding period. Not sure exactly how it works with funding bodies, but it might help your case if you ever apply for funding from them in the future as it shows you can deliver on time. Once the PhD is done, you can apply for jobs galore with less background stress.

======= Date Modified 03 Apr 2009 08:45:57 =======
Hi everyone,

Armendaf, that's good news it's all moving along now with your examiners - at least when you get that bit and the viva date sorted you can get down to revision in earnest.

Lara, that email sounds fine, send it if you haven't already. I wouldn't worry about cc-ing the admin people, you need to know this stuff and you haven't said anything critical of your sup, you're just prodding him for a response of some sort and you really need one to get some definite guidance about what's going on. That limbo between submission and examiners/viva date is so horrible, my imagination went on a rampage through all the various possibilities and outcomes I might get, from nice to nasty! Try not to think about your family and friends thinking badly of you if you don't do as well as you want to, I know it's hard though. You'll probably be much more critical about it all than they ever will be. Sometimes I wonder if I've let myself down or my sups, and wonder what my research colleagues will think if I don't do as well as they want, but you just have have to deal with these things if they happen. Maybe it won't be as bad as you anticipated anyway!

I had a viva nightmare last week (it was in a room with glass walls on a busy corridor so everyone in the college could watch, I hadn't even opened my thesis let alone read it, people from all my previous jobs were there and then someone smoked a ciggy standing on the table under the smoke alarm so we all got evacuated.) It won't happen in real life as I'm not having it in THAT building.

I've got my viva date now, 14th May. I was glad at first as I could start revising properly, then by the end of the day I felt really weepy and burst into tears at work which made me feel a right prat, though the admin assistant was really sweet, but by the next day I was back to normal again. The admin person told me by separate email about the date and time, so I didn't know what my sups had been told. I mentioned the viva when I emailed them later that day and my sup pointed out that the time I mentioned was for the examiner's pre-viva discussion, not me. That made me think, oh blimey, if I can't even get my viva time right what else don't I know... Plus one of them kindly sent me a call for papers from a journal for a special edition that sounded 'right up my street' and I seriously can't think of how on earth I would write for that journal, it's a completely alien discipline to me, which also made me feel like I know nothing at the moment.

I asked about revision and one of my sups said not to read my thesis until about 2 weeks before the mock viva, so I come to it 'fresh'. My mock is a week before the real thing, though the date keeps changing at the moment. It doesn't seem very long to me, but they can't have a cavalier approach to supervising as their students have all passed, but it's very different to the advice in the Murray book. Maybe they've got a lot of faith in my abilities and/or my thesis, I have no idea. I think I'll start properly this weekend, a month's ok but Sup 2's advice sounds a bit last minute for my liking. It's not as if I'll be revising full time anyway. I'll see how it goes!

I acknowledged my supervisors as Profs, but didn't put their institutional addresses or affiliations. I did a fairly generic mention for a BA course I've worked with, 'the staff and students of xyz dept,' and a even more vague thank you to my Uni for the funding and 'opportunities' I've received which made me feel slightly obsequious, but apparently these things have to be said.

Hi everyone,

Missspacey, good luck with your plodding, it will be worth it to hand it in and move on. It's heavy going at this stage, but great to have the end in sight.

I got the Murray book out yesterday and it seems useful so far, from the first chapter. I guess I must have had enough rest if I've started thinking about the viva. I know it's probably not very sensible to think of all possible outcomes as that includes unpleasant ones, but I know I definitely won't pass with no corrections as I know there are mistakes in it, so that leaves the other outcomes. It's quite weird knowing that the examiners should have got their copies by now. One of them said to my sup she was looking forward to reading it, and I know she likes my work so that's nice to hear, but I'm really hoping I've done myself justice and won't disappoint her. I feel like there have been all these expectations of me by the various academics I've worked with and maybe I haven't been as good as they thought I was going to be, but the whole thesis is still so recent that I haven't got a very realistic perspective on it and can't see properly what I've done yet.

Today I think I'll start reading my thesis to see what I've actually produced, it's better than imagining what I might have written weeks ago. Then I'll get on with the Murray book.

Satchi and Lara, hope your respective days go well today too!

Pam, that's great to hear - I'm sure it will make a huge difference to how you feel about everything. When I replaced a dodgy sup early on in mine, it got me excited again about the whole project, which also made all the financial sacrifices worth it. Hope you manage to take a break over Easter too, even just a few days rest. (up)