That all sounds really good Ace, congratulations! :-)(up) But 4 hours though??!!

Congratulations on submitting Bilbo!

I had loads of minor errors, but like you, I noted them before the viva and had answers prepared for the examiners, just in case. Plus post-its everywhere with info I could have included but didn't. The middle-of-the-night thoughts about possible errors to check doesn't sound great though. Hopefully you also read bits and think oh, that's really rather good....? :-)

Hi 404,

I'm sorry you've been having a bad time with the PhD. I think it's extremely unlikely you'd be able to submit your thesis to another university, though you could check the regulations at various uni websites to confirm this. You might be able to publish stuff from your unsubmitted thesis and then on the back of that, try applying for a PhD by publication, if you could demonstrate significant imapct, originality etc, but that would take ages (probably years given the slowness of publishing processes) and might not be possible.

If I was you (and I've been there myself with the final-final deadline situation) I'd try my best to get something ready to submit by June. It's not March yet so there's a fair bit of time, but you'd have to really focus 100% on your thesis to the exclusion of having any semblance of normal life. Just get the thing in - it won't be perfect, but do your best to knock it into shape so you keep within their regulations for submission dates. What's the worse that can happen? You might get a load of corrections, but most people get corrections anyway. At least you'll be a step closer to finishing it and won't have wasted all your work to date. I'm sure you've got enough work behind you by now to submit something PhD-like.

I know it might be a completely vile way of life for a while, hellishly tedious. I know from experience there is a strong possibility of becoming utterly boring and self obsessed, everyone you know is sick of hearing about the bloody PhD, you wave goodbye to any social life and might have to suspend or give up other stuff like teaching. BUT... the good things about this self-imposed torment are that 1) it is short term; 2) you get to submit on time, and 3) after that can set about having a life again. It's a thesis, you can submit something by June. Give it your best shot 404, I'm sure you can do it. I really do think you can!! (up)

No requirement from my uni to list letters after names on the thesis title page either. It never occurred to me that it might be a possibility anyway, my name was enough.

Hi Anon,

That sounds awful and I'm not surprised you feel devastated. Do carry on with the appeals process though, some do get through, I've seen it happen. It does sound a bit dodgy that you were allowed to submit if your work was supposedly that bad, how did the whole process get to that point? I would echo what's already been said and start checking back through past documentation of any possible deficiencies on the part of your supervisors or the department. Are there any other students with the same supervisors who also failed? Sometimes there is a pattern that shows the university is at fault.

Good luck with it anyway, (up)

hehehe that was me Cobweb, I couldn't bear to see marmite losing in the poll, so I sneaked in and voted and then sneaked off again as am at work. Very satisfying to see the numbers change though! We just need one more person to tip us into the lead!

I love it, :-x I used to eat spoonfuls of it when I was a kid, possibly one of my stranger 'snacks' along with cups of uncooked cold custard and scraping out the insides of empty toothpaste tubes.... hhhmmm not so tasty-sounding in retrospect... :$

Goodness, you sound really lucky if the cars were a write off! Still not much fun for you though:-(

My supervisor had foot and shoulder injuries a while back while she was on funded research leave that completely incapacitated her. Couldn't use the computer either. She had to switch round her research timetable, postponing all the jetsetting around archives abroad, meetings etc, and concentrated on doing the reading instead. She kept face to face meetings to a minimum, doing them over the phone if possible, or having them at her house if they were essential. I believe she made a lot of use of a selection of helpers (domestic slaves?!).

Look after yourself! :-)

I've just had all the forms relating to access to my completed thesis. One of the options is to make the thesis available online in digitised form via both the British Library and my own institutional repository, in addition to the bound copies in the BL and my own uni library. I'm thinking of opting out of making mine available online to anyone right now, though will investigate further. This current obsession with making everything open access online seems to be in its early stages at the moment, at least at my uni, and I'm not convinced of the IPR protection it offers me as I want the whole thing to be published almost as it is as a book and I'm worried about the copyright implications for the publishing contract. This is England though, it might be different elsewhere.

You might find your own university offers an online access option for completed PhDs and you can just link to that from your own website if you have one. It would look more authoritative if it was hosted by a university digitised library.

I've no idea about number 3, but it's a nice question for those non-scientists amongst us who think about materials. As human remains can be turned into diamonds, who knows. :-)

Emmaki, I found it unclear because of this phrase: 'Hence I could not defend my thesis within the time frame mentioned', a defence being the equivalent of a viva which happens at the end of a PhD. Though the OP has posted this in a prospective students section on here and has asked elsewhere about embarking on a PhD, so a bit of clarification wasn't a completely bizarre or stupid request on my part. :-)

Wouldn't other people's perceptions of you being dyslexic depend partly on what your subject area is? I'm in the arts and there is a high proportion of dyslexia in this area, from undergrad students onwards. I don't know what the percentage is, but no-one bats an eyelid if someone says they're dyslexic. It's not regarded any differently to an international student having problems with the English language, they just get support and help if needed from the available university departments that are there for that purpose.

Thanks Walminski, that's a brilliant tip - it's improved my user experience no end today!! (up) :-)

Bug, can I give him a star by proxy?

Cleverclogs, it shows how accurate they are then! ;-)

I've been noticing the 'meet mature men (or women) in your area' ads, now you've mentioned it. Seems to assume that all postgrads are mature, sad and single, as well as incapable of any human contact in 'real life' without the help of random, google sponsored, adverts. What a depressing stereotype that paints!! :-)