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My University requires the reports to be sent in to the Registry/or to the student within a fortnight of the viva. The final report, when it finally arrived, was dated the day after my viva, but it took 4 weeks (included Easter), and an email from me to the Registry, to get the thing sent to me.

Anticipating that there might be a further delay after sending in my amendments by email to the internal examiner (as instructed), I gave it three or four days and then contacted the Registrar to find out how long it would take before the examiner approved them - and who would tell me, the examiner or the Registrar. I did not receive an immediate reply, but the next day my amendments were confirmed approved by email from the examiner. That was probably coincidence.

In my university handbook, the one given to students at the induction course at the beginning of the degree, it did say that students should be pro-active in contacting people: administrators/supervisors with any queries. I don't think I did this early enough during the course of my degree - it took admin 6 (nearly 7) months to formally confirm my upgrade in registration from MPhil to PhD.

I am absolutely thrilled - I have just received confirmation from the Internal Examiner that my minor amendments were acceptable and that I have now got my PhD. I had my Viva just short of my 65th birthday so it just goes to show that one is never too old to learn! What's next I wonder!!

Hi,

I had my viva in mid-March, which I passed with very minor amendments. I had to wait from end of October, when I submitted the thesis, until mid-January to be given the date, and spent the Christmas holidays going through potential questions and answers. I think the greatest cause of anxiety is the fear that one would either not know the answer to one of the examiners' questions, or dry up completely.

The examiners don't necessarily ask the questions you might expect, but it is really important to remember that no-one knows your thesis as well as you do (this has been said many times before - but it is true!), and when it comes to the actual event you will rise to the occasion. You may even surprise yourself by actually enjoying it once you get into the swing of things, and especially once you realise that the examiners are not asking questions simply to trip you up, but because they are really interested in what you have written.

I am a very over-anxious person and both of my examiners evidently recognised this and went out of their way to give me time to adjust to the situation and put me at my ease. They were also kind enough to let me know at the beginning of the viva that I had passed, and the viva itself only lasted an hour and a half.

It may sound a bit frivolous, but it's a bit like going to the dentist - not as bad as you think it is going to be.

All the best:-) and let us know how you get on.

Agreed! :-)

Thank you to all of you. Everyone of you gave correct and helpful advice. My second supervisor confirmed that examiners do not go through the thesis more than once - they don't have time to do so, and they are not well-paid for doing the job anyway. He told me that the likelihood was that my examiners wanted to keep the thesis copies for a while because they were so interested in the contents!

I was referred by my primary supervisor to check with the Registry - and the letter, with report and list of corrections was found sitting on the desk of a new member of staff. She missed sending it off in the post yesterday but has most helpfully scanned the letter etc., which I received this morning - panic now over. Corrections are minimal and I have a weight off my mind.

I have found this forum most helpful - I just wish I had found it sooner! As an OAP, who has been working in almost total isolation, and at some considerable distance from my home institution, I might have benefitted from some online conversations with others who were going through the same process.

M:-)

Have contacted my lead supervisor who said I should have received the examiners' report and the corrections list by now. Was advised by him to contact the University Registry, which I have now done. I hope to hear back from them in a day or two.

Thanks for the comments and the advice. My husband has been telling me to contact my supervisor about this, but I haven't liked to be a nuisance.

Hello,

Congratulations to everyone who has had their viva and passed.

I'm new to this forum and just want to ask for some help/information/reassurance about what happens after the viva.

I had my viva on 15 March and passed with minor corrections. The viva was quite short, an hour and a half, and I was told at the very beginning that it would be OK, which was a great relief.

I did not have to defend my thesis as such - I was just asked a few questions about it, presumably just to make sure that I knew what it contained, and to ensure that it was my own work.

I had thought, naively, that once the viva was over everything else would happen quite quickly. I was told at the end of the viva that there was one typo (a date) to be corrected, a sentence to be included, and four additional references to be added to my bibliography. I assumed that would be it, and that I would be sent the list of corrections pretty quickly. My supervisor had told the examiners, at the viva, that they should send the list of corrections to me within two weeks (i.e. by the end of March).

Both examiners kept their copies of my thesis, and I am now concerned that they have been going through them, adding still more corrections to be done. Does anyone know what the normal practice of examiners is in this respect? Am I being too impatient? Or expecting too much?

Hope someone knows the answer to this!

M

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Congratulations!