My PhD journey has been long and tedious with the most bizarre and stressful occurrences happening (from my viva report being lost to an incorrect result being given to me). If you want to know more please read my old posts.

However, quite simply, I want to know how long you would expect to wait after submitting your thesis post-viva with minor revisions?

I was initially told by my supervisor it would probably take 2 weeks to get a result. It's now been nearly 4 and a half months and I've heard nothing. 2 months ago I was finally enlightened (after some chasing) that my examiner had been signed off ill but was now back to work and reading my thesis. But yet I'm still waiting...

The revisions should take about 2 hours to read through (an additional 12,000 words) which are all clearly marked in the thesis and referenced in my additional explanatory document.

I keep telling myself that I'll wait just another week...then another week...then another...before I start to chase this. I'm extremely concerned that something isn't right but certainly don't want to rattle my external examiner's cage by pushing for a result. However, I have lost job opportunities due to not having the PhD and, like clockwork, another job has come up this week which would be perfect for me and is close to home, but says 'PhD essential'.

Please could I ask all of you for your advice and as much of it as possible. You are all in, or have been in, the PhD struggle: if it was you, what would you do (if anything)?

Also, I should have said, I have contacted my supervisor about this and his reply was that "it is in progress" and there is nothing more concrete he can tell me.

Apply for the job Anz07 - you practically have the PhD. People don't care at this stage whether you have actually have the PhD certificate in your hand.

If I were you I would go to the head of the graduate school or postgraduate admin people and ask what the hell is going on.

I agree with TreeofLife - apply for the job. I would think most employers would consider a PhD completed as you have returned it with the minor corrections done.

I also agree about chasing it up again. I hope you hear soon - it has been an unusual and tortuous process.

Hello anz07 - hope you have heard something by now. I got my examiners' report (passed with minor corrections) through today and it actually says on it that the university will inform the student if the corrections have been accepted within 3 weeks of submission - do you have anything in writing?

I was recently an internal examiner - it was an eye-opener to discover how crap our graduate school office is. Every stage of the process they sat on for at least three weeks. So even though I and the external had turned things round quickly the candidate still experienced delays at each stage and there was also a cock-up at this point.
Is there any way your supervisor (and by the way I think his/her initial claim that it would take a fortnight was really unrealistic) could find out from the internal where they are in the process? In the case I mentioned, it turned out that the external had returned all the paperwork but had overlooked signing one form. Rather than tell her, the office did nothing and it was only when the supervisor asked me gently about the delay that I knew there was an issue. Once I got involved the student had the result in 24 hours.

Hello all,

Thank you for your continued advice. I decided to call up the postgraduate office today as they never replied to my email which was sent a week ago.

I was told that the relevant administrator who is overseeing my paperwork was in a meeting and that I'd get a call back later today (that was at 11am). I waited until 4pm and no call back so I chased them again myself. I then got told that the relevant person was now out of the office so they couldn't give me any information. Apparently I will get a call back with an update tomorrow (I think not...)

Am going to start chasing this a bit harder now but am absolutely terrified of what will be waiting for me at the end of the trail.

Thank you all for your advice and support :)

Hello all,

I heard some disappointing news today which, to be honest, I was half prepared for as I knew a 4 and a half month wait after minors wasn't normal.

After much chasing, I received an email from the office updating me about the situation. It said the following:

"It seems that there has been a disagreement about whether you have met the requirements for the revisions. As a consequence, further consideration is being given to how best to resolve this.

Unfortunately, it may take a bit of time. I understand that this needs to be resolved as soon as possible, but I’m afraid that this is all I can tell you at this stage (as the matter is now lying with senior colleagues). I’m waiting to hear what the decision is about how best to take this forward, and I will certainly get in touch with you when I do receive word."

I'm absolutely devastated...again...I'm kind of becoming numb to the devastation now.

Anz07 - oh no, I clicked hoping you'd finally had good news.
My advice would be to seek support from your supervisor if they are the supportive type. If they have been distant recently, it's probably because they know this but were forbidden to tell you. Ask if this situation has happened before and what happened. As well / Instead does your student union have any independent advisors? Or is there a departmental research student person or a good HoD you trust? Somebody who knows the university procedures inside out would be helpful to identify at this stage.
You need to know what should happen in a case like this, so that you challenge any procedural irregularities.A good supervisor would be doing this for you, which is why I'm suggesting talking to them, but you will by now have a good grasp on how likely this is. People will no doubt tell you to get a lawyer - I don't think this is that helpful at this stage as it would be expensive and finding one with the relevant expertise tricky. What might concentrate minds though is a few questions about the appeals and complaints process.
A similar case happened a few years ago where I work. In that case, a third examiner (a new external) was brought in to reevaluate the thesis and the degree duly awarded without another viva or any corrections.
I know you feel numb and you probably don't feel like a fight, but unless your supervisor is doing it for you, you do need to get informed and if you think they are not acting correctly, then start being everyone's prospective worst nightmare.

Sorry to hear this news.

Sounds like your supervisor has been trying to argue this with the examiner and nobody knows how to proceed. This is where the University should have specific guidelines on how to proceed so you know what to do now.

Really sorry to hear this Anz07. Really hope this gets sorted soon with the best possible outcome for you.

So sorry to hear that. I wish you all the best and I wish this get sorted very soon as treeof life said.