I'm wondering how long people have taken to get from a first full draft to submission?

Apologies if this has been asked before, I can't see that it's been asked recently.

I'm aiming for a full draft by 1st September and submission before Christmas though this seems optimistic when I compare to the only other student in my department who is ahead of me. She however and a couple of others I have spoke to can only work on the thesis part-time (up to 3 days a week) so I have a pretty skewed picture of how long it should take. My supervisors have proposed the submission date so must think it is doable however it just seems mega fast to me, especially as they have only had the time to read one chapter so far.

I'm intending to (try) and work full-time on my thesis until submission but if funds run out I'll need to work part-time/write part-time.

Any personal experiences or advice really welcome

Thanks

GM

I think that sounds doable.
My experience was slightly different in that my supervisors never saw a full completed draft. Instead they saw and commented on each chapter individually, but I wrote pretty much my entire thesis in 5 months, I was motivated by the end of my fourth year, a date I could NOT go beyond!)

Catalin,

That is very encouraging to hear - well done! And thanks for the message. My studentship payments end at the end of September so I'm very motivated by that and the fact I'll then need to work at least part-time from January (when savings run out!).

Thanks.

I'm hoping that is a generous timing and really doable as I will only have about a month between full draft and submission hah! I can only work on it 1 day a week at the moment but will have about 3 weeks in August to work full time on it until I start a full time job in September. I need to hand in by the end of August! I've heard lots of people say it'll take as long as you give yourself. So the tighter the deadline the more efficiently most people work! So it'll be fine!

Personally I think that timeline is optimistic, but of course it depends on what you're writing about

Thanks everyone.

DocInsanity, you've made me consider that I should maybe mention that my thesis is going to be around 98000 words and in the social sciences. I guess in which case I may need a little more time than a 60000 word thesis.

Judging from the feedback on my first chapter however, the revisions will mainly involve clarifications, re-ordering, spelling and grammar changes. It does seem doable to me in 3-4 months (but I know that I have underestimated how long things will take in the past!).

Hi Grumpy!
Well done for getting to this point!
Every project is different, but in our department it is pretty standard for (full time) students to submit about 6-8 weeks after they received feedback on the full draft. The only people who take longer are those who need to do more substantive work or who need to do major restructuring. Clarifications, small re-ordering, grammar etc can be done in a few weeks if you work hard. I am aiming for about 4 weeks after I receive feedback, also for a 100 000 word thesis, but my supervisors have seen previous drafts of almost all of my chapters, so I don't expect any *big* surprises in terms of feedback. The point I'm trying to make is that it's really good to have a tight deadline because otherwise you might become obsessive and try to make it PERFECT. I'm not saying your thesis shouldn't be as good as you can make it, but at some point you should let it go. So your time-frame sounds doable to me, especially if you can do it (mostly) full-time.
Good luck and keep us posted!

Hey, Grumpy. It's great to hear that you're doing so well and well done for getting to this point!! It really is an achievement.

As other people have said, everyone is a bit different. It depends what state it's in when you send it, how fast you work, how big the alterations that are advised are etc.
I sent my full draft to my supes on 8 May. They took approximately 2 weeks to feedback. And I submitted last week on 25 June!!!! =D

My final final deadline was 30 June, so I made sure to leave a good week (10 days actually) for printing and binding and any hiccups that might bring.

All in all, I think it's definitely do-able. I had only very minor typo suggestions etc from my supes, but there were some bigger alterations that I chose to do before finally submitting. Remember, it doesn't have to be perfect (and nothing ever is). I submitted knowing that there are still issues and problems with my final draft, but in a way, that's what a viva and corrections are for (and it still won't be perfect after that!). I must add that the final formatting and making everything 'look pretty' and be nice and accessible for my examiners took longer than I thought and was really fiddly. But in the end, I think that was worth the work.

Well done again for getting so far. Good luck for the next few months. You can do it! And remember you can message me any time you want. xx

Hi,

I submitted "first draft" to my supervisors middle of July. Of course they've seen all chapters individually before. After I received feedback I sent it for proofreading, printing and binding, and I was ready to submit middle of September.

So, two months, assuming there are no major issues in the final draft.

Hi Grumpy Mule - snap! My thesis eerily also 98,000 words. My time from full draft to submission took about 4 months I think, partly because my supervisor was quite picky. It's certainly doable.

I'm submitting my first draft this week. My supervisors have seen all chapters individually. I'm expecting to submit my final thesis within a month of today. Let's see if that pans out!

My supervisor hadn't seen the individual chapters, so that explains the time between full draft and submission.