Hello Button, and congratulations! I'm so happy for you.

Sorry I didn't see this thread before, I haven't come back to the Forum much since starting full-time work.

I mainly came back to report that I too just passed my viva :-) Had it on Friday, passed with very minor corrections. Absolutely over the moon! And it wasn't that scary an experience, and yes, kind of enjoyable too.

Look at us, all doctors and everything!

This forum got me through so much of it!

Had my viva on Friday, and passed with minor corrections. Just waiting for the list from the examiners and it'll all be over. So happy!

The viva was two hours. Tough questions but nothing I couldn't handle - I was surprised by how okay it all felt, actually. They told me they were very impressed with the statistics I'd taught myself, and gave me loads of suggestions for how I could turn the thesis into publishable papers, and afterwards my internal examiner said it was among the best vivas they'd ever done. Unbelievably happy!

Done. It's not as finished as I would have liked, but it's finished enough. Sent it in just before 12, then sat in a daze! Very very tired now. But my Christmas break starts here!

Good luck with the work everyone, have a great Christmas and see you in the New Year!

Four hours to deadline.... Made some good progress already this morning and I have a plan to get the draft thesis into a send-able state. It won't be as finished as I'd have liked, but it isn't a million miles off, so I'm happy with that. The final push....

Good luck today, everyone!

Thanks Xtiny! Hope you manage to sort out your plan and the meeting goes well. But look forward to a nice break for Christmas, too - it's important to have time to recharge the batteries.

Final full day today (my deadline is 12 noon tomorrow). I'm doing okay, though. Still to do by tomorrow's deadline:
1.) Finish final section of data chapter I was working on yesterday
2.) Write notes on results up into proper paragraphs in three sections
3.) Complete section about interviews
4.) Write summaries of each chapter
5.) Write bullet-points for discussion/conclusions chapter
6.) Check section/figure/table numbering throughout
7.) Write document for supervisors summarising what still needs to be done

Blimey, that's a lot. But it doesn't feel completely impossible. I never thought I'd be this close to meeting the deadline!

Thanks Xtiny, hope your eyes are feeling better today, that sounds nasty!

Ploughing on. My thesis has broken the 60,000 word mark, which is nice. I'm spending the morning going through from start to finish adding in missing paragraphs, then I'll improve the focus and add some analysis to one of my data chapters, and see how much time is left today after that.

Good luck everyone!

Hi Sneaks, good to see you back here again!

And welcome Steph, hope the thread's useful to you.

I'm just keeping going with the writing up. My one goal is to have something vaguely close to finished to send to my supervisors on Thursday. On I go....

The first thing to say is that at the start of a PhD pretty much everyone feels inadequate and anxious - it's a big thing to start, and unknown territory, so that's perfectly normal.

The third month is very early to decide to quit, so if I were you I would stick it a while longer and see how it goes - but of course, you have to decide what you think is right for you.

It sounds like the contact with other PhD students would really help, and the courses would be a good way to make that contact. But if you're really unenthusiastic about the subject that would be more of a concern for me - you do have to immerse yourself in the research to get through. Of course, this early into a PhD you might not yet have found the bits that really will make it interesting for you, so again I'd give it a bit longer before deciding one way or the other.

The jobs market back home is another consideration - assuming you're actually being funded to do your studies, even if you do ultimately decide to quit, it's worth sticking at it until you have something else to go to, if you possibly can. But only you know how big an effect the experience is having on things like anxiety and depression - there's no point making yourself ill.

It sounds to me like you just need a bit of reassurance - and this forum is great for realising just how common all those insecurities actually are! I hope you come back to it all refreshed next term.

Still ploughing away at the writing up. It's a slow process and I'm not sure I'll be as finished as I'd like by Thursday, but I am inching forwards. I'll be so happy when I press 'send' and can take Christmas off!

Hope anyone else who's working today is having a good day!

Hope you got plenty done yesterday, Xtiny! I never made it onto this forum but I did get lots of work done so that's the main thing...

Today, I'm pressing on with the final bit of my data analysis. If I'm quick and don't hit any problems there's an outside chance that I could finish it all today, which would be amazing, as then all I'd have left to do is writing up. Fingers crossed I make it! But if I don't do it today, I should definitely manage it tomorrow.

Good luck with your work today, whoever's reading!

Heh, the print-out just reminds me how much work exactly I have to do by next Thursday's deadline! I am certain I won't have done as much as I want, I just hope I've done enough for supervisors to be able to give me decent feedback and to think it's nearly complete. The problem I now have is that my new employers want me to start work on 7 Jan, and in return for starting a couple of weeks earlier than I was expecting, have offered me one week in Jan when they say I can finish my thesis off after getting my supervisors' comments. I can't see how that will be long enough - but I'm going to have to just go with it and hope it is.

It's great that I have a job to go to, but I wish there was just a little more time before I start it!

Good luck with your work today, sounds like you're getting results out, which is great.

Today, I'm working on my final bit of data analysis. I know what I need to do so I just need to plough through the models and see how much I can do in one day.

Morning Xtiny. I had a great day yesterday, thanks, got everything on my list done, worked late and went to bed feeling I'd done a good day's work. Well, the biscuits got slightly burnt, but I've picked out the best ones to share with my supervisors!

Data analysis is very frustrating, and always seems to take far longer than anticipated. I feel your pain there!

Today, I'm on campus so have printed out the complete thesis that I have so far (57,000 words) so I can handwrite corrections all over it during the next week. I've got a few admin bits to sort out while I'm here, but otherwise I'm focusing on the final part of my data analysis. I just found a paper that does exactly the analysis I'm doing, so my first task is to read that and make notes on how they did it. Then I need to apply that method to my own data. I also have my supervision meeting to go to. Busy day!

Woo, that's fantastic, congratulations!

I know that panicked feeling, Xtiny! My thesis is due in next Thursday. Eek! I still have some analysis to do, and lots of rewriting of chapters.

I put in long hours over the weekend and am pleased with my progress, so if I can keep that up between now and next Thursday there's a good chance I'll have something close to a complete thesis. But it'll be very tight.

Goals for today:
1.) Go swimming - DONE
2.) Carry out last bit of analysis on the current model
3.) Write up last bit of analysis on the current model
4.) Prepare data files for analysis of final models
5.) Bake biscuits to give to my supervisors during tomorrow's supervision meeting - our last meeting before Christmas, so I want to give them something nice!

Good luck with the work today, everyone!

Oh congratulations, that's wonderful! You must be floating around today...