Signup date: 20 Dec 2016 at 4:27pm
Last login: 23 Apr 2018 at 7:08pm
Post count: 4
Thanks. I have made an appointment with the student union. It will be difficult to argue that I wasn't given enough guidelines to make corrections- I was, they still didn't accept the work once I did them. Seriously!?
Update: spoke to my second supervisor this morning. He admitted that he'd always had 'some reservations' when reading my work, but didn't say anything because he trusted my main supervisor and hoped the examiners would be lenient.
I have never posted here before, but could use some support.
For the past five years I have been writing a PhD thesis in English literature, and put a lot of work into it, as one does. Although I found it difficult, I never really worried about not passing once I had gotten past the 3-year mark, especially since my main supervisor is well-known, has written a lot of books, and everybody assured me he was amazing and the best person in the department. However, when my viva finally came around last October, my examiners were in agreement that my thesis was terrible. They said they had wanted to fail me outright, but my enthusiasm for my subject matter convinced them to give me another chance. They implied that I would get a PhD if I did all of the corrections that they gave me (there were about 50 pages). I was very shocked, and asked my supervisor how this could have happened. He didn't really answer me and instead said I should be grateful that the examiners put so much effort in. So for the past year I have been massively restructuring my thesis and trying to do everything they asked (I would say I did 95% of what they asked, omitting a few things I just could not understand). I had a pretty good feeling about it, but two weeks ago I went for my second viva with one of my examiners (the other didn't bother to show up) and they offered me an MPhil, saying that was final. Although they said it had improved some, it still wasn't good enough.
Needless to say, I am upset and confused. Although I accept that my work might not have been good enough for a PhD, I am wondering how this could have happened. I believe it has happened like this once before at my university. I should mention that at no point was I ever given the impression that my work wasn't good enough, and was instead always reassured that I would 'be fine'. I should also mention that I asked my supervisor frequently if everything was OK, if I was going to pass, and mentioned that I was worried. I never got any real answers (he is very, very good at being evasive). I have been kicking myself for not acting on that bad feeling I had throughout my third year that something was wrong. Unfortunately, I trusted him. I suspect there is very little I can do here, since I can't really complain of poor supervision (we met every two weeks, plus he is retired now so what's the point) but I don't want to let the university get away with this.
Has anyone here had a similar experience? Is there anything I can do?
PostgraduateForum Is a trading name of FindAUniversity Ltd
FindAUniversity Ltd, 77 Sidney St, Sheffield, S1 4RG, UK. Tel +44 (0) 114 268 4940 Fax: +44 (0) 114 268 5766
An active and supportive community.
Support and advice from your peers.
Your postgraduate questions answered.
Use your experience to help others.
Enter your email address below to get started with your forum account
Enter your username below to login to your account
An email has been sent to your email account along with instructions on how to reset your password. If you do not recieve your email, or have any futher problems accessing your account, then please contact our customer support.
or continue as guest
To ensure all features on our website work properly, your computer, tablet or mobile needs to accept cookies. Our cookies don’t store your personal information, but provide us with anonymous information about use of the website and help us recognise you so we can offer you services more relevant to you. For more information please read our privacy policy
Agree Agree