It's nearly 12 weeks since I submitted and I haevn't had my viva date yet. I have chased this up with the postgraduate office and they are looking in to it. The policy at my uni is that vivas should be with 8 weeks of submission ideally and a maximum of 12 weeks. I'm worried there is a problem with my thesis!! Any experiences of having to wait ages and what do you think I should do next? I've contacted my supervisor to see if she know anything or has heard from my internal who has an office near her. Has anybody got any idea whether supervisors and internals are allowed to discuss it and whether any info can be passed on to me?

that's rotten for you Pam; I can only imagine how tortuous the wait must be. From memory Dunni had to wait a long while to be told when her viva was - might be worth pm'ng her??

Hope you hear soon

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Hey Pam.

I completely understand frustrations with waiting limbo!

I submitted my thesis in September and had to wait until the following March for a viva date, only for my examiners to cancel viva 2 weeks before viva, which then involved waiting for a new viva date and search for a new examiner. So, all in all, about a 9 month wait between submission and viva. But, my story is a complete outlier to other PhD candidate stories, so hardly representative of other waiting times.

I was just told to sit tight and wait. In my case, the admin lady knew of the dates and my examiners names before my supervisors!?

I've been waiting for the past 2 months for my examiners to let me know if I've passed my PhD or not following submission of a reduced thesis in accordance with their requests from my viva last year.

So for me, the wait continues and is starting to really worry me now, especially as a long wait for me has usually resulted in bad news, so I'm trying my best to cope with it all and will utilize counseling services if my distress gets any worse! (Although must keep in mind that their not expecting any news until end of this month, so I'm probably not doing myself any favours worrying!).

BUT, excluding my story, wait for viva date is due to lots of factors nothing to do with the quality of a thesis- ie annual leave, agreeing on dates, busy schedules etc etc.

Hope you receive your viva date soon.

Hi Pam,

I feel your pain - I had a long wait between submission and viva date myself. I wouldn't worry yourself unduly about possible problems with your thesis - I bet you it's because your submission fell slap bang in the middle of the summer. Everything seems to run so much slower if you submit from May to August - examiners go on research leave/holiday, administration slows down, etc.; alternatively your examiners may simply be having difficulties finding a mutually agreeable date. However, at this stage, I think you've got every right to approach university administration and/or your supervisor/internal; they must know that you're anxious to find out, and if they aren't allowed to disclose anything in particular, then they would simply let you know that too. Best of luck - both in finding out and for the viva itself!

Thanks for your replies. I've been in touch with my supervisor and she has contacted my internal to see if he has heard anything. So I will give it a bit more time. It's annoying because my friend submitted on the same day and passed his viva last week so has been celebrating. We we were hoping to both be able to graduate in December. But even with minor corrections (hopeful!!) this probably won't happen now. Oh well, I've waited five and a half years for this, so what is a few extra weeks!

It's now 14 weeks since I submitted and have still not had a viva date. The last correspondence I had was two weeks ago with the postgrad research officer and she was going to chase the internal and contact the postgraduate director. But I have heard nothing since. I'm getting very stressed. I'm applying for jobs and I've got loads of commitments so I need to know a date so I can start planning. I just know that it's going to clash with a job interview or something and I'll have to request a change of date, which will make me look stupid after chasing a date in the first place.
I've e-mailed again today asking as a matter of courtsey for a reason for the delay. I think I am entitled to that.

Can you contact the internal examiner directly?

In my dept/uni, the internal examiner is in charging of viva date. I previously had similar problem, contacted postgraduate administrator & chair of graduate board, and they ask me to contact the internal examiner directly.

My supervisor has sent him an e-mail today asking for a date by the end of the week so if I don't hear, I will contact him directly. Hopefully I will soon know then I can get started on preparing!

You still don't have a viva date???? I've been offline for a few weeks sorting out my incredibly complex (but short list) or amendments, so hadn't seen this - I can't believe you're still waiting, we submitted within days of each other - or maybe even the same day? :-( I'm so sorry to hear that you're still in limbo xxx

Thanks Stressed. I'm stressed at the moment! I've not had a reply from the postgrad research officer which I think is very rude, but she was copied in to my supervisors message, so maybe she is waiting to see if that puts pressure on the internal. If I haven't heard anything by the end of the week - even just an e-mail to say why there is no date yet, I will be seriously p***ed off!

Hurrah, finally got my date today after even more chasing! 18 weeks since I submitted. Relieved but it's still not over so I will be trawling through all the viva preparation threads now.

Glad you finally got a date. Good luck with the viva preparation.

Hi Pamw,

I'm glad you got your viva date. That took a while!! Good luck with the preparation. I was looking through some old posts today and realised that we were in roughly the same situation this time last year....where has the year gone!!
And still working on this damn PhD!! ..... Fingers crossed and all the best with the viva when it comes. I'm sure you'll be fantastic;-)