One of the PhDers in my lab had her viva today.

We waited expectently for her to return, bought a cake and everything. Only she came back in tears and told us she had failed. The panel absolutely slaughtered her and she felt so anxious she couldnt answer certain questions. Also there was some uncertainty about a paper she had co-authored (but wasnt first author) so the external had cast aspersions on how much she had written.

The panel recommended her project was suitable for an MPhil but only after major changes. Poor girl is gutted, and I dont really want to go through that experience again with another students...

sympathy.. well, if anyone of us faced this kind of disappointment, the only thing we can do is to move on and try to do the best we can. MPhil is not such a bad thing after all. Be strong!

That's awful. Can you put it in context though? Was she a good student? Had she done a whole 3/4 years? What was her supervisor like?

I'm wondering how a paper she had co-authored ended up a PhD, and why didn't the supervisor express concerned about the possibility that she would be pulled up on this.

Definite sympathy, but I wonder how that happened, I have always thought that the external was supposed to be chosen wisely, and the supervisors were supposed to see to it that a fail would be very unlikely, after all, there are so many hurdles along the way that to have got so far through the system with nobody picking up any problems seems a bit strange. If they were as bad as suggested then there must be some appeal process? Was her supervisor present, and can they throw some light on it?

The poor woman :-( I really feel for her; it must be terrible. The thing I don't understand is why her supervisor felt she was ready and let her go for her VIVA - it seems odd. The main problems should have been picked up and addressed in a mock viva. I'm probably been naive due to lack of experience, but this really shouldn't have happened. Assuming that she was a hard worker, she's perhaps been failed by her supervisory team.

The poor woman :-( I really feel for her; it must be terrible. The thing I don't understand is why her supervisor felt she was ready and let her go for her VIVA - it seems odd. The main problems should have been picked up and addressed in a mock viva. I'm probably been naive due to lack of experience, but this really shouldn't have happened. Assuming that she was a hard worker, she's perhaps been failed by her supervisory team.

Poor thing, she must be devastated. but i agree with tom, it's not a failure, she can still get her mphil. which is good. somethings are not meant to be, it's not the end of the world. i am sure she's more hard on herself than she needs to be. these things happen. it doesnt mean she's a poor student or lacks intelligence, just sometimes these things happen.
i hope she takes a break and finds courage and determination to do the changes for the mphil. but right now, she needs a break from it all to recover emotionally. i really do feel for her :-(

I really can't believe this! Surely the sups have been completely negligent in order for her to be taken to bits in the viva itself without any kind of pre-warning whatsoever. I would seriously question the credibility of any institution which allowed this to happen.

I agree with the other comments: someone has been negligent. If the work really is not PhD standard, it should have been picked up at the annual reviews (I assume that annual reviews are used at your institution? It's a legal requirement these days) and she should have been given help to get the work up to PhD level.

Poor girl.

Wow...I really feel for this girl, she must be devastated and very angry that someone let her get as far as to submit her PhD and sit a viva. On the other hand...it will not reflect well on her supervisors to have a failed PhD student so they will get their comeuppance!

I've known 2 people have this happen - one a very good friend. Neither got even a masters after the viva. And I'm afraid there were no consequences for their supervisors either. They were both at my institution too....

It shouldn't be possible but it is. I'm interested to hear that annual reviews are a legal requirement. I have never had one and I'm coming to the end of my final year. I'm very nervous about the lack of supervision I've had - I can easily see how this situation could happen. I'm trying to get some feedback from elsewhere as a safety net. Haven't seen my sup since Feb - don't even know where he is right now. I'm sure though, that there would be no significant consequences for him if I failed. He just assumes I won't but it feels like Russian Roulette - if a sup keeps taking that attitude eventually a student will get shot!

How awful! PhD failure is a real nightmare of mine (and probably loads of us!) but at least I know my supervisors would NEVER let me submit if they thought I could fail!

People make the point that "someone" should have picked up on "something". I gave a glance through it, and felt it was a bit patchy, but I have seen others with worse pass. Also I am not the expert (arguably she is or was supposed to be).

Our supervisor isn't here that often and has a very lassaiz faire attitude to supervision and lets us get on with things.

As context, this girl was okay (not exactly Nobel prize winning material, but not stupid either). She sort of turned up and just got on with things. She kept her head low in the whole Sabrina/ Katy fiasco I talked about elsewhere, and was quite quiet. I didn't even know anything was up until her viva. From her look of surprise neither did she.

I feel its a mix of inadequate supervision, lack of adequate preparation and some old-skool examiners which made for this rather unpleasant situation.

I hope she is feeling better about it. Today my collegue told me about how she went to a talk about a viva, and how the lecturer told them about how one time she was an examiner at a viva, and a phd student literally had a breakdown DURING the viva! She took her phd thesis and started tearing it page by page and throwing it out of the window! (i kid you not)

i said to my collegue, that could be me!

and the examiner was just astounded and shocked, and couldnt believe what she was doing, later realised that the student was actually having a nervous breakdown, and she had to lie down or something.

i can so imagine me failing my phd viva! lol i dont think i'm ready, but being forced to submit cause of my deadline. eeeeek 5 weeks. i feel like i dont know anything
oh well, nevermind :-) will try to cram!!