Hi all,

I'm new to this forum and desperately needing some support.

After 3 years of full time PhD and viva I have just been told I have been referred and need to resubmit and have another viva.

The viva consisted of 2 hours of questioning, whereby my supervisor felt I answered well and defended my decisions. The main concern seemed to be on detail in one particular chapter - something I had not gone into a lot of depth on, as this was not the focus of the PhD and I defended this accordingly. The examiners said they definitely see a PhD in it, but it's not quite there.

I have 12 months however my supervisor thinks we can get it done in less than half of that. I am just absolutely terrified I'll fail. I'm embarrassed that this happened and just feel completely inadequate and failed.

I would just like some feedback from others who have been through this process.

I am so low right now and worried how I'll get out of this.

Hello Shiba,
I’m sorry that you didn’t get the result you were hoping for. I’m not in the same position as you; I have my viva in a few days, but, for various reasons, I think there is a chance I will have to resubmit myself.
This would obviously be very disappointing, but I have thought about it a lot and keep coming back to the fact that, unlike when you are actually writing the thesis, the examiners have actually told you what they want to do….It looks like in your case, according to your supervisor, they have also given you more than enough time to do it. I know it must be very difficult knowing that this is the final opportunity to submit, but, in theory, it should be easier than the first time. I have been around long enough to know and hear of quite a few (more than I would have expected) who had to resubmit. All of them passed on the second attempt, and this seems to be normal. It also depends on the examiner; some might have given majors for beefing up a major chapter, but yours didn’t….it doesn’t mean that you are objectively less good at doing research than those who passed with minors or majors!
It’s really unfortunate that because most people don’t have to resubmit it is spoken of as some sort of aberration; this is definitely not the case! A lot of good theses get majors or have to resubmit because of specific issues that are, comparatively, straightforward to resolve, and I would have a very low opinion of anyone who actually thought you were a poor researcher because of it. Your examiners didn’t think that! It sounds like you have a supportive supervisor and clear instructions on what to do so go ahead and work on that and don’t think about the second viva until it comes around again.
I know nothing will change the disappointment, or make the additional work any easier, but I hope this might be helpful for moving on with things. 😊