Hi all

I am trying to work out the best strategy to completion, my PhD is within Science and Engineering but I guess the same strategy is relevant to all subject areas. We are now in the middle of November 2012 and my registration at the university is due to end at in Jun 2013. So I want to work out the best strategy for completion. I am currently writing up my draft thesis (I would say its roughly 75-80% complete). Are there any suggestions or advice from others who are going through or been through the process for PhD completion. Should I aim to submit my draft and final thesis ASAP or should I hold back a little and make sure that more is completed before submitting. Any advice and suggestions would be much appreciated.

Thanks.

Hi Roton,

I was in almost exactly the same position as you this time last year, and my registration at uni ran out Jun 2012. I was aiming to hand my thesis in as soon as I could after Christmas (I was really hoping to get it in before my birthday, which is mid Jan!). I didn't want to wait all the way until June, even though I funded until then, as I just wanted it over and done with.
However, various things caused a hold-up, from supervisors being away, then really slow with feedback, then admin errors, that meant I didn't actually submit until the end of Feb.

If I were you, I would aim for a similar strategy, i.e. pick a specific submission date to aim for and don't wait til June. There are a few reasons for this:

1) If you decide to submit near to June 2013 and something goes wrong with the submission (binding issues/printing problems, stupid admin things for example) then the process could get very stressful if you only have a few weeks left to get everything sorted before your registration runs out. I had a ridiculous admin error crop up on the day before I planned to submit - this took over a week to resolve and was so horribly stressful, even though I had no immediate submission deadline looming. I dread to think how stressed I would have been if I had left my submission until June and then had the same problem! Better to find these things out early when you still have loads of time to deal with them.

2) There is a risk that your thesis will be submission-ready early on, but that you will spend the next few weeks/months endlessly going over it and nitpicking obsessively over every word. If you get to the point where you and your supervisors think it is ready to submit, I would go ahead and submit it asap rather than drive yourself mad going over and over it trying to make it 'perfect'. There is no such thing as the perfect PhD!

3) Graduation - if you submit in early 2013 you could graduate in July and it will all be over and done with, rather than having to wait all the way until December 2013 :-) (assuming your uni has the standard July/Dec graduation ceremonies of course!)

4) Finally, for me it was important to get the PhD out of the way so I could start getting on with my life - I was nearly 30 when I handed in my thesis, so I just wanted it done so I could get a 'real' job and kickstart my career outside of academia. I know not everyone feels like this, but that was most definitely an important driving factor for me!

I guess in conclusion, what I am trying to say is that if you're thesis is ready, and your supervisors are happy, then go ahead and submit, as I can't see any good reason for waiting all the way to June.

Yes, it does sound like a very similar situation. Do you mind me asking what subject area you PhD was in?

I completely agree with (1) and (2), I think its the same for us (3). With regards to number (4) I am not sure what to do after my PhD, stay in academia or go back into industry, did you know what what wanted to do when you were at my stage?

Also, when did you have a completed draft to your supervisor for review?

Thanks again

My PhD was in pharmaceutical science. I knew after about a year of starting my PhD that I wouldn't be staying in academia, mainly because I hate lab work, and so couldn't face doing a postdoc. I love teaching, so would love the lecturing side of an academic career, but the research side is not for me. I started looking for industry jobs this time last year, and made a load of applications in December whilst finishing writing up, which led eventually to a job which I started between submission and my viva.

I sent my chapters to my supervisors one by one as I was writing up, and they sent comments back which I incorporated, and then I compiled the thesis as a whole for the first time in early January I think (wanted it done in December but supervisors were slow with feedback!). I sent it out, hoping they would say 'great, go ahead and submit', but of course that didn't happen! They had quite a few more comments, which were minor in the scheme of things but took quite a while to do, so then I sent the 2nd draft out end of Jan/early Feb. That is when I came across the admin problem I mentioned in my previous post, so I ended up finally submitting towards the end of Feb. In total, the write-up took me just under 7 months from start to finish, but ideally I would have liked to have squeezed it into 6!

Wow you supervisor actually read your thesis, thats a good achievement, I don't know if others have problems getting there supervisors to read stuff properly and critic things, and not just skim read. My supervisor does not things in drips and drabs, he wants it all finished and then handed in for initial review. I guess everyone works differently. So the "3 month Phd" videos I have seen around youtube and maybe a little to ambitious then.

I was going to ask how confident you felt handing your first draft in, but it sounded like you expected it to be pretty much there. As you say, when do you get to that "satisfied" point, enough to hand things in and move on. Sounds like you are quite a self motivated person with ambitions to move on so you were very proactive in getting things done and submitted.

Thanks again for your input and advice. :-)