Hey BarbaraH,

Sorry to hear you got a grilling as well. It's a horrible process I agree. I imagine in creative writing it is even more subjective than my own area which is a science. If your novel has been short listed for an award though I don't think I would be too worried. It sounds like you have already become a success in your field, so it is good to remember that. Take heart in you achievements and build on those. Whatever you do though, don't let the viva harm your love for writing, that is a precious thing!

I hope the process is a fair one (although my confidence in it right now is still very shaken), in which case it should just be a matter of doing the revisions. For me, I am still waiting on the report so I am in a kind of limbo really...I have other research I would have been enjoying doing had I finished, but it is hard to focus without the report, so I feel untethered at the moment.

All the best,

Guy.

Hey Everyone,

Thanks a lot for all your support. I really appreciate it. I will keep you up to date on how things progress. In the mean time I am going to take a short holiday and hopefully the report will be ready when I return and I can set about addressing the issues systematically.

Guy.

Thanks Delta and DanB for your replies.

DanB, there is no other Viva, but the chair did make clear that there were still four possible outcomes and that is what has me worried.

I have already begun to make a list of how I should address the points made during the viva. I am more than open to make any and all corrections that are needed. I understand many of their points and I am willing to improve it. In retrospect I should have been more open and discursive with them, but I find it hard to maintain my concentration after about two hours as I am quite thin and my blood sugar level generally begins to drop very fast, and so was not able to think as rationally as I could have. Even now I am thinking of many of the points they made and how I could have been clearer and gone into far more depth regarding my approach...this all adds to my worries.

The thought of it being rejected though even after addressing the report fully is something I can't get out of my mind...I have only been able to eat a piece of toast and a piece of fruit since the viva (two days ago) and my sleep has been continually broken up with intense anxiety attacks. I honestly cannot face getting out of bed today.

Hi Everyone,

I recently sat my viva. I was quite positive and upbeat about the whole thing before hand, I had done test runs with other members of my group and the feedback was positive. On the day I was informed that there was a good chance I was fighting for major corrections. I did not even really believe this and was still psyched to get minor corrections.

I met my extern before hand but his body language seemed quite stand offish, at this point I was starting to get a little concerned. I gave my presentation and we started the questioning. To begin I think I defended it well, but eventually I began to feel the questioning was going badly. I really felt like I was getting a grilling. Most of the questions were fair I think and I had made some silly mistakes which were included, which I felt made me look amateurish. But for the most part I believed the work was there as I have had some smaller publications and a journal publication with my major contribution. But by the time we got to the evaluation, I was exhausted and was finding it difficult to engage with the examiners. I began to find it hard to give coherent answers to questions. In all it took nearly four hours.

At the end I went outside and then came back in. I was told that I had major corrections, the outcome of which could still be a fail, a masters, minor corrections or a pass. I didn't feel the intern or extern had much positive to say about it though. The chair was good enough to say I shouldn't feel down as I had put up a spirited defense.

I have worked on my thesis for over four years and have poured blood and sweat into it. The thought of not achieving a Ph.D at this point is terrifying to me. I have really lost faith in the entire system, because I was allowed to come this far without ever being warned that my work was unsatisfactory. How else can one judge other than publications etc.?

I feel extremely depressed. I am going to put the work in, but I have no idea how much they now expect (waiting on a report). The idea that I could spend another six months on this and still get a masters is really worrying to me. Has anyone else had major corrections and felt they might not pass and has either passed or has failed? What is the likely hood of a failure after doing major corrections? I just need some idea of my chances to get a phd as the uncertainty is killing me.

Guy.