Hi plantclean, thanks for your reply. My supervisor has said very little except that he is sorry and we will have to wait for the report before the next step. He did seem surprised though so I don't think he had any idea it would go that way. I'll just have to wait and see what happens.

Thanks Uttara, I am trying to stay positive and sort of believe that all things happen for a reason. It's just so difficult when you put all that work in and you think everything's going to be fine and it isn't. I'm sure something will work out in the end.

I was just wondering if anyone on here had had a similar experience to mine. I have just completed (what I thought was) a 7-year PT PhD whilst working as a laboratory technician at a UK uni. I had a terribly stressful time getting my thesis submitted as after all that time, I obviously wanted to make sure I passed and wanted to ensure it was as good as possible.
So I submitted eventually on the understanding from my supervisor that the project, the chapters I had put together and the thesis were of the standard to warrant a PhD. Supervisor was concerned about me passing the viva as I am not the most vocal of people so in the run-up we had hours of viva question practice to prepare and by the day itself, I was feeling confident.

So I went through the viva (2 3/4 hours), answered almost all of the questions they asked me about my thesis, wasn't grilled about any particular aspect and by the time we had worked through all the things they wanted to ask about the thesis I was feeling relieved and confident that I had done enough to pass, with major corrections at the very least, particularly when the external said 'Thank you, you've taken us through your thesis very well'.

Imagine my shock and devastation when I was called back in to be told that I hadn't reached the required standard for a PhD according to the university guidelines and that I was being recommended for an MPhil as there was not enough evidence of originality or that I had driven the project forward (was asked one question on each which I assumed i had answered adequately) and that I was not sure where the work would go in the future. I was asked nothing about this during the exam, and was only asked about this after the event, when I was in a state of shock and probably couldn't have answered my own name.

Has this happened to anyone else?