Hey
How did it go? Hope you had good news.

Thanks. Good advice. I have emailed the departmental administrator to find out when she was supposed to arrive and will take it from there.

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I am guessing my external won't make it for the viva on Monday. Do you think it reasonable to ask for her dial in? My viva was already postponed once and it took 2 months to get a new date. Really can't face another delay. My supervisor was supposed to attend but he was in Spain last week and I am guessing is stranded. Arrrggghhhhh.

Thanks for your reply. Seems like you had a tough time. I wish you all the very best for tomorrow. I was totally on my own during my research and had to change topic. However, my supervisor was really brilliant once the draft was handed in. Aside from my personal issues, my PhD was a really confidence shattering experience.

What things have helped you to prepare?

Many congratulations Doc!!! Must be an amazing feeling. Mine is next Monday.

Hi

Just wondered if anyone has their viva in the next few days. Mine is on Monday 19th.

There have been some inspirational stories on here and that me gives me hope. My journey has been a very tough one and I can't believe it is nearly coming to an end. I posted here a few weeks ago about my child passing away during my PhD studies. Well, my viva is on the 1st anniversary of her death. Not sure how I will get through such a tough day but I am hoping for good news.

I met with my supervisor last week for a mock viva and he was very encouraging. That calmed my nerves down a lot.

It would be good to share preparation tips.

Thanks for reading.

Thank you all for your suggestions. I will contact my supervisor.

Thank you for your reply. My supervisor was cc'd on the email and I am pretty certain this has been done with his knowledge. It just seems odd that I was not consulted. My supervisor asked me to help him with choosing an external and so other than going easy on me, I don't know why they would do this.

======= Date Modified 15 18 2010 13:18:41 =======
Hi all

I posted a few weeks ago about my situation. Sadly, my daughter passed away recently and I had a miscarriage. By some miracle, I finished my thesis. I suggested an external to my supervisor, whose expertise matched very well with my area. He had chosen an internal from my department, who also was very well suited. I never heard anything for 2 months but today I received an email from the acdemic who looks after PhD students in my department. She has assigned herself as my internal and a prof from Greece who I have never heard about. Both have absolutely NO knowledge of my area.

I suspect that the department is trying to go easy on me - i.e, the viva is just procedure for me to pass given everything I have been through. However, I have worked so hard and I wanted a big name as my external.

I have no idea what to do now. Should I just go on with the examiners selected? I do not want to delay my PhD any longer but I don't feel good if they are just passing me for the sake of it.

Does anyone have any thoughts about the effect on academic career prospects of having an uknown academic as an external?

Regards.

Thank you both for your replies. It was certainly an ordeal to submit but I am relieved. I have thought about postponing but then I need closure on this whole process so that I can just move on with my life. I will try to get throuh it.

Hi everyone

I would be grateful for some advice. I have my viva coming us but I don"t know if I can face it. My child passed away from illness recently and I had a miscarriage shortly after. It was a miracle that I submitted. I am not coping well with everything and I just don't know how to get through the viva. Just wondered if anyone had any thoughts.