Hi naturalme!

I have just had my Viva and had the same outcome, medium revisions and no viva as they said I did very well in responding to the questions and kept calm, even though I soon began to realise that they had quite a few problems with my thesis. What puzzles me is how can my supervisors have told me to submit and that all was going to go well if it didn't. In my department no one had as many difficulties as me getting through both the upgrade and the viva. I partly blame my first supervisor as I am his first phd student and he tends to be a bit overly-ambitious (which is a problem for everyone else looking at my topic). My second supervisor, despite being an excellent academic, tends to be quite condescending and not very helpful. I also realised that despite the fact that i had specifically chosen to have my supervisors present, they were asked to leave and had to wait for two hours or so in a coffee shop! I have a feeling that quite a few people have problems with the way my first supervisor is. I don't mind that, but what infuriates me is that he made me change my initial approach half-way through my phd and so i did. Now, however, I got the feeling that I am basically being asked to go back to the former. Naturally, everyone knows that I know my topic inside out, but they are asking me to narrow it down and re-include the details that my supervisors asked me to remove!!!

So I share your feeling of emptiness. I have been unable to eat and only a few glasses of wine seem to be able to calm my nerves enough to sleep. My friends and family have been incredibly supportive, and even my supervisors and one of the examiners tried to sugarcoat the experience for me. However, it is to no avail. The reality of the situation is that we have 6 more months to go. I admit that I am fed up of living between the library and home. Besides, nobody is guaranteeing that the second submission will go well. Nonetheless, everyone told me that after having worked so hard I simply cannot give up. And that is very true. However, I will try and be stricter in expecting straightforward advice that is manageable. Fortunately, my supervisors are willing to see me through this extra stage which probably indicates that they believe i can do it.