Daily viva help for PhDs
What does PhD success mean? I’ve heard lots of possible ideas over the years: No corrections? Is that the goal? Two or more publications? Is that what you want? Or need? Just getting through?! Is that enough? Feeling proud at...
You’re not Doctor Somebody until graduation. On the day of the viva you’ll pass, you’ll shake hands perhaps, and after that you’ll smile whenever someone uses the title. It’s not official until the corrections are done, checked, passed and after that until the...
When your viva is all done there’s no gold medal for no corrections. You don’t get a little asterisk on your certificate for minor corrections. No corrections, minor corrections, major corrections. Different outcomes that mean the same thing: you’ve passed....
What will you do when you pass your viva? Who will you tell first? On that day, maybe that evening, after the first thrill has passed, what will you do to mark the occasion? (it may be that you have...
The probability of failure in the viva is not 0. We know this because despite the many thousands of candidates who pass their viva every year, a handful of people don’t. A couple of universities have told me the odds...
I meet a lot of PhD candidates who walk around with a strange indeterminate state attached to their future viva. They think of their viva as pass/fail, not two possible outcomes but a strange quantum state. Until they come out...
Is passing your viva guaranteed? No, but let’s say that it is the most likely outcome. Statistics, stories and the structure of the PhD journey say it clearly: how else could a candidate get to submission if they and the...
Celebration is a human fundamental. We’re wired to mark the important things, and finishing a PhD is a big one. There are lots of points where you can stop and say, “Woohoo!” and it’s useful to mark your progress. Celebrate...