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Tag: after the viva

Nathan

Keeping Up

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I had a bright idea recently to show a prep idea I’d had for making a summary based on a thesis chapter.

I’m exploring video project ideas and thought this might be good as a production and editing test. I also wanted to see if the idea was valid: take a thesis chapter, pull out the important points, capture the information in a useful way, use a nice acronym maybe and so on.

Except when I sat down with my thesis to think and plan for the video I realised I didn’t really understand my research any more.

 

It’s been 18 years since I finished my PhD. It’s probably fifteen years since I thought seriously about that work.

It’s a little familiar as I read it. I know I did it. And I kind of get it.

But I can’t do it any more.

That part of my mathematical knowledge, if it’s still there, is buried beneath almost twenty years of being a researcher-developer.

I don’t write about maths any more. I write about vivas.

I don’t solve equations now: I respond to questions and emotions and problems with the viva.

 

I’m not upset. I love what I do. I am still pretty good at maths but my overall skillset is geared around a different kind of work. I’m happy but it does feel bittersweet to see that former part of my life experience reduced.

With that in mind here’s a question I hope you take in the spirit I offer it: “What do you need to hold on to from your PhD experience when you’re done? And how will you keep that knowledge or skillset alive in your life after the PhD?”

Nathan

Grading

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I remember that for my Masters there were different grades that people could achieve: distinction, merit or pass.

They were sort of similar to undergraduate grade boundaries in terms of achievement. There were extra conditions like needing to get certain percentages for exams and projects but they were simple groupings more or less.

PhDs don’t typically have that. I’ve seen universities organise special prizes for achievement or recognition but that’s separate to the candidate’s research and viva.

With a PhD, typically you pass or fail.

Actually, typically, you pass: the success rate is almost 100%.

Corrections aren’t a kind of pass but rather a condition of success: you might be asked to make some small changes, amend typos and so on. Do the work and you’re done.

Your grade for your PhD, after years of work, is a simple pass. Success. Finished. Done.

So, if you were going to an exam that you knew you were almost certainly going to pass, what would you do to help your success? Perhaps more importantly, what will you do to help how you want to feel about your viva?

Nathan

All Change

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How do you feel about the change that’s coming?

For a long time you’ve been a PhD candidate…

…and soon you won’t be.

How are you preparing yourself for the change?

You’ll change from someone writing a thesis to someone who has written it.

Someone who was thinking about their viva to someone preparing for it.

And change from someone waiting to start to someone who has done their corrections.

The change will happen fast.

Change isn’t intrinsically bad but it means something.

How are you feeling about it? What are you doing to be ready?

 

PS: The viva throws up a lot of feelings for candidates. It’s one aspect that I explore in this week’s new zine Viva Survivors Select 13, The Personal Issue. This latest curated issue of viva help digs into lots of ways that the viva is a deeply personal experience for candidates. From research to prep and examiners there’s a lot that makes your viva a personal thing. Find out more in the issue – and, of course, in many other posts on this site!

Nathan

The Wait

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I wasn’t prepared for the wait at the end of my viva. I didn’t know it was fairly typical for examiners to have a private conversation after all of the discussion.

I wasn’t prepared. I didn’t know I was going to be waiting a while.

In fact it was almost twenty minutes. It seemed to stretch on and on.

Not knowing what else to do I went and sat in my office at the other end of the long corridor from the seminar room where I’d had my viva.

I wasn’t prepared for the wait. I just sat there. I tried to think about what had just happened, what I thought it might mean and what to do with myself.

It was a struggle because I was so tired.

I wasn’t prepared for the sudden knock on the door from my internal examiner. He invited me back to hear the outcome and what would come next. It was a surprise: a little under twenty minutes isn’t that long but had also felt much longer.

I wasn’t prepared for the wait at the end of my viva – so I use any opportunity to share my experience so that others might think ahead.

What would you do to be ready for the wait at the end of your viva?

Nathan

Make Some Notes

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Make some notes when you submit your thesis: think about what you need to do to prepare for your viva. Sketch out a plan of what you might do.

Make some notes as you prepare: short lists can be tiny summaries and marginalia can make your thesis more helpful for your viva.

Make some notes while you’re in your viva: capture thoughts if it helps, note down your examiners’ questions and do whatever will help. (making note-taking part of any viva rehearsal can make this easier)

Make some notes when your viva is done: this will help you to remember what it was like in the years that follow, both for your own recollection and to help others.

Nathan

Doctor Time

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The moment will come when you’re really, really done with your PhD but there are lots of steps along the way that might feel like endings.

  • How will you celebrate when you pass your viva?
  • How will you celebrate when you graduate?
  • What will being Doctor Someone mean to you?

Finishing your PhD is a big deal. It’s much bigger than the viva.

Thinking about the end can help you plan ahead, figure out how you feel and potentially motivate you for the work you still have to do.

You celebrate, you change and then what?

Nathan

Finding The Rules

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The regulations for your viva shouldn’t be hidden but they might not be obvious. Ahead of your thesis submission find the regulations and take a little time to check:

  • What forms need to be handed in ahead of your thesis submission?
  • When do they need to be in and who else is involved?
  • What is the expected window of time between submission and the viva at your institution?
  • Under what circumstances might you have an independent chairperson as part of your viva?
  • If you have accessibility requirements how do you communicate those to your examiners? (who do you tell and when do they need to know?)
  • How will you be told the logistics for your viva?
  • What is the process for having a video viva?
  • What can you expect from the viva process generally?
  • How will you find out the result of the viva?
  • What deadlines are given for completing different categories of corrections?
  • What is the process for having corrections checked?
  • And what is the process for final thesis submission after corrections have been accepted?

None of these should be especially difficult to answer if you look through the regulations. One final question which might not be obvious though: who would you contact in case of emergency?

If you feel ill the day before your viva, who do you contact? If one of your examiners cancels their involvement, who do you contact?

An emergency might be unlikely but, as part of checking the regulations, figure out who you can turn to if something goes wrong in the days leading up to your viva.

Nathan

Share Prep Ideas

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A little request for today.

When you’ve had your viva, if something worked well in your prep then tell your friends and colleagues about it.

If you made a lot of progress because of the way you read your thesis then tell someone. If a particular annotation was helpful then share how you did it and what it meant. Or if your mock viva was good then say why.

Tell others what you did, how you planned and what helped. Don’t tell them what they should do: share ideas to give others a boost, an encouragement and an inspiration.

A little help can travel a long way in a community.

Nathan

The End Of Your PhD

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First, be practical. Read the regulations. What do they say about corrections, final submissions, fees and forms? Know what you have to do for graduation, the timelines are for getting things done and understand how that fits with you. If you have an office space or desk then make sure you know when they need you gone so that you’re not stressed with moving things out!

In short: read up, check details, make lists and plans and get things done.

 

Second, be emotional. What does the end of your PhD mean for you? How have you grown? What have you done? And how do you feel about all of this? The end of the PhD is likely to be a huge change: a different role, a different task, a different status and maybe even a different purpose.

Or possibly a missing purpose, at least for a while. I remember very clearly a sense of “What now?” for months afterwards.

“What do I do now?”

 

There are practical and emotional aspects to the end of your PhD. The viva isn’t the end, it’s the starting pistol: you really are working towards a finish line now.

That involves work and emotional energy.

You might not know how you’ll feel about it until you get there but you can at least start the work of preparing yourself for when it arrives.

Nathan

Expecting Corrections

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When I share viva expectations with PhD candidates I emphasise that they can expect some corrections.

Most candidates get asked to complete some after the viva. They’ve not failed. They’ve not missed something. They’ve not been careless or lazy or ignorant.

Writing anything is hard. Writing a book is really hard. Writing a book for the first time – which is something that the vast majority of PhD candidates are doing when they produce a thesis – is really, really hard!

Corrections, for the most part, are a chance to make small improvements for accuracy and clarity. They are, relatively speaking, only a little more work in the weeks after the viva. It makes sense to check the regulations of your institution to get a sense of how much time you’ll have to complete them. Check to see what the formal process is like. Talk with others to see the scale of corrections they received.

And above all expect that you’ll have some to do when you’ve finished your viva.

One more step.

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