A big step up – My PhD Viva story

March 28th, 2013 | Posted by PhDViva in Viva Stories - (0 Comments)

A big step up by Thomas Woolley

In England you’re pretty much set in school until you are 16, where you will sit GCSEs. After that you can choose to go to college, where you will do A levels. If you are still not bored with the educational system you can venture on to university to do a bachelor’s or master’s degree and, finally, if they still cannot get rid of you there is always the possibility of becoming a doctor in your chosen subject.

Whenever you transition from one of the stages to the next you always get the warning:

“You’ll have to work harder than ever before. This next stage is a big step up from what you are used to”.

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It Goes Fast – by Elizabeth Kate Switaj

January 15th, 2013 | Posted by PhDViva in Viva Stories - (0 Comments)

My PhD Viva Story by Elizabeth Kate Switaj

In some ways, I am writing this to figure out what just happened. There is nothing like a viva, and it goes fast. I woke up on the second of November, put on a brown suit, walked to the School of English of Queen’s University Belfast where I had been hundreds of times before, and an hour and a half later, I was a doctor. Three years of work on one project are done, and I have what I have been told adds up to an afternoon of work to do before taking my thesis to the binders.

As rites of passage go, it’s no Klingon Age of Ascension Ceremony. There are no pain sticks, though it is certainly a challenge.

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I was surprisingly calm about my viva – Dr James Stanier

January 15th, 2013 | Posted by PhDViva in Viva Stories - (0 Comments)

My PhD viva story by Dr James Stanier*

I had my PhD viva on October 14th 2011, which was about 5.5 months after I submitted. I had the date rearranged once because my external examiner was unable to make the first date closer to the time.

I must admit, after hearing everyone’s stories of nerves and breakdowns I was surprisingly calm about my viva. Although I have a feeling it’s because I was already in my new job when the date rolled around, and I was at work right up until the day itself. I didn’t have that much time to dwell on it. A few weeks before the viva I asked my supervisor how much he thought I should prepare; he said just to give it a couple of read-throughs during the week before, and that I shouldn’t worry too much. (more…)

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Survive-a-Viva from Prof Anthony Finkelstein

August 29th, 2012 | Posted by PhDViva in Viva Advice - (0 Comments)
Professor Anthony Finkelstein* shares advice on how to survive your viva.
Doctorates vary in the way they are assessed from country to country. In almost all however, there is a concluding examination. The extent to which this is real, that is, that there is a significant prospect that the work might fail, or represents the formalisation of a prior determination that the thesis meets an acceptable standard, differs. In many continental European countries, theses are awarded a grade based on a final examination, which is important for academic careers. In most, but not all countries, the US is an exception, the final examination involves independent academics from other universities. The centrepiece  of the process is universally an oral exam or viva, short for viva voce, in which the candidate is asked to ‘defend’ their thesis. (more…)

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No one battles dragons or lions and comes away from the fight bragging about it.

April 13th, 2012 | Posted by PhDViva in Viva Stories - (0 Comments)

My PhD Viva story by Allan L. Branson*

To deliver a bit of my back story I am a 54 year old African American male, police supervisor (Lieutenant assigned to the Internal Affairs Division) in Philadelphia and adjunct professor at Chestnut Hill College. I defended in 2011. I should say that the experience is not one easily forgotten, nor should it be. I was literally a Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, is based on my childhood growing up in that part of New England and the formal proceedings of the viva. I was a DL student enrolled at The University of Leicester’s Department of Criminology. (more…)

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