failed phd resubmission

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How to Avoid Failing Your Ph.D. Dissertation

By  Daniel Sokol

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I am a barrister in London who specializes in helping doctoral students who have failed their Ph.D.s. Few people will have had the dubious privilege of seeing as many unsuccessful Ph.D. dissertations and reading as many scathing reports by examination committees. Here are common reasons why students who submit their Ph.D.s fail, with advice on how to avoid such pitfalls. The lessons apply to the United States and the United Kingdom.

Lack of critical reflection. Probably the most common reason for failing a Ph.D. dissertation is a lack of critical analysis. A typical observation of the examination committee is, “The thesis is generally descriptive and a more analytical approach is required.”

For doctoral work, students must engage critically with the subject matter, not just set out what other scholars have said or done. If not, the thesis will not be original. It will not add anything of substance to the field and will fail.

Doctoral students should adopt a reflexive approach to their work. Why have I chosen this methodology? What are the flaws or limitations of this or that author’s argument? Can I make interesting comparisons between this and something else? Those who struggle with this aspect should ask their supervisors for advice on how to inject some analytic sophistication to their thesis.

Lack of coherence. Other common observations are of the type: “The argument running through the thesis needs to be more coherent” or “The thesis is poorly organized and put together without any apparent logic.”

The thesis should be seen as one coherent whole. It cannot be a series of self-contained chapters stitched together haphazardly. Students should spend considerable time at the outset of their dissertation thinking about structure, both at the macro level of the entire thesis and the micro level of the chapter. It is a good idea to look at other Ph.D. theses and monographs to get a sense of what constitutes a logical structure.

Poor presentation. The majority of failed Ph.D. dissertations are sloppily presented. They contain typos, grammatical mistakes, referencing errors and inconsistencies in presentation. Looking at some committee reports randomly, I note the following comments:

• “The thesis is poorly written.”
• “That previous section is long, badly written and lacks structure.”
• “The author cannot formulate his thoughts or explain his reasons. It is very hard to understand a good part of the thesis.”
• “Ensure that the standard of written English is consistent with the standard expected of a Ph.D. thesis.”
• “The language used is simplistic and does not reflect the standard of writing expected at Ph.D. level.”

For committee members, who are paid a fixed and pitiful sum to examine the work, few things are as off-putting as a poorly written dissertation. Errors of language slow the reading speed and can frustrate or irritate committee members. At worst, they can lead them to miss or misinterpret an argument.

Students should consider using a professional proofreader to read the thesis, if permitted by the university’s regulations. But that still is no guarantee of an error-free thesis. Even after the proofreader has returned the manuscript, students should read and reread the work in its entirety.

When I was completing my Ph.D., I read my dissertation so often that the mere sight of it made me nauseous. Each time, I would spot a typo or tweak a sentence, removing a superfluous word or clarifying an ambiguous passage. My meticulous approach was rewarded when one committee member said in the oral examination that it was the best-written dissertation he had ever read. This was nothing to do with skill or an innate writing ability but tedious, repetitive revision.

Failure to make required changes. It is rare for students to fail to obtain their Ph.D. outright at the oral examination. Usually, the student is granted an opportunity to resubmit their dissertation after making corrections.

Students often submit their revised thesis together with a document explaining how they implemented the committee’s recommendations. And they often believe, wrongly, that this document is proof that they have incorporated the requisite changes and that they should be awarded a Ph.D.

In fact, the committee may feel that the changes do not go far enough or that they reveal further misunderstandings or deficiencies. Here are some real observations by dissertation committees:

• “The added discussion section is confusing. The only thing that has improved is the attempt to provide a little more analysis of the experimental data.”
• “The author has tried to address the issues identified by the committee, but there is little improvement in the thesis.”

In short, students who fail their Ph.D. dissertations make changes that are superficial or misconceived. Some revised theses end up worse than the original submission.

Students must incorporate changes in the way that the committee members had in mind. If what is required is unclear, students can usually seek clarification through their supervisors.

In the nine years I have spent helping Ph.D. students with their appeals, I have found that whatever the subject matter of the thesis, the above criticisms appear time and time again in committee reports. They are signs of a poor Ph.D.

Wise students should ask themselves these questions prior to submission of the dissertation:

• Is the work sufficiently critical/analytical, or is it mainly descriptive?
• Is it coherent and well structured?
• Does the thesis look good and read well?
• If a resubmission, have I made the changes that the examination committee had in mind?

Once students are satisfied that the answer to each question is yes, they should ask their supervisors the same questions.

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My supervisor is suggesting I will fail my PhD, is this possible?

I am a final-year PhD student in Canada studying cybersecurity. During my PhD, I did not have very good supervision. I told them I wanted to defend soon. However, one of my supervisors keeps on telling me: “Don’t rush, you may fail”.

I got one first-author paper in IEEE Transactions and 3 medium level first-author conferences accepted. How can I fail? Is it possible? Has anyone ever failed the PhD defense?

• Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been moved to chat . –  Bryan Krause ♦ Commented Jan 13, 2023 at 16:47

8 Answers 8

There are definitely fails in PhD defenses. It may depend on the specific system and I don't know about Canada, but I know of a number of them in the UK, where the candidate was asked to rework and come back in a year or so. Also PhD examiners in the UK don't have to accept a thesis just because there are publications. I do think some published material shouldn't have been accepted, and not everything I have seen published is in my view acceptable at PhD level.

• 4 I'd say that "major revisions" are not a fail necesarily. If you are told to work a bit more on it, yeah you fail as you don't get a PhD, but its not fail as "bye no PhD for you ever". –  Ander Biguri Commented Jan 13, 2023 at 11:29
• 6 @AnderBiguri That's a fair enough objection to my use of terminology, however if you plan to apply/go for a postdoc or anything you need a PhD for directly after your defense, the immediate practical consequences are those of a fail. –  Christian Hennig Commented Jan 13, 2023 at 11:38
• Totally agree with that :) –  Ander Biguri Commented Jan 13, 2023 at 11:42
• 5 yep, I remember an English student at Oxford who had published an entire book with Springer and was failed, which sounded like a real scandal to my ears. A friend of mine at Cambridge, was asked to completely rewrite his thesis, in Finance, spent a year doing it, sent the revision, did not hear from anyone for months, when he finally contacted them they said "Oh you passed last year". Nightmare. –  PatrickT Commented Jan 13, 2023 at 19:16
• 2 @Tom There is some variation, also within the UK. I have seen both cases, where the viva had to be repeated, and where people were just told upon resubmission that they had passed now, even with major corrections. I don't remember exactly anymore but chances are I have even seen a form in which examiners could choose between these options (on top of minor corrections). –  Christian Hennig Commented Jan 14, 2023 at 11:04

Your supervisor is aware of expectations for a PhD program. Their role is to help you understand these expectations and develop your PhD work to this standard.

Having one IEEE Trans publication and a few proceedings is good, but not necessarily indicative that your work meets the criteria of a PhD award. Normally, PhD dissertation is a major piece of academic research, which can be compared to a manuscript (a book). A journal paper is a more scoped contribution compared roughly to one chapter of your PhD thesis. Having one journal paper published does not guarantee you a PhD. I am aware of some candidates with 5+ journal publications, who failed their defence because they rushed and did not write an adequate PhD dissertation. It definitely happens.

Having a postdoc offer before you completed your PhD is a good sign that your work is interesting and promising. However, if your postdoc offer is conditional on you completing the PhD successfully, you still have to complete your PhD. Seeing your advisor as an obstacle is not constructive or helpful. Once again, they are trying to help you, and you should see their expertise as a resource.

• 22 Everything here is correct, but I'll just caution that 'your supervisor is aware of expectations for a PhD program' does not imply that supervisors have a 100% track record of being right when they predict a fail. –  Daniel Hatton Commented Jan 12, 2023 at 20:30
• 2 @DanielHatton True. But they hedged their bets: "you may fail" is always true. –  PatrickT Commented Jan 13, 2023 at 19:17
• This is mostly good but "they are trying to help you" is not always true. –  aquirdturtle Commented Jan 14, 2023 at 22:34

Why PhD Defenses fail rarely

The main reason why PhD defenses fail rarely is that the process is structured so that in general people attempt their defense only when they are almost certain to pass. If there are any issues and objections, there is a strong preference to have them resolved before a defense, not have them be raised during a rejecting vote in the defense process. No one wants to waste all the formal process effort on a failed attempt, so supervisors and committees will know that someone is likely to fail and strongly advise them to not make the attempt and postpone it, so in general a failure should happen only if the student has been warned that they are likely to fail and disregards this advice to make the attempt anyway. This sounds suspiciously similar to what you are describing.

• This answer could be seen as slightly misleading. OP is in a situation where they have been warned by the supervisor that they could fail the PhD if they submit with the current results. In that situation, the chances of actually failing the PhD are much higher than in the average case. –  lighthouse keeper Commented Jan 13, 2023 at 13:46
• 22 @lighthousekeeper that's exactly what the answer is saying‽ –  leftaroundabout Commented Jan 13, 2023 at 14:33
• +1 for speaking to this specific case for the OP. This is probably the most useful answer to pay attention to. Maybe add some whitespace to guide readers? –  Mike M Commented Jan 13, 2023 at 22:07

Yes it is possible to fail a PhD defence and it does happen. Thankfully this is rare.

I’m not in CS so I cannot compare with your peers but you should not make the error of thinking that you need so many publications to get a degree.

If anything, compare a situation where you have x publications as a single author with a situation where you have x publications with many co-authors. Obviously your intellectual contribution to each publication matters; your supervisors and members of your PhD committee can decide you have not done enough even if you have 2x publications because your contribution to each publication has been minimal. I want to emphasize I’m not talking about writing codes or some other such tasks: a PhD is a research degree so your advisor needs to convince your committee and eventually the external examiner that you have made significant and novel contributions to these publications.

I have heard of students failing at the defence stage. This is not pleasant, and it’s a situation everyone wants to avoid. It often (but not always) happens because the candidate is rushed by external events - some visa issue, some family matter, whatever.

In most systems I know, candidates will first go through a sort of “internal defence”, where the student may have to present their work to the committee, or there is some big committee meeting where the final draft of the thesis is evaluated before the thesis is sent to the external examiner. Nobody wants the student to fail so having the committee on board minimizes but does not eliminate the risk of failures. If the thesis is marginal and some committee members still have issue, but the thesis goes out anyways, there could be trouble at the defence with the external examiner.

If you think you have done enough but your advisor does not agree, it’s time to have a frank discussion with your supervisory committee to sort things out, and establish clear milestones for the completion of your degree.

The reason it is rare to fail a Ph.D. defense is that supervisors make sure nobody defends until they are ready. Don't push to be the exception.

Good answers already, but I think this might also be relevant.

Have you found your institution's academic regulations relating to research degrees? If not, you should. They might be a boring read but they should lay out the exact procedure and requirements for a PhD assessment as well as all the possible outcomes. There will be "failed" outcomes in the regulations. Sadly there will also be stories of students who have failed (even with publications). There might be resit opportunities, too. The regulations might also detail the appeals process if you do fail.

There is some debate in the comments here as to whether "major revisions" are considered a fail or not. The short answer is that depends on your institution's academic regulations.

One thing that the academic regulations are very unlikely to say is "1 good journal + 3 medium conferences = pass", so although your chances of passing are good, your chances of failing are unlikely to be zero.

From reading your other question, your supervisor isn't really saying that they think it's likely that you fail.

I need to submit one paper to a journal and write one conference paper, then I am ready to write my thesis.

I got a postdoc position in a great research lab. The tentative start date is the beginning of May. They asked for a letter from my supervisor, stating that I am going to defend before the beginning of May. However, my supervisor keeps on telling me he can only state that I can submit my thesis before that date. He wrote a letter for that.

Your current timeline has you starting, finishing, submitting, and defending your thesis in less than 4 months (really more like 3 months), with your defense being sometime in late April. Even if you and your supervisor do everything perfectly there are still a lot of outside factors that can impact that, the biggest one being when can/will your committee get together to hear your defense. Your timeline is so tight that if you submit your thesis and the committee takes a week to review it and then says we want some minor changes, we'll be able to review those changes in another week... What are you going to do? Or if one person can only meet on Wednesday and another person is unavailable on Wednesday so they have to schedule your defense for a week later? (Or two, or three...)

If you submit your thesis but don't have time to do the changes then it's possible that you could fail. It's even more likely that you don't fail but you don't pass your defense on your timeline . Your supervisor is (wisely) unwilling to commit to other people doing things that are outside of your control.

If your advisor says "it's time to get ready for your defense", your odds of passing are extremely high. If you try to defend against your advisor's will, that's a different story.

I would suggest you talk with your advisor about why they think you are not ready. It could be that they are not happy with your work and need more. It could be that they think you should take as much of the free study time you have in grad school and make the most of it: trust me, you will miss this aspect later in life!

If you believe you are being treated unfairly by your advisor in this situation, I would suggest you discuss with the chair.

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• CAREER FEATURE
• 13 July 2022

How to bounce back from a PhD-project failure

• Nikki Forrester 0

Nikki Forrester is a science journalist based in West Virginia.

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Failure is an integral part of science. Research projects get scooped, protocols prove unsuccessful or funding limitations restrict data collection, delaying progress and sending scientists back to the drawing board. These setbacks plague researchers of all career stages, but they can feel particularly acute for PhD candidates who are racing against time to earn their degrees. Nature talked to five scientists about the hurdles they faced in their PhD research, how they successfully switched projects midway through and what advice they have for others in a similar situation.

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doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-01900-y

These interviews have been edited for length and clarity.

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• PhD Failure Rate – A Study of 26,076 PhD Candidates
• Doing a PhD

The PhD failure rate in the UK is 19.5%, with 16.2% of students leaving their PhD programme early, and 3.3% of students failing their viva. 80.5% of all students who enrol onto a PhD programme successfully complete it and are awarded a doctorate.

Introduction

One of the biggest concerns for doctoral students is the ongoing fear of failing their PhD.

After all those years of research, the long days in the lab and the endless nights in the library, it’s no surprise to find many agonising over the possibility of it all being for nothing. While this fear will always exist, it would help you to know how likely failure is, and what you can do to increase your chances of success.

Read on to learn how PhDs can be failed, what the true failure rates are based on an analysis of 26,067 PhD candidates from 14 UK universities, and what your options are if you’re unsuccessful in obtaining your PhD.

Ways You Can Fail A PhD

There are essentially two ways in which you can fail a PhD; non-completion or failing your viva (also known as your thesis defence ).

Non-completion

Non-completion is when a student leaves their PhD programme before having sat their viva examination. Since vivas take place at the end of the PhD journey, typically between the 3rd and 4th year for most full-time programmes, most failed PhDs fall within the ‘non-completion’ category because of the long duration it covers.

There are many reasons why a student may decide to leave a programme early, though these can usually be grouped into two categories:

• Motives – The individual may no longer believe undertaking a PhD is for them. This might be because it isn’t what they had imagined, or they’ve decided on an alternative path.
• Extenuating circumstances – The student may face unforeseen problems beyond their control, such as poor health, bereavement or family difficulties, preventing them from completing their research.

In both cases, a good supervisor will always try their best to help the student continue with their studies. In the former case, this may mean considering alternative research questions or, in the latter case, encouraging you to seek academic support from the university through one of their student care policies.

Besides the student deciding to end their programme early, the university can also make this decision. On these occasions, the student’s supervisor may not believe they’ve made enough progress for the time they’ve been on the project. If the problem can’t be corrected, the supervisor may ask the university to remove the student from the programme.

Failing The Viva

Assuming you make it to the end of your programme, there are still two ways you can be unsuccessful.

The first is an unsatisfactory thesis. For whatever reason, your thesis may be deemed not good enough, lacking originality, reliable data, conclusive findings, or be of poor overall quality. In such cases, your examiners may request an extensive rework of your thesis before agreeing to perform your viva examination. Although this will rarely be the case, it is possible that you may exceed the permissible length of programme registration and if you don’t have valid grounds for an extension, you may not have enough time to be able to sit your viva.

The more common scenario, while still being uncommon itself, is that you sit and fail your viva examination. The examiners may decide that your research project is severely flawed, to the point where it can’t possibly be remedied even with major revisions. This could happen for reasons such as basing your study on an incorrect fundamental assumption; this should not happen however if there is a proper supervisory support system in place.

PhD Failure Rate – UK & EU Statistics

According to 2010-11 data published by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (now replaced by UK Research and Innovation ), 72.9% of students enrolled in a PhD programme in the UK or EU complete their degree within seven years. Following this, 80.5% of PhD students complete their degree within 25 years.

This means that four out of every five students who register onto a PhD programme successfully complete their doctorate.

While a failure rate of one in five students may seem a little high, most of these are those who exit their programme early as opposed to those who fail at the viva stage.

Failing Doesn’t Happen Often

Although a PhD is an independent project, you will be appointed a supervisor to support you. Each university will have its own system for how your supervisor is to support you , but regardless of this, they will all require regular communication between the two of you. This could be in the form of annual reviews, quarterly interim reviews or regular meetings. The majority of students also have a secondary academic supervisor (and in some cases a thesis committee of supervisors); the role of these can vary from having a hands-on role in regular supervision, to being another useful person to bounce ideas off of.

These frequent check-ins are designed to help you stay on track with your project. For example, if any issues are identified, you and your supervisor can discuss how to rectify them in order to refocus your research. This reduces the likelihood of a problem going undetected for several years, only for it to be unearthed after it’s too late to address.

In addition, the thesis you submit to your examiners will likely be your third or fourth iteration, with your supervisor having critiqued each earlier version. As a result, your thesis will typically only be submitted to the examiners after your supervisor approves it; many UK universities require a formal, signed document to be submitted by the primary academic supervisor at the same time as the student submits the thesis, confirming that he or she has approved the submission.

Failed Viva – Outcomes of 26,076 Students

Despite what you may have heard, the failing PhD rate amongst students who sit their viva is low.

This, combined with ongoing guidance from your supervisor, is because vivas don’t have a strict pass/fail outcome. You can find a detailed breakdown of all viva outcomes in our viva guide, but to summarise – the most common outcome will be for you to revise your thesis in accordance with the comments from your examiners and resubmit it.

This means that as long as the review of your thesis and your viva examination uncovers no significant issues, you’re almost certain to be awarded a provisional pass on the basis you make the necessary corrections to your thesis.

To give you an indication of the viva failure rate, we’ve analysed the outcomes of 26,076 PhD candidates from 14 UK universities who sat a viva between 2006 and 2017.

The analysis shows that of the 26,076 students who sat their viva, 25,063 succeeded; this is just over 96% of the total students as shown in the chart below.

Students Who Passed

The analysis shows that of the 96% of students who passed, approximately 5% required no amendments, 79% required minor amendments and the remaining 16% required major revisions. This supports our earlier discussion on how the most common outcome of a viva is a ‘pass with minor amendments’.

Students Who Failed

Of the 4% of unsuccessful students, approximately 97% were awarded an MPhil (Master of Philosophy), and 3% weren’t awarded a degree.

Note : It should be noted that while the data provides the student’s overall outcome, i.e. whether they passed or failed, they didn’t all provide the students specific outcome, i.e. whether they had to make amendments, or with a failure, whether they were awarded an MPhil. Therefore, while the breakdowns represent the current known data, the exact breakdown may differ.

Summary of Findings

By using our data in combination with the earlier statistic provided by HEFCE, we can gain an overall picture of the PhD journey as summarised in the image below.

To summarise, based on the analysis of 26,076 PhD candidates at 14 universities between 2006 and 2017, the PhD pass rate in the UK is 80.5%. Of the 19.5% of students who fail, 3.3% is attributed to students failing their viva and the remaining 16.2% is attributed to students leaving their programme early.

The above statistics indicate that while 1 in every 5 students fail their PhD, the failure rate for the viva process itself is low. Specifically, only 4% of all students who sit their viva fail; in other words, 96% of the students pass it.

What Are Your Options After an Unsuccessful PhD?

Appeal your outcome.

If you believe you had a valid case, you can try to appeal against your outcome . The appeal process will be different for each university, so ensure you consult the guidelines published by your university before taking any action.

While making an appeal may be an option, it should only be considered if you genuinely believe you have a legitimate case. Most examiners have a lot of experience in assessing PhD candidates and follow strict guidelines when making their decisions. Therefore, your claim for appeal will need to be strong if it is to stand up in front of committee members in the adjudication process.

Downgrade to MPhil

If you are unsuccessful in being awarded a PhD, an MPhil may be awarded instead. For this to happen, your work would need to be considered worthy of an MPhil, as although it is a Master’s degree, it is still an advanced postgraduate research degree.

Unfortunately, there’s a lot of stigma around MPhil degrees, with many worrying that it will be seen as a sign of a failed PhD. While not as advanced as a PhD, an MPhil is still an advanced research degree, and being awarded one shows that you’ve successfully carried out an independent research project which is an undertaking to be admired.

Finding a PhD has never been this easy – search for a PhD by keyword, location or academic area of interest.

Additional Resources

Hopefully now knowing the overall picture your mind will feel slightly more at ease. Regardless, there are several good practices you can adopt to ensure you’re always in the best possible position. The key of these includes developing a good working relationship with your supervisor, working to a project schedule, having your thesis checked by several other academics aside from your supervisor, and thoroughly preparing for your viva examination.

We’ve developed a number of resources which should help you in the above:

• What to Expect from Your Supervisor – Find out what to look for in a Supervisor, how they will typically support you, and how often you should meet with them.
• How to Write a Research Proposal – Find an outline of how you can go about putting a project plan together.
• What is a PhD Viva? – Learn exactly what a viva is, their purpose and what you can expect on the day. We’ve also provided a full breakdown of all the possible outcomes of a viva and tips to help you prepare for your own.

Data for Statistics

• Cardiff University – 2006/07 to 2016/17
• Imperial College London – 2006/07 to 2016/17
• London School of Economics (LSE) – 2006/07 to 2015/16
• Queen Mary University of London – 2009/10 to 2015/16
• University College London (UCL) – 2006/07 to 2016/17
• University of Aberdeen – 2006/07 to 2016/17
• University of Birmingham – 2006/07 to 2015/16
• University of Bristol – 2006/07 to 2016/17
• University of Edinburgh – 2006/07 to 2016/17
• University of Nottingham – 2006/07 to 2015/16
• University of Oxford – 2007/08 to 2016/17
• University of York – 2009/10 to 2016/17
• University of Manchester – 2008/09 to 2017/18
• University of Sheffield – 2006/07 to 2016/17

Note : The data used for this analysis was obtained from the above universities under the Freedom of Information Act. As per the Act, the information was provided in such a way that no specific individual can be identified from the data.

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What Happens if You Fail Your Dissertation?

In University by Think Student Editor February 9, 2023 Leave a Comment

A dissertation module is one of the key things that defines the step up from secondary school to university. It’s one of the biggest pieces of writing you’ll do for your degree, in terms of research and word count. It’s no mistake to think that a lot rests on a good dissertation. However, it’s always good to be prepared for the worst-case scenario. You’ve probably already asked the question – what actually happens if you do fail?

If you fail your dissertation for the first time at any degree level, you will be allowed one resubmission, which is usually capped at the pass mark. However, if you fail your dissertation resubmission, there are different consequences. If you fail your undergraduate dissertation, you can still graduate as long as you have enough credits, although this may be with an ordinary degree. However, if you fail your master’s dissertation or PhD thesis resubmission, you will not be allowed to graduate.

The topic of failure is quite daunting for most students. Not to worry! This article is here to help you understand failure criteria for a dissertation, and what happens in the event of failure.

Table of Contents

Is it possible to fail your dissertation?

Like with modules of your university course, unfortunately it is very much possible to fail your dissertation . Although this sounds daunting, don’t worry too much! Dissertations are not designed for you to fail.

The grading systems for university modules and dissertations are very similar . Across most universities, the pass mark for a dissertation is 40% or 50%. For example, check out this guide by Royal Holloway University, London to learn more about their dissertation grading.

This means that while it is certainly possible to fail your dissertation, it is unlikely that you actually will . However, in the event that you do fail your dissertation for whatever reason, don’t panic. Your university will usually let you resit your dissertation .

Keep in mind you’ll only be able to resit your dissertation once , so try your hardest to achieve the grade you want. For all the details you’ll need about a dissertation, I’d definitely recommend reading this Think Student article.

In summary, while it is possible to fail a dissertation (just like any other university module), a dissertation only requires a pass mark of 40%. Although a dissertation is different to a module, it is still pretty difficult to fail.

In the event you do fail your dissertation, don’t be too hard on yourself . Keep reading further to find out what happens if you fail your resit dissertation.

How bad does a dissertation need to be to fail?

To understand how “bad” a dissertation has to be to fail, you need to know what examiners are looking for.

Your university will have published the marking criteria for dissertations . These will normally feature comments on the key areas to earn marks in. As an example, check out the University of Edinburgh’s dissertation criteria here .

Therefore, if you failed your dissertation, it isn’t necessarily because you’re “bad at researching and writing”. To fail, it has to be the case that you didn’t meet the criteria to achieve a passing mark. It’s important to keep your confidence, so that you can do better when you resit.

If you haven’t written your dissertation yet, I’d definitely recommend looking through your university’s marking criteria. Similarly , your tutor will want to help you as much as possible, so you can ask them for advice if you’re really struggling .

If you’re seeking advice on how to write a dissertation, you should check out this Think Student article.

Can you graduate without passing your dissertation?

For an undergraduate degree, you can still graduate as long as you have enough credits to pass the other modules .

However , if your degree is a BSc or BA with Honours, if you fail your dissertation and the resit dissertation, you will graduate with an ordinary degree . You can read more about what an ordinary degree is in this Think Student article.

If you fail your first dissertation attempt, but pass your resit undergraduate dissertation, you will still pass with whatever class of degree you earned.

However, the rule is slightly different for master’s dissertations and a PhD thesis. These rules also depend on the university you attend .

At all universities, you are allowed one resit of coursework (dissertation is a form of coursework, as it is not a timed exam), even for a master’s degree and a PhD. However, if you fail your resit dissertation for your master’s degree, you cannot be awarded a master’s degree.

In the case of a PhD, you will not be able to graduate with a failed resit thesis . I’ll explain this in more detail later in the article, so keep reading!

What happens if you fail your master’s dissertation?

Failing your master’s dissertation for the first time isn’t ideal, but it isn’t the end of the world. You’re allowed a resit, which if you pass, means you can still graduate with a master’s degree.

However, a failure is a lot more serious if you fail your dissertation a second time . Failing a resit dissertation at master’s degree-level means you cannot graduate with a master’s degree.

This doesn’t mean you can’t be awarded anything at all for your effort. For example, the this page by the University of Nottingham states that if your dissertation is not passable but still “adequate”, you may still be awarded a diploma .

What happens if you fail your PhD thesis?

Like with an undergraduate or master’s degree, you’re allowed to resubmit your thesis once only . Given that you pass the resubmission, you’ll still be on track to graduate with a PhD.

Failing a PhD thesis resubmission means you cannot graduate. The pass mark for a PhD thesis is usually around 60 , such as at the University of Cambridge, which you can learn more about on their website, here .

In most cases, a PhD thesis will account for around 50% of the degree . Looking at it this way, it makes sense that if you failed half of your degree, you wouldn’t be able to graduate. A PhD is a research-based degree, and the thesis proves you have good research skills.

If you’d like to know more about how a PhD is graded, I’d recommend this Think Student article.

How often do students fail their dissertation?

As I established earlier, it’s pretty hard to fail your undergraduate dissertation module . It’s also quite hard to fail a master’s dissertation or a PhD thesis given the pass mark.

According to this article by The Healthy Journal, up to 50% of PhD students will not finish their thesis or graduate . This statistic sounds quite extreme, but keep in mind that not many people choose to complete a PhD because of the amount of time and money it takes.

If you really are concerned about failing your dissertation, speak to your tutor . They will have been in your position and will know how to help. Don’t struggle on your own!

Defenses around the world: dealing with resubmission after the UK viva

• March 9, 2021
• evalantsoght_uw8lmy

Today, I have the pleasure of inviting Dr. Ben Purvis to share his defense experience with us. Dr. Ben Purvis is currently a research associate at the School of Architecture at the University of Sheffield, UK. His research interests encompass futures modelling for climate change mitigation, urban sustainability, and interdisciplinary practice within the academy.

My PhD journey wasn’t smooth, my initial direction of the PhD was derailed due to a null result leading me to go in a divergent direction from my original plan. When it came to writing up, it felt like I had multiple strands which didn’t really fit nicely together. As my deadline was fast approaching I ended up presenting my narrative in a way that I wasn’t entirely happy with.

In the UK, the examination process consists of a closed door ‘viva voce’ with both an internal and external examiner. Whilst regulations around the outcomes of this vary between institutions, my university allowed for no corrections, minor corrections (1-3 months), resubmission of the thesis for re-examination within 12 months, or no degree awarded.

Despite my pre-viva anxieties I reassured myself, expecting minor corrections which seemed to me to be the default outcome. Whatever my examiners thought of my thesis I knew that they wouldn’t want me to fail. Everyone was telling me that at this point the viva was only a formality, I had already proven through my publications that I was a competent academic, the viva was a chance to talk about my work and reassure my examiners that I had undertaken it myself.

After leaving the examination room whilst the examiners conferred on my result I felt positive. Certainly there would be corrections, but my feeling was that they would be minor, we had had an amicable discussion which I had enjoyed and nothing too contentious had come up. I remember telling my friend that it felt like a face to face peer review with my examiners discussing ways in which I could improve my work.

As I re-entered the room to hear my outcome both examiners gave me reassuring smiles. “Thank you for an enjoyable discussion. We have convened and come to the conclusion that we would like to see you put in some more work to improve the thesis, we are recommending a period of 12 months for you to do so and thus a resubmission for a second examination. We also feel you didn’t take sufficient ownership of your work and sell its strengths so we would like a second oral examination”.

I was shell-shocked. The faces of the examiners didn’t seem to align with what they had just said. “We want to emphasise that this is a good result”. They related their decision making process to me, feeling the three month window for minor corrections might be tight particularly if I wasn’t spending my full time on it, they had elected for the ‘more generous’ 12 month window instead. The next few hours went by with me in dumb disbelief. Both examiners related positive stories of successful researchers they knew of who had received a similar result, this would be a great opportunity to really refine my work.

Needless to say this result led me through a series of emotional responses that I don’t have space to elaborate on here. The hardest part was having to inform expectant friends, colleagues, and family members that whilst I hadn’t failed, I hadn’t passed either.

As the dust settled though I actually became enthusiastic for the somewhat daunting task ahead of me (helped by the fact that I had been unemployed without purpose for the preceeding few months). I was able to revisit and revise the narrative I had been unhappy with, and ended up reading a whole lot of literature about the PhD process in order to justify my direction. After 6 months (2 months full-time and 4 part-time) I was finally able to submit a thesis I was happy with, something which I wasn’t able to do the first time around. I passed my second viva with a handful of very minor corrections, and graduated virtually in December.

Despite something of a traumatic outcome, I felt the opportunity to submit a revised thesis definitely improved my skills as a critical researcher. ‘Failure’ is unfortunately an integral part of academic life, whether an unsuccessful funding application, or a rejected paper. It is through these experiences that we are able to grow and improve our practices, however cliche that may be.

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This page has been reproduced from the Vitae website (www.vitae.ac.uk). Vitae is dedicated to realising the potential of researchers through transforming their professional and career development.

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Thesis outcomes and corrections

There will usually be a bit more work to do after the viva. Each institution will have its own regulations about viva outcomes and how to inform the candidate of them. Find out before you go into your viva so that you know what to expect. In the UK they typically they fall into one of the following categories:

• Outright pass. Your work needs no corrections
• Minor corrections. Your examiners have a few minor suggestions that they would like you to incorporate
• Major corrections or resubmission. The thesis needs further work to be of doctoral standard. This might include more research, rewriting sections or including new literature
• Suggestion that you resubmit for, or are awarded, a lower degree (MPhil or MSc). Research is of good quality but too narrow for a doctorate
• Outright fail. Usually used only in cases of plagiarism or where the examiners judge that the candidate will never be able to complete a doctorate.

Most candidates fall within the minor or major corrections categories. This means that you will have some corrections to complete. However, regardless of the number of corrections that you have to do most people who reach the viva stage do  go on to get their doctorate relatively quickly.

Thesis corrections

After your viva you are likely to have some corrections to complete before you are awarded your doctorate. The extent can range from a few spelling mistakes to rewriting or adding complete chapters. You may be given a deadline by your examiners or your institution but regardless of this, it is best to aim to complete your corrections as soon as possible to use the momentum acquired during thesis writing.

In order to be sure that your corrections make the right changes:

• take notes during the viva and write them up immediately after
• meet with your main supervisor to discuss the changes that you need to make
• analyse the examiners' report carefully to make sure that you have dealt with all of the issues that they raise
• proofread your work again.

Thesis resubmission

Your examiners, or often just the internal examiner, will check that all corrections have been incorporated, and then you can resubmit your thesis. Your institution will have regulations on the format of the final submitted thesis copy of your thesis, which will usually be deposited in the institutional library. It has become more common for institutions to request the submission of an electronic copy for ease of cataloguing and searching.

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I failed outright....

UK student here. I had my viva on Friday, and having never having had more than a few minor suggestions that I implemented, no one has ever criticised my thesis.

During my viva I was told that my literature review covers nearly no relevant literature, my data gathering was flawed, the methods I used were wrong and overall my 50k word thesis isn’t even ready to be submitted as an mphil.

All I can think is wtf happened, what did I do wrong, what did the uni do wrong etc that I got to the last day of my PhD journey and no one had any discussions about my work.

Thanks for the kind words and feedback - I’ve used a throwaway account and kept it vague deliberately, but it seems consensus that my supervisor should have done more.

The mphil is possible, but requires a complete rewrite and tbh I have more important things to do at work and at home than get another masters :(

Extra Edit:

Not absolving myself of any blame, I work full time and I’m a distance learning student so my interaction has been fairly limited. Field is social sciences.

Funnily enough my internal examiner has previously passed this work during internal review. Adding another layer of wtf to the cake.

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Revising a PhD thesis and re-examination

• Degree Committee for the Faculty of Physics & Chemistry

If, after examining your thesis and conducting the oral, the Examiners cannot recommend that you pass (even if you were to correct your work), they will in most cases recommend that you should be allowed to revise and resubmit your work for a second examination .

Should the Degree Committee decide that you should revise and resubmit your work, you will be allowed up to 12 months from the date of Student Registry's email confirming that decision. Shortly after the Degree Committee meeting Student Registry will notify you of the decision, provide you with the revision advice supplied by the Examiners, and will give you a deadline for letting them know whether or not you wish to do this.

You may be asked to conduct further labwork/fieldwork/collect more data as part of the revision. If so, you might want to weigh up the pros and cons of accepting the invitation to revise the work for the PhD. If you chose not to revise your thesis you will not receive a PhD degree. However, you might be offered the option of accepting a lower degree instead (MSc or MPhil). If you have not been offered you this option, but you wish to pursue this possibility, please contact the Degree Committee.

Submitting a revised thesis

It is important to recognise that being permitted to revise your thesis for re-examination is not the same as making corrections.

We ask that you follow the same procedures as when preparing for the original submission (i.e. give us advance Notice of your intention to submit, make any voluntary disability disclosure).

If you have not submitted within the time allowed you will be withdrawn from study. Reinstatement will be considered when you are ready to submit.

Examination

The Degree Committee will normally appoint the same Examiners to examine the revised thesis. If you have good reason to object to the reappointment of the examiners, you should tell your supervisor before you resubmit the thesis and you should also inform the Degree Committee office at the point of submitting your Notice of intention to submit form. Bear in mind that if the same Examiners are appointed, they are best placed to judge whether or not you have made the revisions at the level required for the PhD. If new Examiners are appointed, they will know that the work is revised and they will be aware of what you have been asked to do to bring it up to doctoral level.

If you have the same examiners and they both agree that your revised work is of PhD standard, they can waive a second oral. However, if they differ in their opinions or are not sure whether you have met the requirements for the degree, they will hold a second oral. If either of the examiners is new (i.e. did not examine the original thesis), an oral must always be held. An Independent Chair will also be appointed to be present at an oral exam.

Results of re-examination

Your Examiners send their reports and your candidature will be considered at the next available meetings of the Degree Committee .

The Degree Committee is the awarding body for the PhD Degree. Decisions to fail a candidate, or award a lower degree, are ratified by the Postgraduate Committee. Shortly after the Degree Committee meeting your result will be entered in CamSIS. You will be sent an email informing you of the result and advising you on what to do next. Your Examiners' reports will be attached to the email. Outcomes of the examination are:

• pass (subject to submitting a hardbound copy and copy to Apollo) ;
• or pass subject to corrections ;

Student Status

If you are required to revise and resubmit your thesis you are expected to be studying full-time in Cambridge from the date you are notified of your result unless you have applied for and been granted permission to work away. If you have already taken up employment you should temporarily withdraw from the University while you work on your revisions as it is not possible to be a student and be working at this stage.

If you can't find the page you are looking for or find a broken link do let us know (please use the email link in the 'Contact us' section below).

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The Degree Committee for the Faculty of Physics & Chemistry will be closed from 5pm on Thursday 28 March 2024 and will reopen again on Tuesday 2 April 2024. Research degree theses should still be submitted by your submission deadline even if that falls over the holiday period.

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Thesis Examination Failures

If one or both of the examiners give the thesis an outcome of 'not passed' on the examination report, a Master’s student will not graduate and a Doctoral candidate will not proceed to the oral defence. However, the student has the option to revise and resubmit a failed thesis. When the examiner’s report is received by the Thesis Office and after the results are shared with the student, the transcript will indicate ‘Thesis Requires Revision’.

In cases where plagiarism in the thesis is alleged, the thesis examination process does not proceed any further and the case is investigated through University disciplinary processes.

Revise and resubmit process in myThesis (August 2022-present)

*For students who started the Revise and Resubmit process outside myThesis, prior to August 2022, see this webpage .

As of August 2022, the revise and resubmit process for students who have not passed the thesis examination takes place in myThesis. The process is highlighted in the table below:

Hearing Committee (Bias, Error, or Misrepresentation)

Revised in 2012 and 2018. Start of revision.

If a thesis has not been passed and the student feels that this judgment is not based on the academic or scholarly quality of the thesis itself, but rather is determined by bias, error, or serious misrepresentation on the part of the examiner, the student may submit to the Dean of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies a written request for a new examiner for the thesis, documenting the bias, error, or serious misrepresentation. This request must be made within six weeks of the notification that the thesis has not passed, and may be accompanied by a letter of support from the supervisor and/or Unit.

To consider the request, the Dean will convene (and chair) a Hearing Committee, composed of two (2) standing members of the Council of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies (C.G.P.S) and an appointed member of the student’s Faculty. This Committee will review the request at a hearing to which the student will be invited in order to present their case.*** The Committee will render a decision (in the absence of the student) as to whether bias, error or serious misrepresentation has been proven. The decision and the reasons behind it will be communicated in writing to the student by the Dean of Graduate & Postdoctoral Studies within one week of the Committee hearing.

If the request for a new examiner is approved by the Committee, the examination will be considered void; the student and supervisor with the approval of the Unit must identify and contact a new examiner (and submit a new Nomination of Examiners Form to GPS). The thesis may not be revised prior to submission of the new examiner.

If the request for a new examiner is not approved by the Committee, and this is the first time that the thesis had been evaluated, the student has the right to Revise and Resubmit under the normal procedures. If the revised thesis also fails to pass examination, the thesis will be judged as not fulfilling the requirements for the degree and the student will be withdrawn from the University and their transcript will indicate ‘Thesis Revision – Not Passed’.

Revised and resubmitted thesis : If bias, error, or serious misrepresentation is first alleged as a result of the examination of a revised thesis (i.e. a thesis that did not pass the first examination and was subsequently revised and resubmitted), the Hearing Committee process described above will be followed. If the allegation is upheld, a new examiner will be secured as described above. If the allegation is not upheld, no further revisions will be considered; the student will be withdrawn from the University and their transcript will indicate ‘Thesis Revision – Not Passed’.

Revised in 2012 and 2018. End of revision.

*Unit refers to a department, a division, a school, an institute, or a Faculty/University-wide program.

**Head refers to chair of the Academic Unit* or delegate (such as Graduate Program Director/Associate Director). Names of delegate(s) should be submitted to the Director, Graduate and Postdoctoral Affairs.

*** The student may bring an advisor from the university community to the hearing (who must not be paid for their services.)

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial 4.0 International License . Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies, McGill University .

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What happens when you fail a PhD?

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Failed PhD - any advice?

This sounds like a truly horrific situation. I hope that you manage to get things resolved in a timely manner. Sorry I can't offer any more direct advice, but I'm sure we're all thinking of you and hoping for a positive outcome! xx

Quote From Dave_B: I posted on a similar topic to this several months ago (I only started looking at this forum sporadically whilst sorting out submitting a complaint against the university where I did a PhD). I finished my Ph.D. after seven years, having been through two vivas. During my first viva, I was offered an MPhil after corrections; I refused to accept this, and was immediately offered a resubmission with major corrections within 12 months. Admittedly my case was quite complicated (hence the complaint), and I think the indecision of my examiners was related to the fact they were up to no good (my external was a close colleague of my supervisor, with whom I had fallen out very badly). However, I did know of another student who had graduated the year before I started in 2001, who had apparently done the same thing in his first viva, with the same result (resubmission for PhD instead of accepting an MPhil), so in some cases it does actually work. Over the subsequent three years, I have come to the conclusion that, in cases where a student has clearly suffered from a lack of supervision or some other mistreatment, the department will try anything to stop the student lodging an appeal, which would bring the case to the attention of the senate of the university. Thats good advice about refusing mphil. but how do you go about actually saying NO to a mphil. did you really have to fight for it ? what sort of things did you say /do?

======= Date Modified 14 Apr 2009 09:47:46 ======= ============= Edited by a Moderator ============= I would take the masters degree and go... Unless your PhD can be obtained easily. Your chances of finding a decent employment after you graduate a probably very low. This "failure" may be your ticket to a much happier life!

Quote From Lara: Thats good advice about refusing mphil. but how do you go about actually saying NO to a mphil. did you really have to fight for it ? what sort of things did you say /do? My first viva took place just over three years ago, so remembering the exact conversation is a bit difficult now, but it was along the lines of : Examiner: "Unfortunately, your thesis just isn't up to the standard required for a PhD....its more like what I would expect to see at the end of the first year.....What we are prepared to do is offer you an MPhil, without major corrections" Me: "No, I'm not accepting an MPhil....I mean, I already have a MSci from ######, so another masters would be pointless". At this point, the internal examiner (who had chaired the viva and done most of the talking), said that in that case, they could recommend a resubmission. However, he stated that even after a years extra work, I still probably wouldn't have enough work to even warrant a second viva. When I stood firm, he said that they would put me down for a resubmission, but that he would have to go and check the regulations governing this. In hindsight, I was confused as to why they didn't just insist on awarding an MPhil, as I couldn't have appealled against their decision on the basis that you can't appeal against matters of academic judgement. I have therfore come to the conclusion that they were up to no good, and panicked when I challenged their decision. In any case, if you think you have suffered from bad supervision, a badly designed project or lack of facilities, I think that threatening to lodge an appeal is a worthwhile course of action, as in my case they seemed terrified of this happening. However, it took me another two years to graduate with my PhD, so it wasn't a quick and easy option!

I thought I had better clarify a couple of points I made in my last reply, because I'm not sure that refusing to accept an MPhil would be the best idea, or that it would even work, in most circumstances. In my case, there were very significant extenuating circumstances which meant that, on the spot, I considered it to be a good idea: 1). Just prior to the internal examiner telling me I would be offered an MPhil, I was told that my supervisor should never have offered my project,in the first place as it was effectively unpassable (in the way it had been deisgned). However, the external told me that "...there must be a standard", and that they were therefore not prepared to show any leniancy. 2). I was told that my thesis contained an amount of work that would be expected at the end of a student's first year. However, I had been through three end of year assessments, and my progress had always been described as satisfactory. 3). The viva examination rules at my university stated that the external examiner should chair the examination, with the internal ensuring that the exam progressed properly and regulations were followed. However, my external spoke only rarely, the internal led the examination, and they asked me very few questions about the content of my thesis, concentrating instead on alternative experimental techniques and on the problems I had with my supervisor. About 10 minutes into the viva, I had formed the impression that it had already been decided that I would fail. This was shown to be true the next day, when it emerged that the examiners had told members of staff in my research group that I would only get an MPhil the day before my viva had taken place. I already knew that the rules of my university explained that the assessment of a PhD student was based 50% on their thesis and 50% on their performance in the viva, and that it was therefore impossible to fail the test before it had even taken place. 4). I already knew that a student in my department had, several years previously, turned down an MPhil and was instead allowed to resubmit after 12 months. Later on, it seemed more a case of him being offered both options and being asked which he preferred, but at the time of my viva I thought he had been told to accept an MPhil and had refused, saying he would instead lodge an appeal. I then took this approach and fortunately it worked, although the examiners did take about 20 minutes before the end of the viva trying to get me to accept the masters 5). I already had an MSci, and took the position that an MPhil would be worthless, especially in my case when I had already spent 4 1/2 years on my PhD. That isn't to say that an MPhil is intrinsically worthless of course, just that it wasn't very much to show from more than 4 years work. Since my first viva, both myself and members of my family involved in academia have spoken to academics at several other universities, and no one has ever heard of a student refusing to accept the judgement of their examiners during a PhD viva. That doesn't of course mean that it has never happened, as universities tend to be very secretive when it comes to disputes. However, I have been told that the fact that my examiners panicked and backtracked on their original judgement must mean that they knew they were up to no good. This is the key problem with this strategy; if the examiners really do just think your work is poor, they are likely to get very upset, and could potentially recommend you fail completely instead. I have subsequently lodged complaints to various bodies, a process that is ongoing; I intend to write the whole story up in a website when I have finally finished. However, if I have learned anything it is that I should have started complaining as soon as I could see problems occurring in my Ph.D. In my case, my supervisor was a well known bully in the department, and unfortunately I was afraid that compl

Oh my God. I am so sorry to hear what happened to you! In fact, I don't want to sound ignorant or not to mention naive, but I have never heard about PhD being failed. I know it could be with no or minor corrections but not failed! I cannot say that this is an encouraging thought but it is definitely an eye opener for people like me who were simply unaware. I do have a question though to everyone. How is this possible that having had a supervisor who is reviewing whatever you submit, usually on regular basis, can lead to such a bad end? How could he/she let it happen! Finaly, since I know now that it is actually possible to fail PhD then what are factors that might lead to this (of course except the horrific supervisor)?

I've was told at a viva course that 10% of students fail (without any degree or referral) - it's quite a sobering statistic.

although I can see that if someone has submitted without the say-so of their supervisory team, then failure might be an option, if that team think the work is of sufficient merit to pass, then there must be something wrong somewhere with the system. Having said that though, I had a second go when I was taking my fellowship viva, because one of the people on the examining team was deemed out of line and I got a phonecall the next day, before any results had been announced, to say that I would be invited to sit the viva again as he had been, shall we say, trying to prove how good he was (he wasn't) but that isn't quite the same. 10% seems very high, and rather strange. To have got that far, and done that much work, under what is supposed to be a system that is geared to guide towards success only to find that it appears to have a built in failure factor seems, well, silly.

======= Date Modified 27 Apr 2009 13:29:27 ======= Quote From Dave_B: In any case, if you think you have suffered from bad supervision, a badly designed project or lack of facilities, I think that threatening to lodge an appeal is a worthwhile course of action, as in my case they seemed terrified of this happening. However, it took me another two years to graduate with my PhD, so it wasn't a quick and easy option! Thanks Dav B that is really good advice, and i appreciate you trying to remember the conversation you had. that is really good to know! and i appreciate you giving us all that information. you're right it is a very difficult situation to have to deal with ... but well done on getting your phd in the end. -- failing a phd is every students worst nightmare. i know its mine!! :$ i worry that my mind will just go blank and i wont remember a thing or be able to explain anything:$

Olivia1 - any news on what is going to happen?

OMG. After reading all these replies now i understand that i must demand for whatever i do in my PhD life. This entire page sounds negative to me. Anyways life is a challenge take it up until the end. Those who are brave are free...(up)

======= Date Modified 12 Jun 2009 12:20:24 ======= ======= Date Modified 12 Jun 2009 12:05:58 ======= I'm really sorry to hear this has happended, Olivia. This is truly any PhD students worst nightmare- and I'm terrified that something like this might happen to me. Given my initial knockbacks due to the upgrading process (although I passed second time round with great reviews from external supervisors) I'm seriously worried that I'll be knocked back again and subsequently failing my PhD. :$ I know from the upgrading process my supervisors willl not allow me to submit anything until they think it's ready- which is why Olivia's situation is so worrying!! I hope you've had a successful appeal Olivia? Found some interesting papers about completion etc- I was curious to see about the stats regarding completion rates... http://www.hefce.ac.uk/pubs/hefce/2005/05_02/ http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?storyCode=310709§ioncode=26 http://www.hefce.ac.uk/pubs/hefce/2007/07_29/

one way or another i would characterise it as a disgrace if a student submits a thesis that is failed. either because the supervisory team should have not allowed it to be submitted if it wasnt of the requisite standard or the examiners were either not qualified enough to properly assess the thesis and/ or there is some political agenda at hand. I could also be the case that you were just a victim of the subjective and non standardized way that PhD thesis are examined. I just dont understand how you got through each year with satisfactory progress and when you submitted you are shot down by your examiners and not even give a chance to make corrections resubmit

I was doing a part-time PhD for 9 years. I am a single parent and have had to juggle a lot to even go to university. I was assigned a new supervisor towards the end of my PhD because my original supervisor had retired. She had me doing re-writes and changing styles and jumping through hoops. Then a few weeks before I was going to submit she sent me a letter saying the original design was not suitable for a post-grad thesis...and if I re-do the whole thing from scratch and meet criteria which is physically impossible I could achieve a masters degree! I wrote a letter of complaint / appeal to the post-grad office. I was politely told ...tough. I am now 40 years old and working on a check out. In the mean time my friends who have not even got A levels have got really good positions because they have spent the last decade or so working their way up.. I was stupid and dedicated my time and energy and money trying to get a doctorate. My son turns 18 next month so I lose my single parent status so I'm crossing my fingers that I can claim housing benefit to help pay my bloody rent when the tax credits stop. And to think once upon a time I was allowed to marked 1st and 2nd yr degrees papers and advise on 3rd yr projects...

======= Date Modified 06 Jul 2009 10:16:06 ======= Sorry to hear about this, Olivia - any more updates on the situation? And you, too, Checkoutgirl! :( I recently quit a doctorate after a year and a half and have deferred to an MSc (even though I have an MEng!). I'm hoping to join some sort of graduate scheme and work my way up (or maybe even join the police) - best decision I ever made. I couldn't imagine the nightmare of spending a large amount of your life doing a PhD only to not be awarded with it - let us know what happens and good luck.

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