posted
Speaking as the person who organises the PhD vivas and the ensuing paperwork, I have to say I have not yet seen the grade breakdown that Modge was told.
Fact that I tell the nervous researchers in ill-fitting suits awaiting their viva: the only person in our department who ever failed didn't listen to their supervisor and ignored all advice. The examiners are just there to check you know what you're talking about and didn't make the results up.
I was telling Thorn he should look into doing an MA and possibly going into lecturing, as I reckon he'd be good at it and would probably enjoy it. Do you know how competitive it is for jobs as Arts lecturers, kovacs?
I won't finish my BSc until I'm 28, so wouldn't start a PhD before I was 30 if I decide to go down that road. Depressing.
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posted
I just dug out the piece of paper that I got with the grading details on it, and it is listed like I said, but I think that the letters are more for organising the list into items rather than being 'grades' like with A-levels &c.
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posted
I only know about "Arts" in the broader sense of Arts and Humanities but I presume that's what you mean. I don't think Thorn would get a job in HE without a PhD. With an MA I think you could get a job in FE. I also think he would be good at it and enjoy it, though I suspect he might fuck a couple of students.
quote:Originally posted by kovacs: though I suspect he might fuck a couple of students.
I dunno, certainly he wouldn't be as physically attractive a proposition as the other, much younger and fitter, students swarming the place in their hundreds and it's not like he commands enough respect to appear mentally attractive. Even if he did, that would go out the window the first time his class saw him being thrown out of the union for pissing himself at the bar (which, let's face it, wouldn't take long). All in all, I'd say Thorn's as safe a bet as you could hope for if you're an HEI looking to avoid a "sex for grades" scandal.
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i had to do a resubmission without rexamination. which meant i had to pay 300 pounds for the feeling of being kicked firmly in the head.
i got my thesis back and went over it with my internal examiner, and i don't know how/why it was even submitted. it was shockingly bad. sloppy, badly written, poorly presented. my superviser never sat down with me and went through it like my internal did.
but then we didn't like each other towards the end. i'm not apportioning blame, because it was as much my fault as his. but i do wish that i'd spoken to my internal more frequently than i had. expensive lesson there.
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quote:Originally posted by Bamba: I dunno, certainly he wouldn't be as physically attractive a proposition as the other, much younger and fitter, students swarming the place in their hundreds
The ratio of boy students to girl students on an English course is about 1:95. Another reason why my degree was such a waste of time.
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posted
I'm sorry to hear that damo. I'm glad you were able to get some help from your internal, but as for speaking to them more I thought that you weren't supposed to have contact with your examiners before your viva, especially not about your thesis?
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posted
oh. maybe different in da sciences. but you can go to the internal and ask for advice on presentation etc. like before submission. where i done did my phd, we had mentors, my mentor was also my internal. but i never saw him. i would advise anybody now, if you have such a thing, USE IT.
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posted
I see, thanks for explaining. I can use anyone as an examiner, so long as I haven't had "a close professional relationship" with them, but discussion of the thesis before the viva is not allowed.
posted
i've already resubmitted. i did that last year. that's why i'm now in da usa being like the mad one scientist. :grr@nobodyknowingwhati'muptoface:
posted
y'know damo, I thought it was odd when you posted that you had to resubmit because I had thought I remembered you finishing. Then I figured that you must have got the job on the basis of you having finished and submitted, but not viva-d, and then later found out you needed to resubmit.
wow my mind makes up complicated theories when it should just read just a little bit more carefully. Great trait in a phd student, the inability to read closely...
so, um (and I'm sure I said this at the time) congratulations!
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quote:Originally posted by damo: where i done did my phd, we had mentors, my mentor was also my internal. but i never saw him. i would advise anybody now, if you have such a thing, USE IT.
It's the same where I am and I have also never seen my mentor/internal apart from the first week in my first year. Occasionally I pass him in the corridor and skulk past him looking down at my feet in the hope of avoiding all eye contact, although, I don't think he'd recognise me anyway. The thing is he's got nothing to do with my field of research and I've got all the help I needed from my supervisor along the way. What you said is a little worrying though.
Also, does anyone know about the submitting procedure? As far as I understand it, you give notification of intending to submit (around 3 months before submitting) then have to submit by a certain deadline. What happens if you miss that submission deadline?
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quote:Originally posted by kerplunk: Also, does anyone know about the submitting procedure? As far as I understand it, you give notification of intending to submit (around 3 months before submitting) then have to submit by a certain deadline. What happens if you miss that submission deadline?
Go to your departmental postgrad administrator and get a list of important dates (ie Mphil transfer to PhD, six month/ twelve month progress reports etc) on the timescale of PhD studies at your institution, so as not to fuck things up and CREATE MORE WORK FOR OTHER PEOPLE.
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quote:Originally posted by kerplunk: Also, does anyone know about the submitting procedure? As far as I understand it, you give notification of intending to submit (around 3 months before submitting) then have to submit by a certain deadline. What happens if you miss that submission deadline?
Go to your departmental postgrad administrator and get a list of important dates (ie Mphil transfer to PhD, six month/ twelve month progress reports etc) on the timescale of PhD studies at your institution, so as not to fuck things up and CREATE MORE WORK FOR OTHER PEOPLE.
That all sounds like an awful lot of work to me. I think I'll just wait until I'm written up then wander into the secretary's office and stare blankly when they say I can't submit on that day.
No!
I do actually know there's a submission deadline in mid January but the question about notice of submission remains (I think it's November), what happens if you don't submit by the date in January?
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I know that here a lot of students are funded by grants from EPSRC, and they insist on submission within four years, or they ask for their money back.
I really would recommend finding out about submission criteria; you may learn useful things about number of copies, acceptable binding, signatures necessary for any paperwork- if you're submitting around Christmas time I bet loads of important people will be on holiday and thus unable to sign any paperwork.
This must be the dullest thread deviation ever.
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quote:Originally posted by kerplunk: Also, does anyone know about the submitting procedure? As far as I understand it, you give notification of intending to submit (around 3 months before submitting) then have to submit by a certain deadline. What happens if you miss that submission deadline?
Go to your departmental postgrad administrator and get a list of important dates (ie Mphil transfer to PhD, six month/ twelve month progress reports etc) on the timescale of PhD studies at your institution, so as not to fuck things up and CREATE MORE WORK FOR OTHER PEOPLE.
That all sounds like an awful lot of work to me. I think I'll just wait until I'm written up then wander into the secretary's office and stare blankly when they say I can't submit on that day.
No!
I do actually know there's a submission deadline in mid January but the question about notice of submission remains (I think it's November), what happens if you don't submit by the date in January?
listen to veep. and talk to your fucking internal. your superviser isn't the be-all that you want him to be.
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Astromariner
Going the right way for a smacked bottom
posted
to say: ambulanceosireno. do not worry about starting your phd late. so what? its not that big a thing.
by the time you finish you'll be what 32? apply for jobs in da states and you'll be the same age as all the grad students finishing their phds. simple innit? and i'm sure i've said this all before.
posted
Right, I've been along to find out and *shock* they actually have a booklet on the whole submitting procedure (along with useful titbits of info about formatting etc), who would have thought it! There are 4 submission deadlines a year, January, May, July and September for those who are interested.
I still don't see how my mentor/internal can help me much, surely like someone said above they can't be allowed to read or have anything to do with your thesis before your viva.
posted
oh for fucks sake. i feel like i'm banging my head against an academic shaped wall here. your internal will be able to help you and give you advice on how your thesis should be written and presented. and its always good to get a second opinion on these things. its much like submitting an article that gets peer reviewed. you could for instance, talk to him/her (better astro) and ask them whether a chapter outline looks ok. you could also talk about experiments and see if they're presented in the right way.
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posted
nah. that's old academics. the new breed are fleece wearing,thermos cup toting,action sandal sporting, backpack strapping, map reading hikers and adventurers.
trust me.
me however, i'm frightened of the outdoors.
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quote:the new breed are fleece wearing,thermos cup toting,action sandal sporting,
Unanily true. In my old department there was a bloke who pioneerd the action sandal/chunky hiking sock/labcoat/bumbag ON TOP of labcoat look. To be seen in next months Vogue...
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Imagine the difficulty I had keeping a straight face, even whilst facing a thrashing with a tawse, when my headteacher asked me whether my infraction of some skoolrule was a jolly jape.
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I don't know if it counts as a proper word, but I've always liked Snafu .
Thanks for this BR - I came across snafu for the first time in a Margaret Attwood book the other day. I guessed it was along the lines of 'fubar' but couldn't quite work it out (apart from the 'fucked up' bit at the end).
[ 14.09.2004, 06:42: Message edited by: Sidney ]
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