# Submitted my PhD thesis **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 29, 2010, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/submitted-my-phd-thesis/548438 "2010-07-29T10:39:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2010, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/submitted-my-phd-thesis/548438/1 "2010-07-29T10:39:44Z")
Reading **statsman** ’s thread reminded me: I submitted my PhD thesis this week. Three years of my life finally submitted. My viva is in October. I’m not really sure what should do now (feel a little bit of a loose end). I have plenty of work I can do, but can’t summon the energy to actually get on and do it properly. Doctors, feel free to tell me good things about your examination. ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2010, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/submitted-my-phd-thesis/548438/2 "2010-07-29T11:36:38Z")
You’re going to be asked questions about the subject you know best in the world, and most of the people asking you the questions want you to do well. You will. ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2010, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/submitted-my-phd-thesis/548438/3 "2010-07-29T11:49:27Z")
For those who don’t use the term, the “viva” is the oral presentation/examination at the end of grad school. Often called the “defense”. I skipped mine. ---
**Author:** ![Lars\_Aruns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c68b51/32.png) [@Lars\_Aruns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lars_Aruns)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2010, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/submitted-my-phd-thesis/548438/4 "2010-07-29T11:52:55Z")
You don’t know what to do? I’ll give you the same advice that my supervisor gave me when I submitted mine. Take a well deserved break, and do nothing whatsoever for at least a week; then travel somewhere nice. Do not in any way whatsoever open your thesis because you’ll find lots of little mistakes that you wished you fixed before submitting. He also told me something similar to what **prr** said: you are the biggest expert in your topic in the world, as nobody did the same exact thing; the examiners will ask questions because they are interested in your work, not because they want to put you on trial. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2010, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/submitted-my-phd-thesis/548438/5 "2010-07-29T12:17:00Z")
You’ve made it this far without cracking up! Hold on a little longer ! Good luck and take a deep breath! I’ve decided that if I ever went back to school for my PhD ( I need all the other junk too) I would research Dust Bunnies and where they come from and the rate the multiply. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![flight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbce88/32.png) [@flight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flight)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2010, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/submitted-my-phd-thesis/548438/6 "2010-07-29T16:32:27Z")
I defended mine about two months ago. They will keep asking you questions until you don’t know the answer to something. Then they will keep asking you questions until you can’t figure the answers out on the spot. Ideally you will be well into “future work” by the time this happens. Recommendations: 1. Schedule it for after lunch and have a lot of coffee on hand. Committee members who are full and need to pee are much less likely to stretch out a painful questioning period. 2. Let them argue with each other. Professors love to argue with each other about things you don’t care about and were not a part of your research. Let them do this to their heart’s content. Good luck, and remember that if your advisor thinks you are ready to defend, you are pretty much guaranteed to pass. ---
**Author:** ![Sundrop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/da6949/32.png) [@Sundrop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sundrop)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2010, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/submitted-my-phd-thesis/548438/7 "2010-07-29T16:32:38Z")
Congrats! And I agree with the advice about just taking a break. ---
**Author:** ![Disheavel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@Disheavel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Disheavel)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2010, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/submitted-my-phd-thesis/548438/8 "2010-07-29T17:19:58Z")
I don’t know your subject or how your viva works exactly. But let me prepare you for a potential scenario. At my grad school, the defense committee was required to consist of 5 members (my advisor, two professors from the department, one professor from the university not in the deparment, and one professor from another university). The last two are to verify that the thesis and defense are at a quality befitting the university. But who can you get to do a random thesis read and defense with which they have no connection? Answer: non-tenured professors who would like to impress other people on the committee who would probably be on their tenure committee or perhaps write a letter for them in the future. Those last two assistant professors scoured my thesis and asked the most impossible theoretical questions in order to impress the other committee members; whereas the senior/emeritus professor on my committee asked only the last three questions of the defense. “Back in the 60s, the army needed to test … Do you have a suggestion about how they should do it? How could you improve sensitivity? What other methods would you investigate if that one failed?” It made for a very, very stressful meeting with a great up at the end, but it was clear that the committee knew what was happening. So my warning to you, don’t let the “politics” in the room mess with you. It is a good sign that things are going well. ---
**Author:** ![Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2010, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/submitted-my-phd-thesis/548438/9 "2010-07-29T17:40:54Z")
Nope, nothing like that in the UK. The “committee” is a single outside examiner and an internal examiner. Thanks for the encouragement, everybody, BTW. ---
**Author:** ![Angua](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8baadc/32.png) [@Angua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angua)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2010, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/submitted-my-phd-thesis/548438/10 "2010-07-29T18:23:46Z")
First of all, congratulations, CRSP! Secondly, this bears repeating, because its the best way to deal with the post-thesis submission slump: > [@Lars\_Aruns](#): > > You don’t know what to do? I’ll give you the same advice that my supervisor gave me when I submitted mine. Take a well deserved break, and do nothing whatsoever for at least a week; then travel somewhere nice. Do not in any way whatsoever open your thesis because you’ll find lots of little mistakes that you wished you fixed before submitting. Thirdly, hope and pray that your viva doesn’t go like mine – both of my examiners were reasonably new to the whole “being a viva examiner” lark, and decided to go through my thesis paragraph by paragraph, plot by fracking plot, getting me to explain everything. Took the best part of 4 hours. :eek: I passed with minor corrections at the end of that four hours, but geeze! I will be trying **not** to do that later this year, when I’m someone’s external examiner! ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2010, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/submitted-my-phd-thesis/548438/11 "2010-07-29T18:26:47Z")
Congratulations! Hopefully, I am less than a year behind you! ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2010, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/submitted-my-phd-thesis/548438/12 "2010-07-29T18:28:28Z")
I suppose you’re technically not quite done yet, but I’m going to offer congratulations anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Giraffe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giraffe/32/129_2.png) [@Giraffe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giraffe)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2010, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/submitted-my-phd-thesis/548438/13 "2010-07-29T18:30:21Z")
Congrats! I don’t know about the UK, but in the U.S. unless your thesis totally sucks your viva/defense is actually pretty fun: you know the topic better than everyone else in the room (except your advisor), and it’s a suitable finale to years of hard labor. Plus, at the end of it, the sense of relief and accomplishment is indescribable. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2010, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/submitted-my-phd-thesis/548438/14 "2010-07-29T18:31:26Z")
Congratulations! I don’t think I’ll ever be getting my B.A., much less a doctorate, but I have nothing but respect for people who have the drive and commitment to keep at something that long. I appreciate that there are people like you in the world, to do the intellectual heavy-lifting from which us dilettantes can benefit. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2010, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/submitted-my-phd-thesis/548438/15 "2010-07-29T18:34:37Z")
Congrats, **CSRP** …turning in my dissertation felt like a two-ton weight lifted from my shoulders, even if I still had the viva to look forward to. You must be feeling a bit of that yourself. ---
**Author:** ![Digital\_Stimulus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Digital\_Stimulus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_Stimulus)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2010, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/submitted-my-phd-thesis/548438/16 "2010-07-30T00:05:17Z")
As an ABD (All But Dissertation), I offer my sincerest congratulations. And more will be due (and forthcoming) when you’ve defended. ---
**Author:** ![amarone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@amarone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarone)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2010, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/submitted-my-phd-thesis/548438/17 "2010-07-30T03:18:51Z")
> [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](#): > > Nope, nothing like that in the UK. The “committee” is a single outside examiner and an internal examiner. That’s what I had about 300 years ago. It was pretty low-key and not at all high-pressure. I’d already left university and been in a “proper job” for 18 months or so. If I hadn’t worked for a generous boss who gave me paid time off to write my thesis (in a subject utterly unrelated to my job), I doubt I would ever have done so. The viva was the easy bit. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2010, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/submitted-my-phd-thesis/548438/18 "2010-07-31T01:03:50Z")
Congratulations! I’m impressed. I don’t think I would have had the brainpower/stamina to get a Ph. D. But, honestly, [did you really need one](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=12744686#post12744686)? ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2010, 10:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/submitted-my-phd-thesis/548438/19 "2010-07-31T10:55:51Z")
That is really good news. Now go out and heal folk. Also make a bundle so you can visit Australia. ---
**Author:** ![BetsQ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/fbc32d/32.png) [@BetsQ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BetsQ)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2010, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/submitted-my-phd-thesis/548438/20 "2010-08-01T21:05:20Z")
So envious! Hope to be submitting mine in mid-November. (Holy cow, that’s soon! I need to go write!) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/submitted-my-phd-thesis/548438.md?page=2)