Time from first draft submission to viva

Ostrom

Just canvassing for some experiences with this - I'm a bit away from submission (let alone first draft) yet, but I'm trying to plan the next few months as best I can.

I'm interested in hearing roughly how long it took between delivering a first draft for review to supervisor and examination (i.e. including time taken to review the thesis by both supervisors, rewrite times / extent of rewriting requirements, sorting externs and all that).

I'm aiming to get the first draft in for February, leaving me with 3-4 months to follow up on any recommendations / revisions - just wondering if this is wishful thinking. I'm social science btw

djpbarry

efla wrote: »

I'm interested in hearing roughly how long it took between delivering a first draft for review to supervisor and examination (i.e. including time taken to review the thesis by both supervisors, rewrite times / extent of rewriting requirements, sorting externs and all that).

It’s going to vary a lot from case to case. I gave my thesis to supervisors for review chapter by chapter, so there wasn’t really a first complete draft submission as such.

efla wrote: »

I'm aiming to get the first draft in for February, leaving me with 3-4 months to follow up on any recommendations / revisions - just wondering if this is wishful thinking. I'm social science btw

I don’t work in the social sciences, but I think 3-4 months is reasonable. But then, it depends on the quality of your first draft!

hidinginthebush

Hey OP! I handed my first draft to my supervisor last September, then had it submitted to the university one month later (end of October). I didn't perform my viva until February, due to a number of factors (extern was away for all of November, then the break in Christmas, plus UCD are very slow at sending copies off to externs). So even with a lot of factors working against me, I still ran through the process in 4 - 5 months, so 3 - 4 should be definitely doable.

I know people who have had their viva 2 days after the extern received their thesis, so a large amount will depend on when they are available and how fast they are at reading your thesis.

Ostrom

hidinginthebush wrote: »

Hey OP! I handed my first draft to my supervisor last September, then had it submitted to the university one month later (end of October). I didn't perform my viva until February, due to a number of factors (extern was away for all of November, then the break in Christmas, plus UCD are very slow at sending copies off to externs). So even with a lot of factors working against me, I still ran through the process in 4 - 5 months, so 3 - 4 should be definitely doable.

I know people who have had their viva 2 days after the extern received their thesis, so a large amount will depend on when they are available and how fast they are at reading your thesis.

Thats great thanks (to you both). I'm getting favourable comments from the few submitted chapters so I dont think I'll have much rewriting other than shortening and moving some bits around.

Great help, thanks for replying

woodchuck

It’s best to get corrections back chapter by chapter.

Writing time: I managed to write up (including getting corrections back and forth) within 2 months… but it nearly killed me! I’ve heard of people doing it in as few as 6 weeks, but I know people that took 6 months. Average seems to be about 3 or maybe 4 months for writing up. It also depends on how much you’ve prepared as you went along. (I’m coming from a science background and had most of my methods and materials already written, graphs prepared and had done annual reports)

Time taken to review the thesis by supervisor: Varied from chapter to chapter, but because my deadline was fast approaching and had no leeway (unless I wanted to pay more fees!) I just kept giving my supervisor chapters even if she hadn’t got back to me about the previous one… probably rude on my part but it did light a fire under her to get corrections back to me quicker So ~1 week per chapter on average.

Rewrite times: ~1-2 days per chapter (introduction took me longer though, mine was way too long so had to completely rewrite it to try and cut it in half without removing any information!)

Extent of rewriting requirements: mostly very little; shorten some chapters, include/remove certain information, rewrite some paragraphs, extra references.

Sorting externs: They were selected a few months before I submitted (supervisor took care of all that). I was lucky and got a viva date sorted fairly quickly after I submitted. I had a date set within about a week or 2. It was about 2 months from when I submitted the thesis. The wait for the viva largely depends on when your examiners are available, but usually it’s polite to give them at least a month to read it. If possible try to get a date that is sooner rather than later, because I’ve seen people have to wait about 6 months for theirs… I was antsy after about a month!

The best of luck with it all

djpbarry

woodchuck wrote: »

Sorting externs: I was lucky and got it sorted fairly quickly after I submitted.

You sorted out externs after you submitted? I've never heard of anyone do it that way round before?

woodchuck

djpbarry wrote: »

You sorted out externs after you submitted? I've never heard of anyone do it that way round before?

Sorry, I meant a date that suited them both for the viva was sorted shortly after submission. The actual examiners were selected and confirmed long before that. I actually think it was required for them to be selected (for approval by a committee) 3 months before I was due to submit. It wasn't a difficult process though, my supervisor knew them both and they were keen to be involved so it was just a matter of asking!