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Hello, I have some confusions about preparation for viva(PH.D).
1. If I submit my thesis on Jan, when can I have viva?

2. Can I ask secretary to inform me the date of viva at least one month advance? Because I am not in st andrews at the moment and need to book air ticket and accommodation in advance.

3. If I successfully pass the viva, what should I do next?

4. How many days should I stay in st.andrews to deal with all matters relating to viva?

Thank you very much.

wl79 wrote:Hello, I have some confusions about preparation for viva(PH.D).
1. If I submit my thesis on Jan, when can I have viva?

In general, they don't expect you to wait more than three months before having a viva, but there are sometimes circumstances which mean you have to wait longer - I think my husband was waiting something like 5 months! My wait was about three. But it's different for everyone and you might be in luck and get one sooner.

2. Can I ask secretary to inform me the date of viva at least one month advance? Because I am not in st andrews at the moment and need to book air ticket and accommodation in advance.

I'm pretty sure they'll be able to help and schedule something that's convenient for everyone involved - I can't imagine them giving you less notice than that anyway - I was told 2 months before mine.

3. If I successfully pass the viva, what should I do next?

If I can remember correctly, you then need to make any corrections that need doing - hopefully just minor typos and the like - reprint any necessary pages, and then get a hard copy bound to be deposited in the library, as well as submitting a copy electronically. I have a vague memory of needing to get forms signed by the postgraduate office when depositing the thesis. I think if you have corrections that are more serious than just the odd typo, you will need to get your supervisor to sign off on them first and there could be a time limit to get these done in - either 3 months, 6 months, or a year (could be wrong here though!).

4. How many days should I stay in st.andrews to deal with all matters relating to viva?

Hard to say because it depends on the amount of corrections you need to do to the thesis, but if there's nothing or very little to do, you can probably take a couple of hours to make any changes and reprint, then I'd imagine you'd need to allow a good 24 hours for the hard binding, perhaps longer at a busier time of year? You'll need to check this with the binders.



However, word of warning - my viva was 2007, so any info I give here could well be out of date - you'd really be better off checking all this out with your supervisor if you can't find any regulations online.

Something to bear in mind is also that you need to hand in a form, preferably about a month before you submit with your external and internal examiners on and you thesis title. I think it goes to registry, but you can't submit unless it's been approved first. Your supervisor should know if they've had a student here before.