UKC Forums - PhD upgrade viva questions.
Failing your PhD. How does it happen? I have recently been a remote witness of a behind-the-scenes-drama: a PhD candidate who received a rejection from an external examiner. Her supervisors had approved the thesis, but a member of the committee rejected it, rightfully so as far as I can gather, judging from the report that spans over a thirty pages of why the thesis is lacking and needs at.
To the poster: You didn't fail out of every PhD program, just one. (Your question makes it seem like you're confusing the two.) You need to visualize two scenarios: a PhD at age 45-50 (with all the work that will entail) or no PhD at all. Because if the pass rate is that low, you were surely at a prestigious program, which means you're aiming.
To upgrade from a research masters to doctoral candidature you will need to have produced a coherent body of work of sufficient substance during the research masters candidature to enable an assessment to be made about the candidate's capacity to produce work at doctoral standard. If you apply to upgrade, you will be required to demonstrate how the original research proposal has been expanded.
It hurts to fail in general. For PhD students, an academic failure is especially painful. Most PhD students are smart, hardworking, and ambitious. They have never failed a class. In fact, many of them have aced most of their classes and had a 4.0.
Appealing a Failed PhD. How to appeal if you failed your PhD. A PhD is the terminal degree and represents years of hard work. It is often a necessary step for a career in academia and gives a significant advantage in job applications outside academia. This will be particularly important in the post-COVID graduate job market, where a doctorate should stand a candidate apart from most others.
Usually Ph.D. candidates, after consultations with their dissertation chair or other members of their dissertation commitee, will schedule their defense under the assumption that they (1) have finished their dissertation; (2) their committee, espe.
Applying for a second PhD may be problematic if you've already failed (though less so with an MPhil), in the eyes of potential supervisors and funding bodies if funding for a project is not already in place. That said, you'll already know what a PhD entails and you'll be able to sell this knowhow in an application for a second PhD. You've been there and you'll have learn't from any mistakes.