Guys, need some help here. I have a ready PhD thesis...

I have a ready phd thesis from a current full time phd study of 4 years. Its a legitimate university (within top 100 world ranking).

It has resulted in 2 journal publications (journals listed on science citation index) and several international conferences.

However, my advisor is an extremely difficult person to please whom feels that I should add in a few more chapters.

4 years of research is enough and I have no more energy to proceed. I would like to throw in the towel and quit.

But I was also thinking using my current thesis to enrol into another university (legitimate, need not reputable) DBA or PhD programme.

Do you think I could bargain for a short duration? Request for coursework waiver? I couldn't find any information on transfer of phd candidature. my wish is to clear within 1 year. I have taken 8 courseworks at postgraduate level previously.

Any ideas? Any suggestions?

 

Hi Mike - Sometimes it pays to read through the threads before you post a (new) question because there are very few new questions here. For example, here's a small conversation that's been going on just a few threads below yours.

http://forums.degreeinfo.com/showthread.php?p=284729&posted=1#post284729

May I assume that you're looking for a Business program?

 

Oh my. My apologies Kizmet.

Mine is in engineering management, akin to decision sciences. I think whatever methodologies that I have developed can also be ported to business program.

 

Mike,

you might what to make some calls to the folks at these schools:

http://www.indstate.edu/consortphd/

http://www.iseem.uah.edu/graduate/PHD%20-%20SYSTEMS%20ENGINEERING.pdf

Both schools might require some classes but you don't know if you don't ask.

Regards,

 

You might also consider looking at schools outside the US. South Africa has some very well respected schools as does the UK and Europe.

In the little research that I've done, non-US schools are more apt to work with people such as yourself because doctorate programs are more research based than coursework based as in the US.

 

No problem Mike. You mentioned "DBA or PhD" and so I took a shot. If you're willing to consider Eric's suggestion then this might be a good place to start: http://www.unisa.ac.za/

 

>>

I just want to encourage you to keep going, you are so close!!

 

Is there anyway you could go above your advisor and use the fact that you are considering leaving because of the difficulties as some leverage?

 

I agree. Transferring to another school isn't going to make less work for you in the end. Find out exactly what it is going to take to finish the thing, grit your teeth, and get it over with.

 

How many chapters have you completed? How many additional chapters does your adviser want you to complete?

 

No matter where you go, you would need to do more work than adding few more chapters. No University is going to accept a direct transfer and you have to follow all the steps again from dissertation proposal, approval, etc. Since you have some publications, you could try some of the programs that allow publications instead of dissertation but that means that perhaps you would need to generate few more publications that would take more work than few chapters.

Finally, you can try a low tier online school that might accept most of your work but then you would end with a low tier PhD that might not be useful for your final objectives.

Conclusion, you should bite the bullet and finish it.

 

Perhaps your advisor is a perfectionist - because his name appears on your dissertation maybe he wants it to be excellent. Have you asked him for input and suggestions? How does your dissertation compare to others in your field of study and at your university?

There are lots of books on dealing with difficult peole - maybe one of these books wil help you out. Maybe other members can suggest good ones.

 

I went through a similar period with my advisor - 4 revisions of my proposal :-(

What I finally did is went through and asked what she specifically wanted changed to the proposal, and I did it.

Although I have not defended yet, I am very close. The school has reviewed and accepted the proposal, and my proposal will be reviewed by Capella's IRB after quarter break.

Shawn

 

Sorry for the off-topic post, but congrats on almost being done Shawn!

 

No easy answer for Scylla vs. Charybdis

Someone of my acquaintance was enrolled in a top public university doctoral program. His committee told him he had to retool his dissertation. They routinely do this to a given number of candidates who have passed comps and language exams, and expected he would work past it. However, in his case his employer’s human resource department said, “If you don’t finish by the end of this year, we’re taking back all the money we paid to subsidize you getting your Ph.D.” Therefore, he took his dissertation to an accredited sectarian school and magically got through their similarly structured program (several years coursework + comps + language exams + closely supervised dissertation) in the required one year.

The moral of the story is that there are apparently options for you if you call around and sound people out regarding flexibility. Of course, if you take that option, some may look at it and say that it was an indictment of the quality of the 2nd Ph.D. program. And no, I'm not giving up the schools involved.

Best of luck whichever direction you choose to jump,

 

Please allow me to re-phrase the question: Exactly how many chapters does your adviser expect you to write for a complete dissertation?

 

Thank you for the kind encouragement and suggestions.

I have 7 Chapters of nearly 200 pages. I am expected to add in additional work which is expected to last one more year due to its complexity.

Some students with 0 publications are allowed to submit their thesis. That is what I am unhappy about; the inconsistent rule being applied to all candidate. Certain supervisor even openly declared his students usually clear within 3 years. Well, this supervisor is from China and most of his students are from China as well. You can conclude from there.

PhD by publication seems like a good choice but I am afraid I can't meet their minimum 3 journal paper requirement. Also, most are intended for their staffs and some fixed requirement where one cannot be pursuing a phd degree for the past 5 years.

I understand that if I were to transfer to another school, they would expect me to add in a few more chapters too. Therefore, my option is to find a low tier school that is kind enough to accept my work with minor modification. It doesn't really matter to me if it is a top school or lowest ranking school. Most importantly it has to be legitimate.

 

Does your school have a student ombudsman? If so maybe you should talk to him (or her) with your situation.
What do your other committee members think of your work? If positive maybe it is time to have a discussion with the dean of your department (or higher).

 

You said that you are expected to write additional chapters. Can you please share the titles of your 7 chapters? For example, here are the chapter titles of my dissertation:

Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: Literature Review
Chapter 3: Methodology
Chapter 4: Findings
Chapter 5: Summary

 

CH1, 2 and 7 same as yours. Ch3, 4, 5 and 6 are research gaps/problems identified and solved.