PhD voluntary withdrawal or other oprions – and: how to list on resume

Hi, I am new to this forum. My situation is: I have a m.a. from a uk university, and continued in their phd programme after the research-topic was approved, full-time for three years now; this is a research-only degree and I stayed in contact with the supervisor mainly through e-mail.

I progressed all the way to the viva, but there the thesis was deemed to be resubmitted with major revisions and re-examination (thesis and oral) within twelve months. These are truly major revisions as the examiners want me to go into a very different direction (than the supervisor wanted me) with the core of the thesis. This outcome, even if it might imply a critique of the performance of the supervisor, I learned from the university, needs to be accepted, sad as it is.

However, I am so busy in my job now that I hardly find time to rewrite my thesis such substantially. Temporary extension is out of the question, as the university would not regard ‘need more time to complete the revisions’ as acceptable mitigating circumstances to explain the need for the suspension.

My question is: do you experienced members see any other options for me? And: if I would voluntarily withdraw from the programme (after the viva but unable to complete the required revisions), how would I list this in my resume?

 

Welcome to DegreeInfo. I'm very sorry to hear of all your troubles with finishing your doctorate. If it works like American doctorates, you are at the mercy of your committee and there is little you can do. I'm hoping that someone will have a better answer than that for you.

 

You may want to see if they will grant you an MPhil.

Of course, this may scream "didn't finish my dissertation/thesis" on a resume/CV.

You could always list it as "Additional Study.....X University."

 

A very large percentage of people do not complete their doctoral degrees, either voluntarily or involuntarily. [See "The PhD Trap": by Wilfred Cude]. In the US, the acronym "ABD" [All But Dissertation] is a widely used term on CVs, to signify that much doctoral work was done, but never completed. Also used is the simple narrative statement, such as "3 years PhD coursework, University of Newcastle; degree not completed because of job obligations."

Not advisable is what is sometimes done in Africa. I treasure a business card given me by an Ivory Coast businessman that says, "DPhil [failed], University of London.]" At least he tried.

--John Bear, author, Bear's Guide to Earning
Degrees by Distance Learning, editions 1-15

 

At least he is honest about it. But I think a MPhil beats a DPhil [failed] anytime

 

Where are you in the 12 month revision time frame? Beginning? End? If you still have time, just keep working on it and keeping them apprised of your progress, no matter what they say back to you. Keep all their names on the dissertation and make it clear that you are going to bring it live on the web for all to see, whether they confer the degree or not. If they don't cooperate, then your dissertation will become a living monument to their "process", showing your progress to the point they became unreasonable, or whatever they call being "Category 5 dummkopfs" in the UK. Also, you can list it on your CV/resume as ABD with a URL to the almost accepted dissertation; when potential employers read it, they can see that you did the work. Oh, and stop being so polite to people who are taking advantage of you... Hope it helps.

 

If I ever get into that kind of predicament, I'm going to try to hire DW to take care of them for me!

 

Hi Alain - I'm sorry for your troubles. I have 2 suggestions:

#1 - Don't give up. Even with all the surrounding circumstances. You'll always feel better knowing that you did your best, tried your hardest.

#2 - If you haven't already fired your supervisor then do it now. He's an idiot. Find out who is in charge of this clusterfuck and make him the chair of your committee. He may be your harshest critic but if you can make him happy then you'll finish up with your degree. Best of luck.

 

Very good advice.

 

Thank you all for your advise. Very valuable indeed.
I guess the best is to simply give my best for the revision, write as crazy , and then submit it and see what happens - at least then I can say to myself that I have given everything that I can, and won’t have regrets in the future ("if I’d only studied harder then …" you know that sort of thing), and whatever finally happens at the second examination then is beyond my human power.
PG studies really should be a better learning experience, but then, reading your comments relieved me somehow - cheers.
Your Alain.

 

I'm not sure about this advice. The problem is that these professors seem to think their job is to block the student; if they are addicted to not doing their job, then you can see how difficult the problem is to resolve... They are insufficiently trained and / or compensated to do their job. There may be psychological dependence arising from being incompetent or underpaid for so long, a world of mental self-gratification from being under-supervised. Therapy may be required. What the student needs to find is some professor who wants to do their job and knows how to do their job. Hopefully, such individuals are employed by the University.

 

That's right, Alain. Just keep working... Try to please them but ultimately you may have to proceed without them to complete the research. If they don't approve the next draft, just publish it on the web without them. In the end, you want their approval, but if they won't relinquish it, just kick them off the research team and keep moving; independent scholarship is really about that anyway.