Late last Friday afternoon I completed the final step in my PhD journey when I resubmitted a short abstract that for some reason the University could not find. It had originally been lodged at the time I submitted my thesis for examination, so lodging it again was not a big deal. However, it was a bit of an anticlimax from submitting my thesis with all the sign offs which I’d done the day before.

In any event, it’s all done now and conferral of my PhD should occur at the end of July.

Knowing it is all done, was a liberating feeling at first , followed by a sense of excitement that led to a difficult nights sleep helped by having the Tour De France to watch until the early hours of the morning.

For my favourite person, she’s relieved.

It’s been just over four months since I submitted my thesis for examination. A period spent mostly relaxed about the outcome. The reality is that Examiner reports are much anticipated but don’t arrive in a hurry. I submitted my PhD for examination in mid-March and received my examiner’s reports as expected almost exactly 3 months later.

Examiners can reject outright, ask for amendments for their further review, pass with minor amendment that the student’s supervisors can approve, or the thesis can be accepted with no further amendment. I was sure that my thesis would not be rejected outright and doubted that it would be accepted without amendment. I was correct on those counts with the examiners recommending that my thesis be accepted with minor supervisor approved amendments.

The call from my Principal Supervisor that my thesis had been accepted with minor amendment was greeted by a hearty congratulations from he and my two other supervisors. After reading the examiners’ reports thoroughly more than once I prepared a basic response for discussion with my Supervisors, which led to the final amendments, their approval and then submission of my thesis in final form.

These days the final thesis is not submitted in bound form, rather it is in pdf, which seems so mundane compared to a leather bound book. I intend to get my thesis bound. I also intend to buy my university graduation outfit.

After all, the whole point of my PhD, a bound thesis and the puffy hat!

Note: The photo is of Second Valley Beach at dusk. This little Cove features regularly in movies and TV shows, and was on one occasion the set for the Gallipoli landings.