My viva experience

I've been meaning to write about my viva experience. It is after the last few hectic weeks that I have finally had time to let it all sink in... and that I am ready to blog about my experience, and am finally ready to end this blog (or perhaps this blog will continue as an anecdote on my personal experiences as an academician)....

I had my viva through Skype. I was apprehensive, although I have in preparation, attended a few dissertation defense (that's what it's called in the US), including two sessions that where held through Skype. My school was kind enough to hold it online, as I could not return to the US due to visa restrictions (I have a two year residency clause). I think the most crucial part that I absolutely had to be there, was the proposal defense, which I blogged about here. Anyway, luckily for my dissertation defense, I had one committee member who was absolutely fantastic with technology and he helped set it up and made sure everything went alright. In my school, they already had a pre-viva meeting to discuss about the dissertation. I think they only had two options: proceed or do not proceed with the dissertation defense. Hence the meeting was to determine if the dissertation was defensible and of doctoral quality or not. So if you had the defense date set up, I think it means you passed, unless you screw up majorly during the dissertation defense.

It lasted two hours. I had a 15 minute power point presentation, then the moderator (someone outside of the School) led the committee in two rounds of questioning. Here are some of the things I should have anticipated or wished I had done more:

1. Think about all aspects of your research: rationale, methodology, research questions, data analysis, and conclusions

2. Who are your committee members? I had two externals (including the moderator) and they were outside of the discipline. I did not anticipate the questions that they were going to ask (i.e. unexpected questions on methodology)

3. Think about your findings carefully; if they were not significant, why? Speculate also on surprising or unexpected findings, but in a way that make sense and is supported by prior research

4. Discussion section: Where is the critique of the theory? I think this is typical of Asian students. We are often afraid to questions scholar's work in the area we are working on. As PhD students we should be able to think critically and analytically about the theory we are using

5. Get enough rest! I was so keyed up in the last few days that I did not rest enough. If you did the research you should be familiar with your work. Have confidence that you know your material and relax in the last few days so you are fresh and ready on the day yourself

6. If possible, get tips from your advisor and have a practice session. I was lucky that I had a supportive and wonderful advisor who guided me throughly during the whole process. She also briefed me on what to expect and that helped a lot. Your advisor can make or break your thesis. It's important to get along well with him/her.

I don't think I did well. But I worked hard and to get here is an achievement on itself. Looking back, I can't believe I did all this in five years and four months. And yes, it's all worth it in the end.