memories and pride. But for now, this is it I think. Thanks for anyone who’s made it this far in the journey with me, whether that’s following the blog, helping with my research, supporting me personally or something else I haven’t mentioned. I’m so grateful. I’ll be leaving this blog up for anyone who may find it useful, and you’ll no doubt find me on Twitter if you ever want a chat!
a PhD, but not having to do anything to make it happen at the moment. The mental break, and the lighter workload is lovely. I feel so much lighter.
“Finish, move on, do fun stuff”. This thesis does not define me, it is a platform from which I will develop and grow. In years to come, no one is going to be digging out my thesis to decide my fate. I’ve done as much as I feel I have it in me to do, that’s all I can ask of myself.
If you’ve made it through to viva point and you’ve really done your own work, you’re ready. Here in the UK, the viva is there to primarily check three things (in my view): that you did the work, that you know why you made the decisions and that you can talk about where it sits in the context/why you did your work. The rest, really, is in your thesis.
The detailed feedback from my examiners on my thesis highlighted to key things to me: 1) My own doubt about my abilities comes out in my work and hides the stronger parts 2) I am a bit different to what people thing an engineer is, but that’s not a weakness, it’s a strength.
So, worst case that comes out of the viva is that I’ve got some more work to do, other than fixing the typos I’ve found in my thesis. If that’s the case then so be it.
After several weeks of a pretty chilled time post-thesis submission, it’s probably about time that I got stuck into some structured viva prep.
All in all, I’m pretty convinced that I’m a little crazy but I am going to be mightily disappointed when viva day comes and there are no Avengers there. If there’s every a sequel to that dream, I’ll be sure to let you know. Until then, I’ll be figuring out what to do with my time and probably create some work for myself!
Other people’s achievements don’t take away from mine. We are each on our own journey and should recognise and be proud of our own successes.
I don’t this I will believe I am done with my thesis until…well I am not sure to be honest.
Shruti's PhD 