It is one of the questions I hear so often, What are the chances of me failing my PhD? From my experience, fear of failure hangs over PhD candidates during what should be an enjoyable part of their life – challenging but rewarding. So let’s try to put things in a little perspective. Hopefully in a few minutes after reading this you will have a little perspective on this fear.
There are two ways to fail your PhD – non-completion and failing the viva.
Failing my PhD through non-completion
Let’s consider the numbers.*1 Eight out of ten full or part-time PhD candidates end up receiving their doctorate at some point in the future and for most of these (72.9%) it is within seven years. A 20% failure rate may seem high but remember that most of these are candidates who drop out at an early stage many of whom decide to do so themselves due to personal circumstances. Some are offered the lower path of an MPhil based on their annual progress reports (often citing lack of original contribution); some occur because the supervisor concludes the candidate is not on course to complete, but most are voluntary.
If you make it through to submission, take heart, because you have a 96% chance of success – just 4% of candidates fail their viva!
Failing the viva
Yes, just 4 out of 100 candidates are unsuccessful at the viva stage. Repeat this to yourself when you are getting stressed out in the days and weeks leading up to it.
Remember this 4% is not people who “fall apart” at the viva itself, it includes those whose thesis is deemed unsatisfactory not their viva performance. In any case, examiners make full allowance for those who are nervous on the day. This is not, after all, a ‘performance’. In some rare cases, a candidate is told that their thesis cannot yet be considered by the examiners and requires further work even before a viva can take place. In other cases, also rare, a candidate’s registration expires before a viva can take place.
A more likely scenario (but still rare) is that you attend your viva but then learn after that your thesis is considered irretrievably without merit or academic worth. This can be because it is entirely based on a faulty assumption. The examiners are effectively saying it would be easier to rip it up and start from scratch than try to revise what you have done. This would represent a massive failure of supervision as your supervisor probably had years to spot this, going right back to the proposal.
Summary
So, to summarise – there are two ways to fail your PhD. One is non-completion and the other is failing the viva. The first is reasonably common (~15%) and the other quite rare (~4%). Non-completion often results from a decision you take yourself, often well before any viva. Failing the viva could be because the viva doesn’t take place because your registration has expired. It can be because your supervisor has failed to spot a fundamental flaw in your work.
*1 Survey of 26,067 PhD candidates from 14 UK universities, conducted by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (now replaced by UK Research and Innovation) Download the data here https://www.timeshighereducation.com/sites/default/files/Attachments/2013/07/30/x/v/s/projected-outcomes-of-full-time-students-starting-postgraduate-research-degrees-in-2010-11.xls
Need a little extra supervision to get your thesis over the line? Then why not contact me today.
