How
to Survive the Ph.D. Transfer Process
An unofficial guide for
students (and supervisors) in the
There is an official document floating around which formally describes
the transfer process, but nevertheless some aspects of the process will
probably come as a surprise to the unprepared student (and his/her supervisor).
In fact the process can appear frighteningly arbitrary to the unprepared. Some
facts that you may not know:-
· Your supervisor
does not have the right to introduce any information, written or oral, into the
process. So even if your supervisor shows every indication of being happy with
your progress, and thinks that you are the best thing since sliced bread, this
is largely irrelevant to the transfer process.
· You will write a
20-page internal report that will be read by an internal examiner, who will
respond with a one page report of his/her own. You will also have the
opportunity to meet and discuss your report with the internal examiner, who
will have some knowledge of your research area. However the internal examiner
is just one member of the judging panel, so even a glowing response from an
internal examiner is absolutely no guarantee of success (I have seen it
happen).
· The rest of the
panel that will attend your presentation will not have read your internal
report. They will not have seen the internal examiners report. In fact they
will probably have, prior to the presentation, no information written or oral
about you or your project whatsoever. However it is this group which has the
major say in your success or otherwise.
Now there are certain things
you cannot control about the process. Are the panel members at all
knowledgeable about your area of research? Have they themselves ever supervised
a Ph.D. student? Are they well disposed towards your area of research? The
panel is picked basically at random from a pool of those available on the day,
so luck plays a big part here. Worst case scenario – you are into Natural
Language Processing and your panel consists of four sullen looking Cryptographers
who keep looking at their watches. Tough break, but there is absolutely nothing
you can do about it. However you can assume that the panel is predisposed to
treating you fairly, and giving you a fair hearing. And since these things
cannot be controlled, best not to worry about them.
It is a truth universally
recognised that all academics imagine that they can understand any material no
matter how complex after just half-an-hours exposure to it, if it is properly
presented. So if they don’t understand your presentation its 100% your problem,
and 0% theirs. Worst case for you is that they didn’t understand any of it and
end up feeling frustrated. For your presentation I recommend
· The first slide should
be understandable by your grandmother/father.
· The next two slides
should be understandable by your mother/father.
· The following three
slides should be understandable to friends of a similar age
· The next five
slides should be understandable by your postgraduate colleagues, not necessarily
working in exactly the same discipline.
· You can let rip a
little towards the end, trying to tread a careful line between impressing the
assessors and frustrating them. Try to maintain eye-contact with them to get a
sense of this.
· Never introduce a
mnemonic or notation without spelling out in simple English exactly what it
means, no matter how obvious it is to you. So the first time you mention it, don’t
have “NLP” have “Natural Language Processing (NLP)”. A panel member from a
different discipline might assume its Non-Linear Programming.
Since the examination process is largely an oral one, you will have a
particular problem if
1. English is not your
native tongue, and/or you speak with a heavy accent. Ask colleagues for some
honest feedback about this.
2. Your material is
heavily mathematical or involves some obscure algebraic notation.
In these cases you will be disadvantaged (sorry), but hopefully with
very careful preparation, rehearsal and practice you will be able to overcome
these disadvantages.
Note that the transfer presentation is not a place for modesty. The
panel do not have the time to distinguish modesty from lack of achievement.
After your 30 minute (maximum!) presentation there will be about 10 minutes
of Questions and Answers and your fate will be decided 20 minutes later. Some
questions may be specific to your presentation, but most will be generic and unspecific
(because the panel will probably not have understood in any depth large parts
of your presentation). You might be asked “How much did you contribute to that published
paper?” Again, even though the question might make you feel uncomfortable,
don’t be at all modest.
You will certainly be questioned closely about your research plan. The
panel wants to come away with the impression that you know exactly what you are
doing, you know exactly what your deliverables are going to be, and that you
have the determination and ability to get there.
So, big tip, at the end of your presentation do NOT have a slide with
the lame single word “Questions?” on it. Beginners
mistake! Instead finish your
presentation with a slide entitled “My research plan”, and leave it up there
during question time. Have about 5 simple and easily understood bullet points
on it. This slide will in fact answer one of the main questions that you will be
asked, and if your English is a little dodgy this prepared answer will
hopefully be sufficient. Consider printing it out and handing a copy to the
members of the panel before you leave.
Finally, try and anticipate what questions might be asked and have some
back-up slides ready to answer them. Again this particularly applies to the
non-native English speaker. If you don’t understand a question, ask to have it
repeated or rephrased.
Anyway – Good Luck!
Mike Scott 3/5/2009
(who is in no sense defending the present
process – it could and should be improved. Luck plays far too big a part in the
outcome, and the non-native English speaker is disadvantaged. However it’s
better than our previous system which was even worse!)