Reply to How common is failing your dissertation defense?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Just curious. I don’t know if there are hard and fast percentages out there, but for anybody who has been in a PhD program, how many of your colleagues were successful with their dissertation defense? How many or not? If you fail it, are you permitted a second chance to present? Or is it one and done? What happens with the degree status if you don’t pass? [/quote]

My program had a high fail rate both at our university and compared to similar programs at similar universities. It is also has a high rate of people dropping out. I’m ABD because I dropped out. The same year, a friend transferred (unheard of!) and started over again at another local university. Even with having to retake comps a year later, she was happier. Three of our classmates failed within the next two years. It was a toxic environment. [/quote]

For your colleagues that failed, did they go back to continue work and present again? You can’t claim a PhD on a résumé or call yourself Dr. with ABD, right? [/quote]

NO, you cannot "claim a PhD on a resume or call yourself Dr. with an ABD".  I'm not clear why this is even a question.  You can't claim credentials that you haven't earned.  If you're in a field that includes licensing and/or a member of a professional organization with an ethics code, doing so will likely torpedo your career in very wide-reaching ways. [/quote]

Where I went, ABD had a very specific usage.  You had to be still at the institution, be in the program you were studying in and still actively working in the PhD program.  If you defend and are not passed, then as long as your institution and your mentor still allow you to stay in the program and try to defend again, you can continue to use the ABD.  If you leave the program or institution, then you are no longer ABD.

Like other PPs, the program at the institution I was at (I was not in the PhD program, but was friends with several who were), the mentors were the ones who decided whether you were allowed to defend.  If you were not ready to defend or they didn't think you could pass, they didn't schedule a defense for you.  A defense was only scheduled when they knew you were prepared and were likely to pass.  At that institution, the pass rate was very high.  Essentially those that would fail never defended and they either stayed in the program for years trying to research and improve their dissertation or they left the program.[/quote]

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