Hi, I was wondering if anyone would be willing to give me some advice on the following matter. It might be a stupid question, but there you go. I had my PhD viva in November 2008 at a UK university. Unfortunately the viva was the day before the deadline to apply for the graduation ceremony in December, so that even though I passed, there was no chance I could get all the administration done in order to participate to winter ceremony. The next graduation ceremony held by the university is in July 2009. The university does offer the possibility to apply for an inter-ceremony graduation in March for those who need the certificate as soon as possible, where the degree is conferred in absentia and sent by post, with no ceremony; however, by graduating inter-ceremony, one forfeits the opportunity to be present at a later graduation ceremony. Since I'm from continental Europe and did my master there, I have never participated to an anglo-american-style ceremony (incl. gown and hood) and it would probably be fun to attend the ceremony in July. However I'm wondering if postponing my graduation date could hurt my quant job/internship hunting. Any thoughts? Also, if I were lucky enough to find a job/internship in the coming months, I would most likely be unable to participate to the July ceremony and would have my degree sent by post anyway, so that the wait would have proved useless; the net result would just be a late graduation date on my CV. (My PhD already took me slightly more than 4 years from start to final thesis submission.)I've had a chat with my PhD supervisor about this and he told me that as far as academia is concerned (postdocs), the graduation date wasn't an issue until recently, when the UK changed its immigration policies: it used to be that people could apply for a postdoc in the UK as long as they had a PhD or were about to get one; on the other hand, now people who need a visa to get in the country are actually required to already have their PhD before applying (or getting into the country... I don't know what is the exact policy). While I don't need a visa to work in the UK, this story makes me wonder about the strictness of the requirements imposed by banks/companies for quant-type positions; after all, I don't expect business to have the flexibility of academia.Thanks everybody for your input.

It's my understanding that the ceremony date itself is not important, but rather the date on which your degree result is published. At that point they'll usually send you a letter you can use as proof and the certificate you get later. In my case my result was published about two weeks after my viva, and that is the date of graduation that was eventually printed on my certificate.

Thanks motszi for your reply. After reading it, I emailed both the university and an ex PhD colleague of mine who had his graduation ceremony in December, to ask about the date that will appear on the certificate. While I've yet to receive a reply from the university, I got a reply from this friend of mine, and he told me that the only date that appears on his diploma is the date of the graduation ceremony. I also had a close look at the letters I received after my viva and the final submission of my thesis, and while they all say that they've decided to award me a PhD, they all say that this has to be confirmed by the Senate of the university, and that the degree will be conferred to me at the graduation ceremonies, after approval by the Senate. I guess that the Senate gathers and approves the award of the degree only prior to the graduation ceremonies, unless one explicitly asks to be awarded the degree at the inter-ceremony graduations (in absentia).Anyone else willing to offer some advice? I've got time until Friday to decide... Otherwise I'll play it safe and graduate in absentia in March and forget all about the anglo-american-style ceremony. It'll be disappointing, but well, life is hard...

Graduation at British universities is wholly symbolic, a large % of British "graduates" never bother to do it, some people only do the "gown" bit years after.The key term is getting the piece of paper, and even that only matters if you're going for a work permit.

Check with your university to see if you can participate in the July ceremony even if you got your degree in March. For US universtiies, they will usually let you attend the big event after the date of graduation.

I guess each university has it's own procedure. But it would have to be a pedantic employer to want to see the official certificate and not credit you with the qualification once you've had your viva and passed. A couple of months difference in the date shouldn't make any difference to a normal human.

Cheers everybody for the new replies. I received a reply from the university and they confirm that the only date that will appear on the PhD certificate will be the graduation date, that is March or July, depending on whether I decide to apply for the inter-ceremony graduation or the summer ceremony, respectively. Twofish, unfortunately the regulations of my stupid university dictate that by graduating in March, one forfeits the right to participate to a successive ceremony (e.g. the one in summer), and that is the bit I was disappointed with. Dominic and motszi, if things are like you state, then I guess that I don't need to worry too much. That puts things in perspective, so thanks.Well, the deadline is tomorrow; I think that I've now got enough data to make an informed decision. Thanks again everybody for your replies.

Since you're still looking for a job, let me share my friend's experience with you. He was a PhD student at a top US university - Starting his 4th year, he applied for full time positions at banks in fall and didn't get any. He then wrote on his CV that he will be coming back to university for 5th year to finish his PhD and applied for summer internships the following January. He didn't get any of that either. When he started his 5th year, he again applied for full time positions without any luck and finally managed to secure an internship at top bank in the following January round. After he finished his internship and got his full time offer, he spent a couple of months to defend his thesis (in his 6th year now) and started working full time just a month ago. I don't know the process in UK unis but flexbility to choose your graduation date and continue working on your thesis is there in American unis.

Delaying the PhD graduation may not be a bad thing right now. Last thing you want is to graduate and end up unemployed with no medical insurance either. I am not sure if taking more than the average 5 years to finish a full-time PhD will be perceived positively by recruiters.SG