Confirmation of Registration / 'upgrading' to a PhD

Recently I reached a significant milestone in my doctorate. I submitted a draft of my first chapter, an outline of what I propose my thesis will look like, and my research was formally recognised by my university as being good enough for a PhD. I have just completed my institution’s ‘upgrade’ process and have been officially confirmed as being ‘on track’ to achieve a PhD.

The Confirmation of Registration (CoR as it's known in Reading) is generally the only formal assessment required to do after starting your PhD but before your viva. This process is called something different at every UK university, but is usually referred to either as the ‘upgrade’ or ‘confirmation’ and it takes place at the end of the first year.

It’s an important milestone, as the judgement made by your institution determines whether or not your work is of a standard worthy of a PhD.

Personally, I found the CoR a time-consuming and stressful, and I'm glad that it's over. I had presented a paper at a conference http://www.ccii.hss.ed.ac.uk/about-2/programme-2/, and I used that as the basis of my first chapter, although it was greatly expanded. I had to do quite a bit of background reading on Scottish education and the Education Acts fo 1870 and 1872. In a way, this was a very strange piece of writing because I had to project where I thought my research might go, although, you don't neccesarily know before you've actually done all the primary research. (This is what my second year is supposed to be about, spending lots of time in Edinburgh on 'field work.')

And you do lots or work, get told you will pass, but then the assessors, and others who have looked at the paper tell you everything you've missed, although you try to be clear that you're hoping to cover the other parts in other chapers. One of rationals behind the document is to check that I can write to a certain standard (spelling mistakes aside), so at least in that sense it fulfilled its basic purpose. Anyway, I'm glad I've reached this bend in the road, and look forward to completing the rest of the tasks on my to-do list.