First of all, congratulations on getting an interview!

I was in the same position as you when I had the interview for my PhD - very short notice and I was very busy with other things.

Whilst they've told you it's a 'relatively informal discussion' (and it may well be), I would prepare for a proper interview. Just read up on the background of the university, department and the potential supervisor's research, as well as the background to your research area. Think about the obvious questions they may ask you: describe yourself in a few words/strengths and weaknesses/difficult times and how you overcame them etc.

I think I also just spent a day or two trying to understand 5 to 10 key papers on my topic and these came in very useful when they asked me specific questions about my research topic.

Smile, be confident, positive and enthusiastic and you'll be fine!

Good luck!

I agree, you are better off looking for funded projects in the EU/UK that will accept international students, or funded projects in your own country, rather than writing to potential supervisors with your own proposal (unless you have your own funding, in which case carry on because they will generally accept anyone even without an interview in my experience).

It's definitely the case that some PhDs are advertised with a person in mind, but I'd say this is only about 50% of cases or less. I got my PhD position in a different uni from my BSc/Msc with zero connections to the supervisor or project.

You don't have to tell your supervisor, but why don't you want to?

Your input might be acknowledged, but if your role is minor, probably just in the acknowledgement section of a paper and not as an author.

I can't really advise you because I don't know anything about your field...

All I can say is look into and think about whether a PhD is right for you. It's a big commitment - 3 to 4 years of your life and it's not an easy option. You need to consider the reasons for doing a PhD and possible career paths after it

Here is your first issue - how do you know whether you really liked it or hated it? You need to ascertain whether you are looking with rose-tinted glasses.





I don't think anyone, anywhere in the world, ever, has said a PhD is an easy life. A subsequent career in academia is certainly not an easy life.




Yes a PhD includes all of this but also stress, writing, managing your own deadlines, attending seminars, reading, reading and more reading, possibility of horrible colleagues, supervisors, undergraduates...



PhDs can be very repetitive, dull and boring at times. I doubt you will be doing different projects every few months. I've repeated some experiments 15 to 20 times...

Research electronics PhDs and see what you think.. good luck!

This is great news Hopeless!

I think you need to change your name now ;)

Congratulations! And it's brilliant that you have research and teaching jobs, so well done!!

Hey Tulip,

I'm slowly getting there. I'm waiting for a reply from my UK supervisors about whether they think the next stage of my research is a good idea or not. I think they are just really busy and don't have time to look at my suggestions in detail, which is understandable, but not helpful when I only have 9 months of funding left!

Hopefully they will reply soon... In the meantime I still have plenty of other things to keep me busy but they don't make me feel like any progress is being made!

My housemate is doing an MSc in PH and I've seen the stats stuff for Epi. It's basically just biostats and very similar to what I have done during undergrad. It's not that difficult, and maths is not my forte (I got a C in maths at age 16). It's the theory and basics of ANOVA, T-test, regression analysis etc and all done by a computer programme, like you said.

If you are submitting your own proposal, then yes you should contact the supervisor first, normally. It depends on which application form to you mean.

I was accepted on to my PhD programme by my supervisor, and then I had to through the formal, online application process to the university.

You can look up on this forum, or a search engine, what to write in a PhD proposal to a potential supervisor. Basically you need to say your experience, why you want to a PhD and at that uni and with that supervisor, why you would be a good candidate and what you want to research and why.

This is a difficult, but unfortunately not uncommon, situation to be in.

Firstly you need to try to book another meeting with her and tell her, face to face, honestly, that you need more support. If you've done this already, or if this doesn't work, then you need to write it down formerly in an email. If that doesn't change anything, then you need to go to the head of graduate studies, or staff involved in pastoral care, and ask for some assistance.

(Ps 3-4 weeks to review work is fairly reasonable, but the rest is unacceptable.)

Good luck and I hope you can resolve this. You've come too far with your PhD to give up now.

"Cherish the little things in life because one day you will realise they were the big things"

And from my mum: "if you don't ask, you don't get" :)

This is true for me. I don't watch TV or use a computer after 8pm, except on weekends when I don't mind staying up later.

I think you should do what you suggested and put the final method in the 'methods' chapter and add the optimisation of it in your results.

The reason I think this is because 1) it seems logical and 2) if someone ever refers to your thesis for a method, they will look for it in the methods section and if there's lots of different methods in there for the same thing it will be confusing 3) optimising a method is a result

I've read some research on this (somewhere) and it does suggest it's difficult for people to switch, however, based on my own anecdotal evidence I don't think that this is the case.

I quite often go from going to sleep at 1 or 2 am and getting up at 8 or 9 am for a few weeks and then switch to going to bed at 10 or 11 and getting up at 6 or 7 am. This usually happens during holiday time when I tend to go to bed later and later and then when I go back to uni I have to start getting up earlier again.

Since moving to the US however, I've managed to make this switch permanent and I'm always asleep by 11 at the latest (and often 9 or 10) and I"m awake between 6 and 7 am every day, even on the weekends. It's like getting a lie in every day because I get the right amount of sleep every day and I can't stay asleep longer. I think the key is not using an alarm, because that way I finish a normal 90 minute sleep cycle and wake up feeling refreshed and I'm very rarely tired during the day. I am also asleep within 15 - 30 minutes of going to bed at night.

I intend to keep this up when I return to the UK because I never want to get up with an alarm ever again! (Well, except when I have a meeting/need to catch a flight etc).

I've never heard of an exam as long as this.. Not sure I could do it myself!

I'd suggest the obvious things between now and Tuesday: eat well, sleep well and get some exercise. Make sure your house is clean and tidy so that there are as few distractions as possible. Chill out by spending time with friends and family. Maybe make some food to eat for the exam period so you don't waste time by having to cook.

Good luck, I hope it goes well!