I feel a little guilty about hijacking this thread with my rant.

I'm glad you got an outcome you feel satisfied with Zena85.

All the best.

It seems the last few posts conflate one set of things (eg. intellect, educational level) with another set of things (eg. personality, social skills). There's no reason to think having lots of one would mean you'd have lots of the other. In fact, some would argue that people at the higher end on intellect often lack social skills...

The thing that is needed is institutional reform in academia - so that policies and procedures are in place that disincentivize bad behaviour such as the mistreatment of students / those with less power. Just like in other contexts where forms of abuse happens, we can't rely on people to have decent qualities and characteristics. Reform is needed so that it doesn't matter so much what kind of person you are - you are going to behave or else it will go against you.

That's my rant over!

I recommend this book which touches on it, for anyone interested:

I think I agree with the gist of what pm133 is saying here.

It may not be that he thinks you will fail and it will look bad on his record. It may just be that because you haven't got anything publishable already he is wanting to pull the plug (or rather have you pull it), so that he can invest all his time in the projects that are showing more fruit already. It sucks but could be the case.

What is your gut feeling about things - i.e., whether you can do enough to pass? That is the main thing. If you could get another supervisor on board who is more encouraging and expresses confidence in your work then that would assist you greatly in seeing this thing through.

Hope this helps.

Totally agree. Supervisors sometimes do this - to get the most out of their students' free labour - totally putting themselves and their own careers and ambitions first. So you have to look out for yourself here and do what is good for you.

That must feel disheartening. To be honest, I don't really get this PhD game... Presumably you have the abilities to complete a PhD successfully or you wouldn't have been given funding and got your place at Oxford. And clearly you are willing to work hard, even in the face of discouragement. To me, if your work is not going to be good enough to meet the PhD standard then this says your supervision and support has failed.

But anyway - I would suggest meeting your supervisor and having an honest discussion about whether he thinks you will produce a thesis that will meet the PhD requirements. If he really thinks no, then you have a clear answer and can start planning your options. You might decide to settle for a Masters (MPhil) and then go do a PhD elsewhere - this certainly happens. Or you might decide to find alternative funding and a PhD elsewhere, get that all secured and then just leave and not bother with the Masters. Those are two options that come to mind anyway. Another option is that you might change supervisors to someone who sees things differently and is more willing to support you in the process. But you need to know your supervisor's opinion - and also, if possible, the opinion of a second person (who is in the know). Then you can think about making an informed choice about your next steps.

My main supervisor once said something that instilled doubt and fear in me. She went back on it later, but I still remember it. And I think she said it in anger because she was peed off that my study hadn't gone as planned and didn't have shiny, tingling significant results. So she wanted to vent and also possibly to use a negative motivation strategy on me. There's a chance he is saying it for that same reason. So I'd dig deeper and find out what he thinks and why specifically. And then make an informed choice on next steps.

Hope this helps. Don't be discouraged.

Totally agree with Eng. If you need funding, it becomes a competitive process - in that a dozen or so people may be applying for say two studentships. All with well written proposals and supervisor support etc.

It is already a huge achievement to have put the application together and got to this stage. From what you've said, it sounds like you have a very good case and so you should make it through to the next round (possibly interview?)

Good luck!

Yeh, it's an interesting topic really. I like posters and oral presentations. But because I haven't given many talks, I would jump at the opportunity for a talk much more so than for giving a poster presentation. That said, one advantage of posters is that it isn't nerve wracking in general. Talks can be when not used to it!

Anyway, good luck getting an oral presentation. Would that be as part of a symposium by any chance? Those ones seem to stand more chance of being accepted I think.

Thank you everyone for the sound advice as usual!

In the end, I decided to do what he wanted... but only after considering whether I minded moving in 2 weeks earlier than planned. Since I am moving because my current place is extremely noisy at night, I decided that double paying for 2 weeks and finally having peace in my new abode was a price worth paying. In other circumstances, I think I'd have tried to bargain about the move in date, as suggested here.

Greedy swine made me chuckle!

Hope everyone keeping well :-)

Sounds good! Why are you done with posters?

Which part of the States, rewt?

I agree. And advice from my friend's experience would be make it all about the PROJECT / YOUR INTERESTS, and not at all about people / issues. Academia is a small small world. I certainly wouldn't mention being pressurised to quit or anything of that sort. That would ring alarm bells with new potential supervisor. Hope this helps. And good luck with everything - please keep us posted :)

Hello,

I've found a prospective flat to rent, and it seems I'm the only person interested in it (the private landlord went from being dubious about me for some unknown reason to suddenly wanting to get things signed). I feel that everything is the landlord's way though (and yeh I know, he is the landlord...). So I want to move in 1st September, but he says no, mid August is when I will pay from (and move in if I want)... I'd have preferred to have stayed through to August 2020, but he likes to use the flat as a holiday home during the month of July, so no, I need to leave at end of June and make alternative arrangements for July. This is all OK - sort of. But I am thinking of suggesting that I can only move in on 1st Sept. After all, this would save me two weeks rent that I can't afford to double pay.

What do you reckon? As the tenant, I just have to suck it up or risk losing the flat?

Please share any thoughts quickly!

Thanks!

Tricky!

I was also going to say Mexico!!!

I guess I'd say, yes, it's like being a student but you're more independent and you aren't attending lectures. I know what you mean though, as I have had lots of baffled looks too from some folks. You could say it is (supposed to be!) basically an apprenticeship / training to be a researcher in X. Depending on your field (as I suppose some are less like this). Or, I am studying/researching X...