I think it depends on the university.

I remember when I applied, I was offered various things at various stages. I was offered a place and living stipend by one school, followed by a tuition scholarship that was through the faculty later that day.

For a different university, I was offered a place but no scholarship, and then when second round came, I was offered a full scholarship even though I hadn't accepted the offer (by that point I had accepted the other school).

So I guess it'll depend? I don't know about multiple acceptances...I've never done it.

Check out Versatile PhD to research your options.

I'm not in hard science but social science. However, I've made the decision that I'm not going to stay in Academia, and am currently working on my career path in social research. Postdocs are not on my radar but rather, oppurtunities to get into social research, with teaching work to keep me going for finances.

Postdocs are like PhDs, you might get a good one, you might get a horrible one. Is it worth doing a postdoc when you know you don't want to stay in academia? A postdoc delays the inevitable and you will be expected to publish, a postdoc is the step up from the PhD.

Taking time off is recommended, but it could also take 6-7 months to land something.

If you can, start researching options, sit down and have a think about things you liked about your PhD, and things you didn't.

Doing so made me realise that I loved research, but not in an academic capacity. Rather, I prefer social research, being given a project by a client, doing it, and then sending them on their merry way with real-time results, or evaluation research (evaluating social programs and services, providing recommendation).

There are so many careers and options that you don't even know about yet, start the research process early, get that linkedin profile going, join an industry organisation to get networking.

That's a tricky situation. I'm currently doing some marking for a unit I didn't teach in because the tutor flaked on the unit coordinator last minute with 62 essays needing to be marked by Wednesday (final grades are due!). The tutor had a month, a MONTH to let the unit coordinator know that marking wasn't going to happen.
As I've been marking, I've been noticing that students they gave HDs (80s-100) to on their last two assignments are producing perhaps credit level work at best (60-69). And students I'm familiar with in other courses who do get good grades, have seem to have done poorly in this course. One student I've had in 3 other units, always an HD as they produce top quality work, and yet in this unit (which is still a sociology unit) can't even break a 60? Their paper I just marked is of HD quality, I reckon the others were as well. I'm wondering if some favouritism was at play.

Unfortunately, if the unit coordinator is not interested in ensuring fairness of grades (which is an issue) there isn't much you can do other than perhaps taking it up with the head of school, but that might be a bad step for your career. It also depends on how much experience you have, it takes a bit to learn what does and does not constitute particular grades, and there are also grading mark lines some faculties might have to follow (i.e. % HD, %D etc) as well as student evaluations. Sometimes, as PhD students we mark harder than we should because we're used to a high standard for our own work, but an undergrad isn't going to be able to meet those same requirements.

It might be better to let it slide (depending on how new you are) or, bring it up with head of school/the unit coordinator. Your call.

As others have said, you can't just jump into a masters without having at least done a bachelors degree. It's not just about the money. A bachelors will prepare you with the skills needed for a masters (research, reading, writing), which can be an intense course, and the PhD moreso.

You'll need to do the bachelors first, and then either do an honours or a postgrad diploma to be considered for a masters. There are plenty of options for distance learning to earn your bachelors degree.

Depending on how well you do with the bachelors/honours, you might be able to skip the masters or upgrade from the masters to a PhD (which is what I did) but that depends on the university.

Mr Doctor, you are describing EXACTLY how I felt just before submission in September (no viva here in Australia).

I was in a great place, thesis ready to submit two weeks before my funding dried up, had lecturing/teaching to keep me going, some conferences/publications & pro-bono consultancy work under my belt.

And yet, I felt absolutely terrible, to the point in which I couldn't even put groceries away after grocery shopping because the task was too much to handle, and continuous breakdowns that fluctuated between feeling amazing and feeling horrible. I couldn't even sleep, and when I did, I got maybe 2-3 hours at best.

Once you submit, shut down and just recharge. You need it or you'll burn out. I didn't and unfortunately, I got really sick and barely made it through this semester with my teaching.

Hey Boo,

You can be an academic and hate teaching, in fact there are plenty of academics who do research only. But there is an expectation that unless you are a research fellow within a particular centre of the University that is not tied to an academic department, you'll be teaching.

For example, I teach because I'm tied to the department of social science, but if I was doing injury research at the injury institute on campus, I wouldn't be expected to teach.

I actually prefer teaching over producing academic research, but prefer producing social research over teaching. So I'm currently working out whether I'll pursue a teaching scholar career, or social research career (most likely the latter).

Not all academics make great teachers, nor do all teachers make great academics. I really love teaching but I also teach very interesting and engaging topics (sexuality, media, men's studies, gender) and use a lot of multi-media to help the students engage with the material, and choose topics that I find interesting/that I hope the students will find interesting (i.e. I taught a class about superhero/villain masculinity in relation to notions of 'good' and 'bad' constructions of masculinity, and based a textual analysis assignment around it, they loved it!).

If you hate teaching, it'll show with your students, and you'll get low scores. A student knows if you don't like what you do.

If you want to pursue research only, look into getting research fellowships in University research centres that are not tied to teaching, or private/not-for-profit organisations (depending on your research area). If you want to stay in your department, work on attracting funding that will enable you to not teach. There's a researcher in my department whose never taught a class because they are always attracting new funding for their research.

There are plenty of PhD students on this forum who can't get jobs and its not because they have issues.

I don't have any issues (strong references, plenty of volunteer experience, pro-bono consultancy experience, teaching experience etc) and I'm struggling like everyone else, it's the employment market and learning how to effectively market ourselves, which takes heaps of time, alongside building strong connections. I have teaching contracts to tie me over, but nothing permanent or long term which is the situation for many.

Mattie,

I'll put it to you this way, at the university I work/study at, a lecturing (tenure) gig came up and plenty of internal candidates, strong internal candidates that were on contracts with the university, had excellent publication records, research records etc applied. Most of them didn't even get short listed despite working in that department, and an external candidate was hired!

Unemployment is a factor with PhD study, you will not be guaranteed a job coming out. If that's why you are doing a PhD, for a job, stop. I didn't do a PhD to get a good job at the end, I did it because I wanted to learn, and I don't regret it even though I've made the decision I won't be staying in Academia. It was something I needed to do for myself.

As others have suggested, give it a bit of time. It takes a while to settle in, and you've started at an odd time of year (are you North or Southern Hemisphere?) Either way, it's not the best time to start as you're either right in the middle of first semester, or at the end of second semester coming up to summer.

Agreed with this. I'm in the same boat, neither of my supervisors are directly related to my field, but have been amazing as well, sometimes this is actually preferable. Your PhD should be your first priority and you can always seek supervisors that are not directly related that will help you with your study.

It's not unreasonable to think that he might be attracted to you, from what you've described there may be some level of attraction. It's actually quite common, especially when working with someone for long periods of time, and you can't always help who you are attracted to. There are numerous cases where postgrads (and undergrads?!) become involved with their tutors and lecturers.

But there are boundaries that should not be crossed with the student/teacher relationship. If you are finding it difficult to work with him because of your developing feelings, you might want to think about getting another supervisor, regardless of whether you might 'act' on your feelings. In close quarters, you never know what can happen in the heat of the moment.

As to why he might not have brought it up, well, there are a variety of reasons beyond the psychopath explanation or the using you explanation (though keep those in mind as well). He might be worried about his own professional standing should he admit feelings for a student, or the possibility of a sexual harassment case, even if just suspected, could be damaging to his reputation. He might not think you feel the same way, so is determined to 'squash' his feelings to work with you.

But, as others have suggested, he could be 'using' you or become dangerous down the line, even just professionally (if the relationship turned sour, there goes your career). I'm inclined to agree with TreeofLife, there are some 'techniques' being used there, and inequalities in power. My own supervisors will apologise if they've been medically ill (like with the flu) or really busy regarding in a late email reply, but never with a statement about 'personal issues.'

While it might be difficult, I would, as others have suggested, stay away. Alternatively, if you want to pursue a relationship, transfer to another university. Don't just change supervisors within your department, you still shouldn't have a relationship regardless of whether he's your supervisor if you're in the same department.

At your next class, dedicate about 10-15 minutes on how to do the assignment.

Tell students that this is how the assignment should be done after clarifying with the course administrator, and also either post to the forum (if using an online learning tool like Moodle) or send an email to your students clarifying this matter. Students who don't check their email, or didn't come to class rightfully miss out.

If students have already completed the assignment but not yet handed in and complain, you just stand your ground on how the assignment needs to be done, and that they still have time to go back and correct this.

If a student has handed in the assignment already, you need to check with the course administrator as to whether you can 'give back' their assignment and allow them to correct their error before submission.

Depending on how far in advance you've given, you may have to give extensions. I.e. if the assignment is due less than a week after your correction, and is worth perhaps more than 30% of their grade or section A will take a large chunk of time to complete (such as needing to do data collection), a x day (x= number of days needed) extension should be applicable here to allow them time for correction.

Don't go into the situation worried about losing face, that'll make it worse. Stand your ground, just calmly explain that there was a miscommunication about assignment requirements that you've clarified with the course administrator, and show them the right way to do it. They will come back and say "but you said..." just say "I'm aware, I've double checked with the course administrator, this is how it should be done. If you have any questions, you may consult me privately during my office hours, or get in contact with the course administrator".

You should also let the course administrator know of your mistake so they can help you rectify it. They (should!) understand, everyone makes mistakes.

Also, as a side note, I'm curious as to why you need to be fluent in three languages if your thesis is not situated within a language stream? That I find odd, and counter-productive to your work output. I would bring that up with your supervisor regarding its relevancy to your thesis?

Hi Nesrine87,

I think it's important to remember that your supervisors are not attacking you personally, but rather, helping you improve your work. Different supervisors have different styles, and some who are very friendly and helpful in person may be the same ones who are more likely to give critical feedback that might appear hurtful (I have one like that).

It's easy to feel that perhaps its a form of revenge when your emotions get involved, but you have to remember that as a PhD student, you are learning, you are not producing the absolute best work that you can be because you still have heaps to learn, and it's a slow process. Your supervisors are also not going to treat you with sensitivity and care, they are going to treat you in a way that is meant to harden you up to prepare you for academia, which is unfortunately, a very harsh environment. After all, the main purpose of a PhD is to prepare to enter academia (though many students, myself included choose not to go this route).

If you approach her, you might come across as not ready to pursue postgraduate scholarship, and that can be damaging in the long run. If you think her comments are bad, I can't imagine how you'll handle publication reviews, or viva examinations which can be exceedingly worse.

It's okay to feel how you're feeling of course! I'm definitely not trying to take that away from you. But just think a bit more about why the comments are hurtful. Often, supervisors only pick out what's bad, they don't highlight the good, which is why it might be coming across as overly negative. They are also (generally, though there are plenty of students here with experiences that say otherwise) not meant to be a reflection of what your supervisor thinks of you as a person or your work. Rather, she is challenging you to be better.

Try working on separating yourself/emotions from your work and see how you feel. It might help!

PhDefault,

Ugh, those are the worst. I had one the other week, two actually (you won't believe this!).

The first one was a personalised thank you for attending the interview for a role I had applied for back in September but that I was not chosen.

I was never invited to attend an interview for this role.

This was followed by a second, generic email saying that my application had been unsuccessful for consideration.

HR messed up and it made me so angry that I had received that first email. Luckily my partner talked me out of responding, but I couldn't believe it.

You know what really grinds my gears? When applications request a resume, and then ask for a CV in brackets. Those are two separate things! My resume would be tailored specifically, but my CV is four pages long. And then asking to address the selection criteria, but no indication as to how they would like this done, or how many pages it should be, or whether it should be done in the cover letter.

I was reading somewhere that apparently a number of HR recruiters will turn down CVS and Resumes that use special formatting, such as boxes or aren't sent as a word document because they have to reformat it. It makes me wonder how many rejections I have received have been the result of this, as I send my applications via PDF (because it looks more professional!) and use invisible boxes for clean lines and formatting. And then I think, well don't list PDF as an option for submission, or how about stating requirements for CV/Resume formatting to suit your systems.

Gah!

PhDefault & BTD,

It's horrible isn't it? The number of applications you send out to consistently get rejected before the interview stage. Or, if you make it to the interview stage, you miss out because a candidate has 'more experience than you.'

BTD, it sounds as though the main problem you might be running into is a lack of direction or focus. One of the things I've been told repeatedly is that I need to know what I want to do before I apply for a role, as opposed to applying to anything and everything I think I could be good at. That means I apply for maybe 5-10 jobs a month if that, and spend large portions of my energy working on pro-bono consultancy work that *might* lead to a job or opportunity. Networking, which really sucks, is slowly starting to help.

BTD, Have you joined an industry organisation in the industry you want to work in? Do you know what industry you want to work in? How is your LinkedIn profile? An industry organisation that I pay membership for offers a graduate traineeship program each year to place graduates in companies. I applied this year and made the final round, so hopefully something will come from it (will keep you posted). In the meantime, I joined a number of the Linkedin groups as part of the organisation, and was able to take on a pro-bono consultancy gig that had popped up, which has given me more experience in doing applied social research, and might be the step I need to get something that's paid, or at least a good recommendation.

I know it's hard when you're on welfare, but have you tried some volunteer work to give yourself something to look forward to? You mentioned performing arts, are the there local theatres or music ensembles you could join? I know you need money and a stable living, but sometimes volunteering can be a gate way into a job, or help you network with the right people.

I'm currently under examination, so awaiting the outcome of my PhD.

I found the process isolating. While I had excellent support regarding my supervisors, it was a lonely experience, difficult to meet people (sociology) and had to put myself out there to obtain teaching experience, since jobs were not advertised but rather, offered via word of mouth.The 9-5pm doesn't work for everyone depending on their study and discipline, but seems to be advice given out most often. If a 9-5 doesn't work for you, don't try and force it, especially when writing. I found my best times to write are early morning, about 2-3 hours. After that, no good until the evening. But that's what worked for me, and I got my PhD done in time with my funding. Structure does not work for all PhDs, and structure will fluctuate as you move through. There will be months where you don't do much work, to months where all you do is work.

I had a partner, and made few but good friends, got married, bought a house. I didn't put my life on hold to do the PhD. I took vacations and travelled, I taught (TAing and Lecturing/Unit Coordination) and did volunteer work.

In terms of career prospects, I've chosen not to stay in Academia. The amount of pressure and stress, plus the expectation of high geographic mobility doesn't work for me, I have no interested in pursuing Post-Docs that might mean moving to another part of the world. So, in my final year of my PhD, I began to research other options career wise, and am currently working towards a career in applied social research. It's a long journey, requires a lot of effort on my part in taking on pro-bono research projects and networking, but I'm doing it.