I reckon some of you have read about my dalliance with a PhD in September, and rather immediate withdrawal, but now I'm realy looking forward to starting one next year. I don't have a place yet, although I have an idea of the area/areas I'm interested in, although maybe my looking-forward is misplaced as two friends who are doing PhDs aren't exactly enjoying the experience. Or maybe I just want to escape my current godawful existence. Whichever, I guess roll on September is the sentiment...

Hi Matthew
I am applying at the moment for PhDs in the field of biomedical science. I have been working in labs for 4 years since finishing my first degree and in that time did a part time masters. During my time working I've made several friends doing PhDs and I don't think any of them have enjoyed the experience. Some have come close to having nervous breakdowns. So why do I want to do one and why am I really looking forward to the prospect? I ask myself this quite often, especially when someone I know is having a particularly hard time with a supervisor or experiments that are constantly fecking up. I don't even think it is going to be any different for me, I am just looking forward to the intellectual challenge I guess!

I was really looking forward to starting my PhD as well, but so far it's not going as well as I'd hoped. I'm probably just too impatient though and hopefully things will look brighter once I get some results.