Hi Guys

I'm in a bit of a predicament at the minute. I agreed to start a funded phd starting in January. I signed forms with the Uni and the board providing the funding. However in the last few weeks a few personal issues have arisen in my life and now i really don't want to be starting the phd at all. I've contacted my supervisor and informed him of my decision. I haven't received any funding yet. He still wants to meet me next week. I'm just wondering if there would be any repercussions for me in the future and can i simply withdraw before starting the phd.

Hi Ant.

It seems from what you've said that you have taken the action you need to take to address your current circumstances. 

If in the future your circumstances change and you decide that you want to do a PhD then you should do the same.   Take the action you need to, apply to do one.

Apologies if this sounds simplistic but you've made the decision. And that took courage. You sup quite rightly wants to discuss it, probably to make sure you've considered options.

What sort of repercussions did you have in mind ?  Financial ? Future career ? 

Hope your personal issues are sorted soon.   All the best. Chuff

Thanks Chuff. Just feel like i'm letting a big opportunity pass me by. In the current climate it's going to be difficult to get another funded phd in the future. Apart from the personal issues i just don't feel confident about doing a phd. Just having alot of negative thoughts about the phd especially the isolation.

Hi there, I was offered a fully funded PhD 12 years ago. I was unable to accept this due to personal health concerns and at the time I was gutted. I wondered if I was giving up on an amazing opportunity and also on my dreams. However, I had to put my health first so that had to be my focus at that time. Seven years later I was in a fortunate position of being offered a supervisory team and uni place for my own PhD. This time I was successful in my career and my PhD stemmed from my daily work. This meant that I was able to fund my own course fees with grants to cover the lab work costs. I am still self-funding and am at the last push for completing my thesis after 5 years of studying. Who knows whether I will pass but I am trying very hard! So you see just because this time is not right for you does not mean that you will never acheive this. If you need to reconsider your studentship then take some time to do this. There will always be another student to take your current post and it will not affect you later in your career. Hope this helps.

Thanks for that reply. Good story there. That has really cheered me up. I just finished my undergrad in Radiography. Definitely don't want to continue working in the profession but just not sure about the phd. Lecturing is something that interests me as a future career but i still think i'm making the right decision.

I actually withdrew from a funded full-time science PhD 2 years down the line. I'd fallen seriously ill with what I only found out later was a progressive neurological disease. But I knew I couldn't put in the hours needed to finish the PhD, and I'd lost a lot of time over the last 18 months or so.

This did have consequences for me getting more funding in the same vein, but I won funding successfully for a part-time humanities PhD. I declared the prior funding I'd received from EPSPRC but AHRC still gave me funding, and I was very grateful to them. And I completed that PhD, passing my viva this March just gone.

So you can have another go. And because you will - unlike me - be withdrawing before you receive any funding there should be no consequences for you reapplying in future.

Good luck!