======= Date Modified 03 28 2009 08:28:09 =======
Like a lot on here I'm experiencing difficulties with my PhD. Through no fault of my own, 1st year has been a non-starter and I'm very concerned about it and a bit depressed. I have constantly tried to convey my concerns to my supervisors but feel as though I'm moaning and having to nag them in order to try and progress things. With the 1st year review coming up I think it best to keep my mouth shut and put a smile on my face as at least this is providing me with an income and I really, really do not want to be unemployed. When I voiced my concerns to another independent academic they were very good but hinted, in my opinion, to ease off putting pressure on my supervisors.

On top of this, I have always felt that the PhD is too big for a three year project and although I've already mentioned this it was brushed aside, in my opinion. I described my PhD to another student they actually told me that they thought it was too big.

I have cottoned on to the fact that once in 2nd year a student has the upper hand and they will go to great lengths to try and prevent a student from dropping out at this stage but in 1st year they can let a student go without any real consequences to the University. I'll be blunt, my circumstances are such that I'm not prepared to go much over the end of a 3rd year and longer term I've no interest in being an academic or researcher but doing a PhD suits me for a number of reasons.

What do I do for the best? Should I keep quiet and air my concerns once in 2nd year or should I try to progress things now by talking over my concerns with my supervisors yet again. My instinct tells me to go with the former...

Is your review with people other than your supervisors? It might be the ideal point to raise concerns about the parameters of your project and get a perspective from other academics. Do you get the chance to submit a confidential progress report for example that you could say that you're a bit worried? But I think you might be panicking too much and that's possibly why your supervisors aren't too concerned. I think it's pretty normal for the first year to be as much about adjusting to being a research student and figuring out what does and doesn't work.
When you say you feel like you're moaning to your supervisors, rather than just giving them a list of problems, are you also suggesting changes, new approaches to resolve matters? If you weren't, maybe you could prepare a document that said what you think the best way forward is, for discussion with your supervisors? If you did that after your progress review, you could phrase it as, 'the progress review and the comments I got really made me think again about the project. This is my effort at responding to them - what do you think supervisors?'. I can't see how anyone could see that as being anything other than constructive.

The review could be done without my supervisors but they've made it clear that they want to sit in. I've put my concerns in the report but gave a very balanced view I think. My supervisors are good but the difficulty is sometimes they don't feedback and I can't move things forward until they do. I keep sending them emails reminding them about things and so they keep reading the same type of emails. It's extremely frustrating for me as I've a clear idea of how to progress but really need the feedback sometimes.

I've been thinking and have decided to keep my mouth well and truly closed. At the end of the day getting a PhD will have no real impact for me but being unemployed now most certainly would.

Thanks for replying to my post.