Hooray!!! I, Dr. Kerosen, might just be the newest ‘Doc’ on the block. I just passed about 3 hrs ago (and on 13th mind you!!!) of grueling grilling but only minor corrections. I am very pleased with myself I guess the reality has yet to dawn on me. As those that have gone before me might attest to, it was a culmination of incredible hard work, of creation of time, of ups and downs especially this last year. Mine presented an additional challenge in that apart from having to pursue it abroad, it was in a second language (both write-up & viva), which I only started learning at the start of the PhD, yet my area was not linguistics. The downside is probably that I got dumped by my then fiancée in the thick of it all, but I turned a threat into an opportunity by “marrying” my project and it paid – I’ve defended in 3yrs 1wk 11hrs. To sum it up all is well that ends well. To those on home stretch, match on gallantly, those further down the hill one day at a time and you shall surely get there. Cheers fellow forumites for the comradeship!

Really this is an eternal thread, never overtaken by time. Thanks for posting. Interest in the issue only oscillates depending on the one's stage in the PhD process. I happen to be on homestretch and looking for exactly this kind of stuff. Thanks for sharing. I promise to contribute my token's worth based on experience in the near future, assuming all goes well. My mock viva is set for end of May and the real thing end of July. All the best Jinkim65 as, like I, you count down.

Thanks guys for sharing, well I guess a cookie crumbles its own way. It is as an example of the factors one cannot control in their PhD but neither shall I be trying too hard to as I am really on homestretch. I shall manage 2 articles and a short commn  - a minimum PhD - but a PhD anyway. Have an ambitious year pals.

From my point of view as the student, I felt right from the outset that we could publish up to 4 papers from my work. My supervisor thought may be 2 at best. Then I was bubbling with enthusiasm for an oral presentation at an international congress. She decided we settle for a poster. The latest was a draft manuscript which I was raring to submit as a full-length article. She asked that I re-draft it as a short communication. Over time my balloon has been inevitably deflated. Isn't this a case of reversed roles?

I bet your very words, Pepipox, point towards the unique way out under the circumstances - a paradigm shift in what you consider satisfaction and happiness to be. Just like a salesman is often obliged to change their lifestyles to suit their objectives, the long distance researcher is too, especially socially since PhD is a lonely venture by its very nature.  I can identify with your situation being a foreign student in Latin America and even learning the language did not do much to shield me much from the loneliness. Today, the third year down the line, I am more introverted than when I first came here, but I consider it a small sacrifice. Hopefully in a few months after I am through I'll be back to my extrovert self. Count your blessings and plod on. 

In second year too and a lone-ranger as well. Probably because am an only foreigner in a group of 4, supervisor a lady too. One may argue I, more than anyone else need to socialise, but that's easier said than done. We talk though even occasionally go out as a group but still that connection you talked about lacks. In my first year, I used to feel guilty but not any more now. I feel their company across the labs even in the silence and they too, I suppose, as no one complains. Disclaimer: The other day I found myself alone in an empty faculty - seems I was the only one who didn't know it was a public holiday so while you are at it, a little effort does no harm but don't beat yourself about it. On that day I at least proved one thing - the company acroos lab walls - that was so conspicously absent. Cheer up!

...all funny especially when it happens in private...but could get worse with shared group facilities. I won't mince words - having used the small room and recalling half an hour later, with a degree of certainity, that I forgot to push the knob/pull the string, could that be the sound of my social CV going down the drain?

At the risk of sounding trivial, this is my story: My principal supervisor has 3 of us all working in the same broad area. I started one semester ahead of two female colleagues. Though I have a working room next to my sup's office, I only consult about once in a fortnight when I have something solid to discuss, unlike my colleagues who are able to pop into her office almost daily or several times a day. They discuss, chat, have girl talk etc which I have no problem with except that they get to discuss my work too without my involvement while the reverse never happens. I then get comments related to my work from the grapevine or I eavesdrop. This way, I have even had to cede some of my initial objectives to them. Such is their influence. I understand the bonding coz, unlike I, they worked under the same Sup for their masters, but still it smacks of intrigue, competition and, though I hate to say it, even chauvinism (am male) hard to dismiss any more. How should I deal with this before it turns out to be a storm?

TomL85, I recall I was in a similarly difficult situation when I started. I felt the odds were stacked against me in that it was a relatively new area, seeking to utilize new techniques, with coursework (in a third language which I needed to learn first) and way from home. I sought opinion on this forum and with the encouragement I got plus self-motivation, my esteem returned and am rising to the ocassion. I don't think quitting should be among the first options, recall the adage about winners never quitting and quitters never winning?

I am pursuing mine in a Vet school and working with animals.I think upto 10hrs a week is a bit loaded for you I think you need a helping hand. Luckily, we are a research group so we have a rosta that means each of us does the caring for 2 days a week (1 hr per day). The less taxing you feel it is the thorough the quality of care is likely to be...but above all remember we owe it to the animals - and the Ethics Committee that approved our proposals! Good luck

Well, Leenu, I can relate to your dilemma or multilemma so to speak. It took me 6 months to decide if to take up a PhD offer after date of offer, I was torn btn an attractive promotion at work and the PhD I even had to defer the latter to the 2nd sem of the academic year and fast fwd here I am 8 months into it now. A PhD is like a calling, a magnet you can't resist - you know you want to do it though all objectivity probably says otherwise, so all advice is useless...GO FOR IT! YOU KNOW YOU WANT IT!!! At least that represents my experience and though still early times, I don't think I regret it. Money or the box?

Remember "when it comes right down to it, when the rubber meets the road, you are alone!" Inspirational or not depending on how you look at it but reminds me that this PhD is my baby, period.

Thanks drwhoknows. I think you are right it all boils down to self confidence. I'll focus my energies there this Dec and hopefully start the new year with a different attitude

I commenced on my PhD in August and 4 months down the line I am starting to think the odds are stacked against me. Sample this: 1. It is in a relatively new area from my MPhil (topic floated by dept) 2. The techniques/equipments we are relying on are relatively new to me and even to my main supervisor making optimisation and troubleshooting rather difficult. 3. Our lab is the first in the country so we lack experienced colleagues locally yet right now we have a dead set-up in our hands for the last month. 4. Which could well be first, I am pursuing it overseas in a 3rd language different from my Mphil yet coursework credits is a major component towards the degree. 5. The usual hurdles we discuss in this forum daily. I find myself reading the threads about quiting in this forum rather faithfully. Comrades, what do you think are the odds of pulling it through under these circumstances? I am ready for the hard naked truth!

Thanks Nimrod81. I shall have 3 years with a possible extension of an additional year. Most of the literature is in English, luckily, but I still need to get a good command of Portuguese. How did you go about studying Italian? Say how many hours per day? Alone or as part of a group? My first language isn't a romance language