Quote From TreeofLife:


I think employment law states that an offer can't be withdrawn once offered - it's up to the recipient of the offer to accept or decline.

Plus, everyone these days is applying to multiple places and supervisors know and understand that. It's a legitimate reason to delay acceptance of an offer.

Quote From TreeofLife:
Be upfront with both parties that you are considering other offers and that's the reason you can't answer straight away.

Quote From Flowerpot:
I'm in a bit of a pickle here. I got accepted on my second choice for a PhD. My first choice is still in limbo as I'm waiting for one more reference to arrive. I was promised it would be submitted this week. How fast the faculty reacts to that I have no idea. The supervisor though only seems to be waiting for the completion of my application to make a decision. I really want to pursue this one while my second choice comes way behind. The supervisor of the one I got accepted into doesn't want to wait for another two weeks.

So what do I do? Delay a few more days and hope my first choice receives all information and makes a very quick decision, otherwise accept? I feel bad about accepting and potentially cancelling again though. Both have industry funding. The one I got accepted into is to start in January, the first choice pretty much immediately.

Quote From anz07:
My PhD journey has been long and tedious with the most bizarre and stressful occurrences happening (from my viva report being lost to an incorrect result being given to me). If you want to know more please read my old posts.

However, quite simply, I want to know how long you would expect to wait after submitting your thesis post-viva with minor revisions?

I was initially told by my supervisor it would probably take 2 weeks to get a result. It's now been nearly 4 and a half months and I've heard nothing. 2 months ago I was finally enlightened (after some chasing) that my examiner had been signed off ill but was now back to work and reading my thesis. But yet I'm still waiting...

The revisions should take about 2 hours to read through (an additional 12,000 words) which are all clearly marked in the thesis and referenced in my additional explanatory document.

I keep telling myself that I'll wait just another week...then another week...then another...before I start to chase this. I'm extremely concerned that something isn't right but certainly don't want to rattle my external examiner's cage by pushing for a result. However, I have lost job opportunities due to not having the PhD and, like clockwork, another job has come up this week which would be perfect for me and is close to home, but says 'PhD essential'.

Please could I ask all of you for your advice and as much of it as possible. You are all in, or have been in, the PhD struggle: if it was you, what would you do (if anything)?

Quote From iwan:
Can any bio science researchers here share how many months/years it took them before they got a 'breakthrough' that would more or less set the direction for the entire course of their PhD?

Quote From TreeofLife:


What's a breakthrough? Ah, you mean that elusive thing all scientists spend their waking days trying to find? That Eureka moment? It doesn't exist. It's a myth. A PhD thesis is often just a collection of random experiments that might eventually link together to suggest that a hypothesis is correct or incorrect. It's highly unlikely this hypothesis is going to be very novel or interesting. Maybe after many years of collaborative research you'll realise you've found something that changes the understanding of something big, but by then it will have been so many years coming it won't feel like much of a breakthrough...

Don't stress yourself out at this stage - all the small experiments you are doing will lead to something, even if it's just what not to do. A PhD is training experience after all - that's why you're called a student.

P.S. If you must know, my thesis had three data chapters (all subsequently papers): chapter 1 - I got the main result in my first year, but then spent the next three years doing more experiments to collect more data, chapter 2 - I got the main result right at the end of my third year, chapter 3 - I got the only result in my so-called writing up year.

Quote From Bah:
Thank you so much for all your kind messages! You gave me a strong mental support. Unfortunately, my spouse is not so flexible and believes that family should be my first priority. He wasn't happy with my decision to start studying at the doctoral level and believed it would end in my neglecting my twelve-year-old who is in a sensitive age and needs attention and control. That makes my job harder. Whenever I study during a weekend, he gets nervous and thinks I do not pay attention to them. I am very successful in my studies and do not want to give up. Just doing my best to make a balance between everything!

Quote From HazyJane:
I'm pretty sure I can tell when the advert for a technical post has been written by someone with technical knowledge and when it's written by a generalist/HR/manager person. Listing a ridiculous number of skills and/or buzzwords suggests the author doesn't really know what the job involves. Or that the job is so fuzzy that they can't pin down what is needed - never a good sign!

I think there's probably a lot of reading between the lines that can help. For example compare:
1. "Essential skill: Experienced R user (3+ years)"
2. "Essential skill: Experience of using R/SAS"

In the first case I'd rule myself out as I don't use R and even if willing to learn would be unable to get to the required level on the job in a fast enough time frame. But in the second case, even though I don't use R OR SAS, I'd consider myself eligible as I use Stata which is roughly equivalent, and the lack of detail about level of competence means I could probably persuade them to let me use Stata, or train me up in R/SAS. I would emphasise that equivalence and willingness to learn in the personal statement.

Does that interpretation sound reasonable to people with recruitment experience?

[BTW I thought in the UK it was no longer possible to specify years of experience as it is a form of age discrimination against the young. Rather, I thought the idea was that you were supposed to specify competencies instead].

Quote From DrJeckyll:
am I the only one asking the obvious. The position should be advertised, and the successful candidate should be selected from a pool of diverse people. Adam would be an unlikely candidate without a PhD in any case.

Some departments tend to hire the internals in position after position. This is not beneficial neither for the group that is inbreeding stagnant in the same ideas, neither for the young academic that stays in their comfort zone never exposed to new challenges and expertise.

Bottom line, I left my group of 6 years to join a new group. Terrifying, but worth it. I really progressed as a researcher in a way I wouldn't have otherwise. My advice is probably meaningless, as I wouldn't have even believed myself from the future.

Good luck

Quote From Nesrine87:
Hey everyone,

I'm in an awkward situation and I'm not sure what to do, if anything. I’ve given minimal background to avoid a wall of text but feel free to ask for more details.

My friend (Adam), who is a first-year PhD student and has the same supervisor as me, just finished a two-year unfunded MPhil at the same uni and got really high exam results. He was really disappointed to then not get any funding for PhD living expenses but did get his tuition covered. I’m a fourth-year, hoping to submit early next year.

When speaking a few weeks ago, Adam told me that our sup had won a big grant and was looking for a research assistant from early next year, and that he hoped he’d get the post since he desperately needed the extra money (our sup knows this). I assumed he would get the post, and kinda forgot about our conversation.

Today my sup informally asks me whether I’m available/willing for the post (I am). He said I’m qualified and already know the necessary material. Nothing’s set in stone but it looks unlikely that Adam will get offered the post.

I feel really guilty. I don’t need the money as much as Adam. I am very lucky to have had full funding and also other sources of income. However, my field is very niche and the experience will be great for my CV especially as I’m hoping to take the following year out for maternity leave (if my body cooperates…)

I guess my question is…should I do or say anything? Is it better for Adam to hear the decision from our sup? Should I apologise? We’re quite close and I don’t have many friends in academia. I know he’s going to be really upset when he hears the news even if he acts happy for me.

Thanks for your help!

EDIT: maybe relevant? Adam mentioned that our sup advised him against applying for a PhD.

Quote From HazyJane:

That doesn't stop the wrong word correctly spelled sneaking through. Hence someone I know only spotted in the middle of printing that his thesis said 'pubic health' instead of 'public health' in one place.

Also worth bearing in mind that for very long documents Word gives up the ghost when it comes to underlining stuff. I've just worked on a report that was around 100K+ words where there were so many bits of science jargon and author names, Word gave up highlighting them, necessitating a manual click through spell check. Given how long it takes to do that, it's still possible to miss stuff unless you're uber focussed.

Quote From Incertus:
Mine are grammatical, either missing or superfluous words, or erroneous punctuation, or formatting issues (e.g. titles of books not in italics)