Smilodon. I am very interested to hear your story. I am now 24years old. I dropped out of my PhD last december. Is the PhD you are doing now much different from what you did last time?

I think in my case if I had worked in industry for a few years before doing my PhD I would have been a lot more focused, organised and better able to handle office politics and the general bitching which consumed my project( as well as my rather underhanded supervisor).

It also would of helped if I had chosen a topic I enjoyed and knew something about before. But these are the lessons I have learned the hard way

I would love to do a PhD in the future but most likely part time and as part of my job and as long as I get a supervisor I can trust and a topic I love.

if you are not doing any thesis as part of your current study,I would say it is ging to be very difficult to be accepted onto a PhD program directly and funding will be even a lot more difficult to secure

you dont seem to know much about PhDs in general so why do one? do you even have a topic in mind or a particulr country or university?

if you cant answer these questions,im afriad you are wasting your time asking for help on this site

That is why it is very important to take time off now and again and have other interests. epsrc recommend 6-8 weeks off a year

I would get very very demotivated during my PhD ( which I eventually dropped out of ) and on a few occassions didnt bother going into work. I really just couldnt do any work.

I dont know about anyone one else, but I found living in halls to be rather depressing because my college has mostly international students who for the most part are happy to stay in their rooms and talk to nobody...

www.google.co.uk

The reason employers may tend to favour graduates from nice old prestigious unis over new and less prestigious unis is exactly the reason why many people, if given the choice, will spend lots of money to buy top name brand clothes over clothes from a budget retailer or buy one washing-up liquid brand over another ( assuming money is no object that is)

A brand is a powerful thing and the name of a uni is a brand like any other....

Well known brands tend to be trusted over all other brands as marks of quality, reliability, style,..... even if this trust isn't justified in every case.


think about it

Some very interesting points being made on this thread. I've had this conversation many times:

In an ideal world the reputation of the institution you study at should not matter no more than saying you grew up in city x rather than city y: In other words, if your work has been reviewed by your peers, via journal publications/ phd thesis and viva, and you are deemed to be competant enough to produce research of the standard befitting a doctor in philosophy then it shouldnt matter if you did your doctorate at Essex rather than Oxford...

But, we don't live in an ideal world, and it does matter. All things being equal, I do beleive that going to a more prestigious uni can give one a distinct advantage over candidates from less prestigious unis ( once you graduate that is )

EPSRC recommend 6-8 weeks holidays a year. There is a reason for this; You need time off as you will burn out without it.

"In Bruges": one of the funniest movies I've seen so far this year. Colin Farrell, Brendan glesson and Ralph Fiennes are the main actors in it. A must see. Soon to be released in the UK ( I think)

That is a rather difficult question to answer as everyones' PhD experience is unique.

My advice to you is to make best use of your first few months: do your literature review, write it up, make a plan for your first year of research. Order whatever equipment you may need....

keep in regular contact with your sup, or if he/she isnt about; annoy the post docs in your lab by asking lots of questions.

and pray to the PhD gods!!!!

sre292, no need to be a smart arse

nice to hear you are settling in olivia

its a shame there arnt any IHOP places outside the States. Yummy Pancakes!!!

read the thread on this forum entitled:

"IMPORTANT: Advice for International students looking for information on this website"


cheers

online phds are worth sweet *&ck all. so i dont know why people are entertaining this thread.

you might as well be asking how long is a peice of string. but to answer your question:

what is required to successfuly complete a PhD?
a few brian cells, dedication, patience, passion, drive, capacity for independent thought, a strong nerve, excellent communication and problem solving skills,.... and dont forget a pair of drinking pants to match.

enjoy your studies

Hi Masters,
When I initially undertook my phd, I expected to work in a professional environment where people went about their business without backstabbing and bitching.

But from the very start, office politics dominated in my project. I never had any problems with PhD students but I had major problems with the post doc I worked with.


my advice is: keep your nose out of office politics!!!

I would imagine that a lot of relationships can run into trouble, especially if the other partner is not an academic and doesn't understand just how demanding a PhD can be; As the PhD progresses and becomes more demanding, the partner begins to believe over time that the person doing the PhD cares more about their work than themselves.

The sad truth is, that a doctorate is a very self-involved venture by its very nature and as such, any partner of a person doing a PhD needs to understand their relationship may well have to play second fiddle to the doctorate for the duration.

from my own experience I dont know anyone at my old uni who was able to hold down a serious relationship whilst undertaking a doctorate, unless they where married beforehand.