Go to your supervisor would be my advice. You appear to be floundering due to uncertainty. Go see your sup, talk with him/her about your project and get some guidance from them. This is what they are paid to do after all :-)

As for dealing with the panic itself. Stop, slow down. Take a couple of hours to go for a walk or something or chat with friends. Come back to this project with a fresh outlook. Concentrate on what you CAN do, not what you may have done wrong.

Beyond that I am sorry to say humanities are outside of my field so I can't offer too much specific advice.

Apply for PhDs as you planned and see how it goes. At the same time apply for jobs/masters courses. If you get offered the PhD then great, if not then take the masters/job and apply again the next year. Do NOT procrastinate and worry and end up not applying for anything for a while and then end up unemployed at the end of your course. It is easier to get on a masters or to get a job if you are already employed or in education.

The job centre is an awful place to search for a job (ironic eh?). Make sure you are on all the usual suspects like monster etc and check out jobs.ac.uk and also contact everyone you know about whether they have jobs available. Most high level jobs do not put their positions up in the job centre anyway so they won't be available to the advisor.

As mentioned below, the job of a "job advisor" is to reduce the unemployment rate (with wonderful targets to meet - because they are a great way of motivating people to do a good job - honest!), as such they will just try to get you into any work they can as quickly as possible. You have to complete so many job interviews per month to keep on job seekers. One way of doing this without taking a crappy job is to deliberately screw up the interviews. I don't condone this, but people do it. Alternatively, get a job at a bar or something whilst conducting your own job search. You will have more money than on job seekers and because it's evening work you should still have plenty of 9-5 time to search for a "proper" job.

I started the previous thread (linked below) but thought I might update.

I am in a slightly different position as I am an RA doing a PhD at the same time, though the PhD is basically my RA work so I don't have much extra to do. I previously worked in industry for a while and (as I've said a few times on here before) I don't think a PhD (in my experience) is all that dissimilar from a job with a long project in it. Having said this, I used to work for a small engineering firm where people didn't care when you came in or left so long as the work was done - possibly not a typical industrial experience.

This is meant to be about the positives of a PhD (obviously specific to my situation), but I'll list the frustrations first then finish up with the positives to end on a high note.

Frustrations:

- Universities are disorganised and professors are generally even more disorganised - took over 6 months to sort my contract out properly
- Money is tight, in industry I generally got the things I needed quickly, regardless of expense because they were needed.
- Sometimes you can get stuck on a problem and there are not many people to ask because you are very specialised
- Had to take a pay cut and my pay can't go up any more at the uni before I have my PhD

Positives:

- No real boss, I'm trusted to just get on with it and I do
- The work is slightly more intellectually stimulating
- I feel like I'm working towards something (because I am!) whereas in industry you sometimes just see your career spreading to retirement in front of you with no decent goals or rewards along the way.
- University societies and (at my uni) plenty of other people with a similar background and interests
- Get to work in a field that I want to work in.
- Lots of cake. Honestly - doing a presentation? Cake. Birthday? Cake. Bought too much cake the other day? Bring in cake. Bored? Buy cake. Note: I like cake. (mince)

Well I think you've answered your own question. If you are not happy doing the PhD then stop doing it. You are right however to search for jobs whilst you continue. Don't quit until you have a job offer. Just be sure that it is the PhD that is making you unhappy - which it seems from your post it definitely is.

obvious troll is obvious.

I've not finished yet but beware confirmation bias. On this web site people will generally post if things are going badly. I'm over a year and a half in and things are going pretty well, you won't hear too much about it though because people don't tend to post on a forum about how well they are doing and how wonderful stuff is because it comes across as insensitive and arrogant.

Having said all that, a PhD can be very stressful!

Congratulations on submitting and I hope the viva goes well!

======= Date Modified 08 Jun 2012 09:33:25 =======

Solely from what I've read on these boards (no personal experience) it is possible to do what you say BUT....

- It would be very very very difficult (ridiculously so)
- You will need an absurd amount of motivation
- You will need excellent social support from family and friends
- Despite needing the support you will actually have no social life whatsoever

Bear in mind that you are essentially proposing to work a 70 to 80 hour week, every week for at least 3 years. I'll repeat that for emphasis, you are essentially proposing to work a 70 to 80 hour week, every week for at least 3 years.

It can be done. People have done it in the past. Do you want to do it? If you have incredible motivation and time management skills then go for it. Otherwise look at other options. Either:

a) Don't do it at all
b) Work part time instead of full time and eat all your savings (assuming you have them)
c) Work part time and cut your cost of living right down - move back home, sell your car and unnecessary possessions etc
d) Do the course PART-TIME (this is practically a must actually - it will still be very hard though)
e) Something else I haven't thought of

Hope this helps - I'm just trying to give honest advice without sugar coating it.

It's a little bit of a "how long is a piece of string?" question, that is to say it depends on far too many unspecified factors. If you do a US PhD it will typically take 6 years. That's a long time. In that time you may well be able to make contact with industrial partners, form links with them and get a job for afterwards. That depends on what your PhD is, where it is, who your supervisor is, who is funding the research, how much effort you put into job hunting, pure luck etc etc.

It is definitely possible to do as you plan, but from the details you've given it is impossible to rate your chances.

Maybe look at applying directly to suitable companies whilst also applying for PhDs? Maybe you don't need the PhD (and associated costs!) to get the job you're after. Maybe you do, in which case you can take on the PhD and you then have years to form good links and network with people to get a job offer in the future.

One thing which would obviously help a lot is to do a PhD funded by a company you may wish to work for in the future.

Well if you can get in to any of those they are good universities. Imperial is very famous for engineering above all other subjects. I would look for a PhD that suits you rather than starting with trying to find a supervisor. The topic you study is very important as if you don't like it the PhD can feel very long and boring.

visit the uni websites, use findaphd.com and choose your favourite topics at any of the universities. Then apply for all the ones that interest you. Hopefully one of them will give you a place on their PhD programme.

Just read this bit and your mum is very right. It is not your supervisor's job to even comment on how you live your life. Do not ask her what she would think and stop caring what she might think!

Just move. It will probably make no difference to your current attendance anyway if you rarely go in as it is. If that's the case I doubt I'd even tell her unless it came up in conversation. If you do feel the need to tell her, do just that, tell her. "I have moved to x with my partner, it is y distance away from here. I shouldn't think it'll make any difference to my work as I often work from home anyway. If I need to be in the office then just let me know a day in advance and I will ensure I am there."

Your mum is right, you need to stand up for yourself (whilst still being very polite!). Keep your work levels up and be really friendly but simply say no to unreasonable demands.

It's overused as a phrase these days (despite being slightly awful) but I'll say it anyway - Hater's gonna hate. [cringes at that phrase]

Joking aside, what does it matter what other people think about your working habits? You have explained to your supervisor that you prefer to work at home. You are getting your work done to a high standard. What's the problem? The problem is your supervisor's/anyone else that criticises your work habits and not yours.

Make sure that you have been very clear about the fact you far prefer to work from home. Make very clear that you are available for meetings etc if people want to arrange them. Then just keep doing what you are doing!

Personally I come into the office from 9-5 and never work at home. I find this works best for me. Perhaps your supervisor is the same? The difference is that I realise that it is not the same for everyone. I'd simply ignore her goading and passive aggressive messages and keep up what you're doing. You've only got a year left anyway :-)

Start looking for jobs NOW. Don't wait for the PhD to finish as job hunting takes ages.

Remember you may not do your dream job straight off the bat, it can take people years of work before they find the role they really wanted. Don't expect all your aspirations to be met in the first job you take after your PhD.

If you are able to be geographically mobile then apply for a jobs everywhere. Job hunting is far easier when you can live anywhere in the world rather than within 50 miles of a small town or similar.

There are plenty of jobs for mathematicians, talk with any industrial partners and network around your department. Your careers service may be of use too.

If you are not sure what to do (and it seems clear you are not) then just apply for anything you are qualified for. Two reasons. Firstly you may find you really enjoy the job you end up with even if you thought you wouldn't and secondly it is 5000% easier to get a job when you are already employed!

If you want to work say designing fusion generators (as an example!) then look at companies who may embrace that technology in the future or who are researching it and apply to them for ANY position you are qualified for. Once you are within the company it is far easier to move around within it. It may take a good few years to get to the right department in the company to do the work you want to do but it is easier once they already employ you.

Oxford university is one of the very best universities in the world. Whilst engineering is not their top subject it is still a VERY prestigious university to go to and it is VERY hard to get on a PhD programme there without significant prior achievement. I would expect most people there to have got a first class bachelors degree from a high ranking university and to then have a masters from a similar ranked university. Having said this, I have a friend who works there as a Research Fellow who "only" got a 2:1 for his MEng at Newcastle uni then completed a PhD at Newcastle Uni.

As for supervisors, go to their website and have a look at who their professors are in the specific field you are interested in. I assume you have a project in mind and/or you have funding? If not then try findaphd.com to check for available PhDs.

Course content aside, a Dutch masters is no more or less strong than a British one. It does show however that you are willing to move to another country and culture and has a number of other benefits. I can't advise on course content as it is no where near my field, but if you assume all other things equal I would go for the Dutch one. Amsterdam or Aberystwyth? No choice there really!