Espresso, you are far too productive!! well done though!

my goal today, is to get this final bloody empirical chapter done so i can get my Discussion chapter finished by the end of the week.

unfortunately the following things exist which are making the above goal so hard to attain!!
1. Facebook
2. Twitter (which i have finally got my head around and am now obsessed with)
3. YouTube clips of Peter Serafinowicz's 'Look Around You'. I highly recommend you have a look at this if you need a laugh/break. A good eg. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_TgM0pCDvI

ARGGHHHH! i don't think today is turning out to be one of my better one's.....

Thanks PamW! lovely to meet you!

I think (from what I can tell) that most people have a mad dash at the end. The fellow PhD 'inmates' i've known over the years (including myself!) tend to submit chapter by chapter to their supervisor over the 3 years, so that towards the end you have a few chapters (the earlier ones usually) that have had several rounds of sup feedback and subsequent amending, and then the last couple of chapters that are not quite so 'there' if you get my meaning. especially if you've done a sequence of mini-studies.

basically it seems we all end up in a big old stress-ball mess towards the end! but at least we are all in it together! and i totally empathise with the 'wish i had done more earlier and not procrastinated as much' frame of mind. ah well, coulda, woulda, shoulda!! haha! ;-):-)

i'd like to join in as well guys if that's ok. i have about 6 weeks left to write my final Discussion chapter (Chapter 9) and do final rounds of amendments to my previously written Chapters 1-8....

....seriously losing the will to live at the moment so would appreciate being part of this support group! This last push is so hard. Talk about intellectual and cognitive constipation!

C'mon, we can do it!!!!! (up) :-)

ah ha! chapter restructuring- the hell they don't tell you about when you first start!

my goal for today...get this sodding Chapter Three restructured and finished. i just seem to have spent the past few days cut and pasting paragraphs and getting myself even more confused about what my argument is!! (sprout)

i know the sprout pic makes no sense as its not actually Christmas, i just feel like a bit of a vegetable todya.

im in a very similar position! i think my principal supervisor is probably more strict in terms of feedback and tends to really make me think hard about my structure and argument, theoretical framework etc. all the stuff that hurts your brain! but youre right, its deffers a good thing as you know if the supervisor think the thesis is conceptually sound, that the likelihood is the examiners will too.

i had to get a loan via the Co-Operative. bit of a long process but worth it. you have to have a credit check and all that malarky. but its a good way of making ends meet in the 4th unfunded year if you still have a bit of work to do. i thought it was a better bet to get the loan and be able to work full time on getting my thesis finished.

running out of funding sucks! i dont know of anyone PhD student that has finished within the 3 years. :-(

it feels like i've done loads some days. other days it feels like there's still a mahoosive mountain to climb! what i'm worried about is spending months and months doing little bitty corrections in order to get the thesis up to a standard that my supervisor thinks is good enough for submission!

how are you finding the process of chapter amendments? i'm currently dealing with some amendments and finding it a bit hard to concentrate. some days you get some really good 'eureka moments'. other days it's like having intellectual and cognitive constipation!!!

my funding officially ran out in May...hence the bank loan! hoping that i can get the final data analyses done in a couple of weeks. it's just observational data which i'm analysing in the same way as i did in a previous empirical chapter so there shouldn't be any nasty surprises!

:-)

hey Purpleflower!

looks like the thesis is chugging along nicely for you! i am in a similar(ish) position. got 7.5 of my thesis chapters up to almost final draft. just have the data from my fourth and final study to analyse and write up in chapter 8 and then get chapter 9 (Discussion) done.

supposed to be submitting my full thesis to the Big Prof (our PI) at the end of June. absolutely terrified she'll thinks its awful! my principal supervisor thinks its coming along nicely, but the Big Prof is another matter!

it is a little difficult waiting for supervisors to provide feedback. my principal sup is usually really good. but they are always so busy you feel guilty about complaining!!!

i had an interview couple of weeks ago....didn't get it. was surprised to get an interview as the study was an adult social and community psychiatry study, which i have done in the past, but my PhD research is about kids and families. they gave the post to someone who had just finished a adult social and community psychiatry PhD. which is fair enough really.

just submitted another application last week, and am about to submit another this week. both posts much more in line with my PhD topic. so fingers crossed!

i wouldn't let yourself get toooo worried. it is quite difficult to get a post-doc before you're a proper post-doc these days (i.e. have at least submitted your thesis). so the attitude i'm taking is, i'll apply for posts if they come up and look like i might have a chance of begin successful. BUT, finishing the PhD comes first and is my main priority. Mind you, i've had to get myself in debt in order to have that attitude! (just recently taken out a Career Development Loan to cover last couple of months of write-up ).

:-(

Hello again fellow Psych PhD Forumers!

It looks as though PsychBrainiac has provided pretty much all the relevant info. Great post! What i would add also is that it important to make sure you do stuff (either MSc or assistant posts) that you're going to find interesting. My MSc was Philosophy of Mental Disorder at KCL. It wasn't something i did because i thought it would help my career particularly, I just did it because it sounded fascinating, and it didn't disappoint!

Also you cant rule out the influence of chance. Often our career trajectories go in the direction they do simply from being in the right place at the right time (or being in the wrong place at the wrong time unfortunately!). But with perseverance and resilience we can all get to where we want to be!! :-)

Hi there! Im a psychology PhD person so can tell you a little about the experiences of myself and my fellow psychology people. To skip the masters isn't impossible. I have a friend who was able to do this. However, she worked hard as a research assistant with the guy who she ended up being supervised by for her PhD. And when she was working on her PhD still had to carry on some of her assistant work on top of doing her PhD work.

My own experience is that I did do an MSc and funded this via a graduate loan, which I paid back over a period of 5 years. Obviously its not ideal to have to get into debt to fund your career, but sometimes you have to be willing to make sacrifices if you really want something. And I think that in psychology were quite lucky as there seems to be many more funded PhD studentships than in other subjects. I have friends who are doing humanities PhDs and its been much more difficult for them to get a funded PhD.

Having said that, there is some funding out there for Psychology masters courses, but id recommend doing some research and applying for this as early as possible.

It might also help to spend a couple of years working as a research assistant between masters and PhD as this enables you to learn the ropes and maybe give you an apportunity to get some publications under your belt. This will mean that you'll increase your chances of getting a funded PhD studentship.

Hope that helps!! Good luck!

I had similar issues a few years ago and understand completely how you must be feeling. Its so important to feel you have ownership of your work, especially when doing a phd. Im fortunate now as I now have supervisors that have enabled me to work autonomously, but I do understand the situation you're in.

Would it be possible to speak to your supervisor about attending some training courses to help you develop your data analysis skills. Most Uni's expect postgrads to attend such courses in order to demonstrate their learning and progression throughout their phd. Also, I think a certain amount of undergrad supervision and teaching, although time consuming, can provide you with important experience that will enhance your CV when you come to apply for postdocs. So probably best to grin and bear that bit and keep reminding yourself that its good experience for you.

In terms if the relationship with your supervisor more generally, all I can say is that the world is full if difficult people and the diplomacy skills you're learning through your relationship with your supervisor will stand you in really good stead in the future! After my previous experience i now feel there's very few people i wouldn't be able to work with, regardless of how difficult they might be!

Good luck with it all. Keep your head down, get in with the work and finish your phd. Then you'll be able to go off and do amazing things once you've got that all important phd 'ticket'. And trust me, things do get better and im sure your future supervisors will be much nicer people to work for!

yeah, definitely try not to worry about it. after i had submitted my MPhil thesis for examination i spotted a few silly mistakes, nothing terrible, just stupid type-o's etc, that left me so annoyed with myself!

i also wrote a list of them and immediately amended my thesis even before i had my viva. to be fair, alot of the errors i spotted actually weren't picked up by my examiners (apparently this is very common!). it will be the overall quality of your work they will be examining and they will be fully expecting some errors etc, as it is very, very rare to be passed with absolutely no corrections.

i know for sure that when my PhD thesis is submitted in July that i'm going to end up doing exactly the same thing! a thesis is such a large document that it is so difficult to spot every single error before you submit.

i should imagine that most people who have ever submitted a PhD thesis have experienced this, and felt the same dread and fear upon discovering mistakes in their thesis! but worry not Sparkles, if it's something that can be amended quickly and easily, and does not affect the overall main findings or your over-arching arguement, it will just be one minor amendment. :-)

ha ha! glad that raised a smile Purpleflower! spotted it on a website when i was browsing the net whilst having my hair done. though i think the 10 do's and dont's for a PhD might be a little late in the day for us guys!
http://bitesizebio.com/articles/10-dos-and-donts-for-phd-students/


and another little link for the days when you want to give up...was sent to me by one of my fellow PhD inmates by e-mail today...
http://dro-mo.com/

PhD Comics is always good as well. it's good for helping to put things in perspective and realise that you're not alone! 1000's of PhD students have felt all the anxieties and frustrations we're going through at the moment. it will all come to an end soon! :-)

That's exactly what my supervisor said to me the other day when I was feeling overwhelmed! In the grand scheme if things our phd years are such a small period of our lives. There is a whole life and world beyond the phd, and its so easy to forget when you're in the thick of all the work! Apparently a phd is a bit like a pregnancy?! The collection and analysis of data phase is like the gestation phase....and the write up like a horrible, long drawn out labour! So the viva would be like the actual moment of birth! Weird analogy I know but I kind of like it!!

i find it useful to do my annual review thingy's (we have to hand them into the School office at the end of each year to demonstrate our progress, what development courses we've attended etc).

every year i'm shocked at how far i've come since the last years review. it reminds you of how much work you can actually get done and makes the stuff you still have to do seem more manageable. a year is a long time and a lot can be achieved in it.

i'm due to submit my Psychology PhD thesis in July and can't believe how much i've managed to get done in my third year. i think a little 'oh my go i'm nearly finishing' anxiety is also a good motivator during the final stretch!!