For me the alarm bells were 'ended up meeting single women', 'Thailand', 'this was really fun', 'chick' and 'went out 4 times'...

I think it depends on what situations different people find stressful. Pm133 says call centre helplines are stressful - well I worked in one for 4 years and never once did I feel stressed, but I like to keep busy so... On the other hand, I worked in a strict office with multiple time specific deadlines per day and that was incredibly stressful for me. I've never really found my PhD or academic job stressful over a long period of time, just for short bursts. I would also agree that manual jobs are tiring. I've worked on a shop floor where you can't sit down all day, or been out gardening all day, and that is more tiring that sitting at my desk writing lectures and teaching material and marking work and replying to emails, which is what basically what my teaching in HE job is.

I lived on £8k during 2014 and I had a car, a 2 bed flat and lived in a city centre. No dependants or debts though. Wouldn't call it comfortable, but I did it.

I think you'll be fine, just get both of their input and bend your PhD to the direction you want to go as much as possible.

It can be done. Make a realistic timetable of what you are going to do each day over the next month and stick to it.

A PhD is not just another qualification. If you 'do it all on the weekend', you will most likely fail. It's something that sucks up all your time and energy - you're trying to know everything in your field, plus do new research at the same time. Personally I would not consider doing a PhD part time, but that's just me.

Part-time - you need 15 hours a week, every week, minimum. You are expected to be interacting with others in the department, especially if lab based. It's less about study time and more about research time. You don't really worry about writing one until you've done at least 2.5 years of full time research.

Not sure where to start with this...

Not that i know of - why do you want one?

[quote]Quote From pm133:
A few thoughts here.

It is almost impossible to fail a PhD these days. Pretty much everybody who makes it to the end and submits a thesis will gain the doctorate. /quote]

I'd say this is the key point: if you make it to the end. The drop out rate is pretty high in some disciplines, particularly for self funded students.

I would agree, it's mostly riding on the interview now ie their perceptions of you. Are you resilient, are you knowledgeable, are you interested, are you capable and do they think you will fit into the research group?

If someone has the worst application, but did the 'best' at interview, I no longer care about the application. If they gave a crap interview but have a great application, they have no chance.

This is the same in any interview in my experience, although there's no 'point scoring' in academia like there is in business. They just give it to who they want to give it to. Doesn't matter, the outcome is the same.

Hi, I can give you an example. My group hired a PhD student this year who had a 2.1 over someone with a first. The decision was based on this student was really keen, had lab experience in the area, had links with some of our collaborators and seemed a good fit with the lab.

Not going to lie, he takes longer to 'get' stuff than I expected, but overall was a good choice. Our take on the 1st class candidate was that he would get bored quickly in our not very advanced lab and that he was a bit arrogant and we didn't like it.

I also know why I was hired over other PhD candidates (although I do have a 1st) - again because of lab fit, because I also had a masters, because I had a job first (perception of maturity/experience) and because I showed a genuine interest in the project and did my homework on background reading for the project. The next candidate in line got a PhD a few years later, so I don't feel too bad :P

If the university is asking to change supervisor, then that's what you have to do. Speak to your head of graduate school or similar if you're unsure.

No idea. Anyone else?

This is a difficult time for you right now. I wouldn't make any rash decisions. Think about whether you want to stay on. Your supervisor didn't expect this result so you can't be that bad. Did you expect to fail? I'd be surprised if university policy allowed you to just leave like this - don't they want to retain their students? I've never heard of this before. People are usually given several chances to improve before they are told they can't continue. Unless you were in some kind of probationary period I guess? But I've never heard of that either.

You failed your first year viva and they kicked you off? What happened to an action plan for improvement? I would go and see your postgraduate admin personal or head of grad school or students' union sharpish. Tell them you were nervous or something and want a second shot at it. Then read like hell for a week - there can't be that much you don't know.

You'll most likely get your next stipend, because it's due in April right? They won't have time to cancel it.

I bet you will still get paid if you appeal, yes. You'll be paid for as long as you are a registered student.