Hi all,
A friend suggested to me that since I have been ambivalent about my PhD project for a while now, perhaps I should down grade it to MPhil and get out early. It's now 18 months since I started. I wondered how this might look to prospective employers (outside academia) - will it look like I couldn't go the distance and get the PhD? or would it look better than say if I were to withdraw after two years and not have a qualification to show for it? at my institution MPhil is up to 60 000 words and PhD is 80 - 100 000, which does kind of suggest one should write a bit more and get the PhD. but one has serious doubts about one's capacity to stick it out, and secretly wants to get out of academia and get a job.
what do you think?

======= Date Modified 27 Jan 2011 00:31:44 =======
======= Date Modified 27 Jan 2011 00:31:27 =======

Thank you, this is really helpful! My university does offer stand alone MPhil in this discipline, so that's potentially a good option for me as a middle ground between sticking it out to get the PhD and quitting. I'm going to investigate a bit further what the change would involve. Thanks for saying it should be regarded as a significant achievment, I think I'd feel a lot better about completing an MPhil than if I just withdrew without completing anything.
Much thanks :)