I'm living thro' hell in my head. Just finished my masters and been trying to get a PhD. Thing is, funding is not even the prob for me. I can't seem to come up with a project ( how stupid is that). I'm so scared to jump into a project for the heck of it incase 18 months down the line I hate the topic and I can't do it. Maybe I'm regressing &-|

Why dont you apply for projects that already have decided titles?

you doing a PhD roopa? In what?

Sorry I'm a mere masters student. I'm applying for Phds in neuroscience though.

ahh well good luck roopa. Start early I would say

I am not sure for your field but in Engineering sciences your initial topic is always different to what you end up doing... normally. Though it is not as different as apples and oranges. The first year is for you to figure it out so as long as you get the area correct, the actual topic is not set in stone. Maybe I am wrong for the case of neurosciences though.

i'm pretty much in the smae position, there's loads of things i'd like to do but trying to formalise this into a pesearch topic is a nightmare.

I've gone down the other route a few times (graduated 2003)and had 4 interviews for different PhDs and been unsuccessful everytime, mainly i think cos i wasn't passionate enough about the topic, especially as I'm quite reticent anyway.

hope you come up with something, what area/subject do you want to study?

Thanks guys, I know I will in due time. It's frustrating but I'm keeping the faith.. I'm working on hopefuly starting it in Sep/Oct. What2donext. Apparently you have been missing in action after completing ur PhD. Well hope all's well on ur end