Hi I was just wondering if anyone could tell me the difference between an MD and PhD? Im currently in the second year of my PhD and Im finding it really hard work. Recently we have had a student who is in the first year of medical school working in our lab and they are really annoying me. They keep saying that they are going to do an intercalated PhD and complete in less than two years as "it can't be that difficult as long as you work hard" (he's incredibly arrogant). I don't understand how you can complete (write up, submit and viva) a PhD in just two years (unless you are very lucky or very brilliant), does he mean he is doing the MD? At my uni you can do MD, MPhil or PhD, but MD and MPhil take the same amount of time (2 years full time) therefore I assumed that the MD was not as good as the PhD. Can anyone shed some light on this, please?

Thanks

Do you always do your assay in a room with a constant temperature? When pipetting very small volumes differences in temperature can change liquid volumes thereby increasing you error %. I know this only makes a small difference but sometimes lots of little things happening together can lead to large % errors.

Don't worry it will come then you'll be a pipetting master!

Hi sorry to hear you've had such a hard time. Im really impressed that you've stuck with it and not given up.

Could you intermit for a period of time offically but actually keep working at home thereby extending your time left? Intermitting isn't something I would normally suggest unless you actually have a medical reason but if its that or fail maybe its a loophole you could think about.

Hope you manage to sort something out!!!

Hi LostinOz I was wondering if your feelings about quitting could be tied up with the fact that a family member has recently past away? Grief can take on many forms and can hit you at different times in your life. Is there anyone you could talk to about this?

I would suggest taking sometime out to think about things. Concentrate on getting healthy (start eating more etc) and then make a decision. This is too big a decision to rush. Although you can always start another PhD at a different point in your life you have come so far already it would be a shame to leave too quickly and then wish you had stayed.

What ever decision you make I hope you will be happy!!!

Jouri, I agree with Procrastinator (although not the way they said it) you shouldn't put someones name on a paper without them agreeing to it. You may have put some new and interesting ideas in the paper that although worthy of publication weren't ideas he agreed with.

Also you said that group leaders get their names on papers without doing anything well often thats not true. Im not sure about your situation, but often they write the grant proposal for funding for the PhD/PostDoc in the first place and often (in labs) provide equiment and/or reagents that you used to get data with.

Confused, Im sorry but I think you were in the wrong. I guess with both yours and Jouri's situations the moral of the story is to talk to your supervisor (or at the very least email them). Im sure that given a few weeks things will calm down and you'll be back on track.

I hope you things work out with your new supervisor too

Hi mokey,

I had the same worries when I went to my first conference also by myself. I would suggest smart/casual then you'll fit in fine between the people who are very smart and the people who turn up in jeans etc.

As for what people talk about, everyone I spoke to was very encouraging when i said i was a first year student. Nobody grilled me on my topic most people just chatted nicely gave me suggestions. With the other students and younger PostDoc I found we chatted less about work as the conference went on and we got to know each other.

The main thing is try to enjoy it. Just before i went to my first conference i was feeling a bit low, but going there and hearing baout people's work and talking to everyone really inspired me. I hope you come away from your conference feeling the same

I'm in the second year of my PhD and I'm starting to have real worries about whether I have the ability to finish what I've started. In the first 6-8 months of my PhD I produced quite a few results but since then I have done nothing. I seem to hit a brick wall with everything I do. I'm begining to wonder if its me thats the problem and I have bitten off more than I can chew. My supervisor is always very positive when I speak to him, but I worry he thinks I'm doing more than I am. Its just me in the lab as my supervisor is too busy to do lab work, there aren't any other students and there isn't a PostDoc. I know a lot of people don't get results till their third year, but knowing that doesn't stop me worrying!

I think the project is the most important due to the amount of time you have to spend on it, followed closely by your supervisor as you will need their support. When I was looking for a PhD I looked at the supervisors publication record. Good publication record probably means they have a good reputation and within your field I think that is more important an the uni.

I'm in my second year and finding it really tough, but when an experiment works its wicked. Good excuse to go out drinking. Another good excuse - 'networking' at conferences. Being in charge of my hours is great too. I do a lot outside me PhD and can only fit it in because of the flexible nature, if I need to start late then I can work late to make up for it

Give the guy a break! He was just trying to do something nice. And for all of you who said that he must think jojo is incapable and helpless, I think it says more about you. If you react to everyone trying to help you by assuming they think you are incapable you could miss out on a lot. Even if nothing came of this introduction its always good to know more people in your general field. I agree with Adem that this guy didn't go about things in the right way, but everyone makes mistakes.

Thanks for all the replies and advice. I replied to the conference organiser today accepting their invitation, so fingers crossed I do a good job so they don't regret asking!

Hi Picchu_flower,

I've just been through the same thing. I was really motivated when I first started my PhD and was sure it was what I really wanted. Then about 6-8 months in and with no results I started to question why I was putting myself through this and lost all motivation for just over a month. Then I went to a conference (even though I didn't really want to) and had a brilliant time. It really sparked my imagination again and things definitely picked up after that. I think I was concentrating to hard on the overall goal and forgetting to set things I could get done in shorter periods of time. I started writing down goals for each week and now I feel more like I getting somewhere.

Hope that helps! Good luck with it all

I'm at the end of my first year and been to one conference where I presented a poster. I'm going to another conference next month and wanted to present another poster, but they have asked me to give a 10 mins talk instead. I'm not sure if I can ask to just do the poster without being rude. I don't think my work is good enough to talk about and I'm worried I'll get ripped to shreds in the Q&A. Does being 'invited' really mean you have to do it?

I've just been to my first conference too. I wore smart casual clothes in the day and evening apart from when we went down the pub with the other PhD students then I just wore jeans and a t-shirt. Most people wore smart casual clothes all the time. I took a variety of things with me as I was unsure about what to wear.

I really enjoyed my first conference and learnt lots. Try and talk to as many different people as possible and you should have a good time.

Hope you enjoy it

Hi Jennifr,

Welcome to the forum!