Hi,

The programme I am on is a 1 + 3 programme and that is not what it means in my case.

I think these are normally PhDs with an integrated MSc, so the first year is your MSc year and you get more training and support and quite often you will be working on the same or a similar project so you are able to hit the ground running when you start the PhD properly. Other courses have the MSc as a "rotation" year where you get to work on different projects or in different departments to get a better idea of what subject or supervisor you want for your main 3 year project. In some courses the 1st year is more focused on training and you get more support, but doesn't lead to a formal, separate qualification. I have never heard of a 1+3 programme where the final year is an optional year at the end, rather than an integral part of the course at the beginning, but that doesn't mean they don't exist!

I have been told that the 1+3 programme in the format I have described is becoming more and more common as it helps to speed up the early stages of a PhD because students are already acclimatised and makes it more likely that people will finish on time.

Hi guys. I am a PhD student in my first year and I am struggling a lot with stress. I have been on anti-depressants since doing my MSc last year but I am still finding things very difficult. This has lead to me doing almost no work so far. A huge part of the problem is that I will miss one meeting early in the week due to unnecessary panic or a migraine and then I get so irrationally terrified of my supervisor being angry that I am miserable for the rest of the week. After missing a meeting on a Monday or Tuesday I will be so scared and ashamed that I hide in bed during working hours and I can’t even check my email or answer the phone until Saturday in case my supervisor tries to contact me.

The thing is, so far my supervisor has been wonderful. Logically I think all of my feelings are completely ridiculous because he has never ever been cross or even critical regarding anything I have done. I feel that since I am only six months in there is still time for me to succed at this project, but it is running out. I would really like to be able to explain my situation to my supervisor and I feel as though if I knew for sure he understood then I would not feel so wretchedly guilty when I fail to meet all of my responsibilities.

My project is totally computer based and at the moment when I don’t come in my supervisor trusts me and assumes I am working from home, when in reality I am usually hiding under the covers feeling bad about something I didn’t do three days ago. I think I would get a lot more work done if I came in every day, but in the morning my resolve crumbles and I can’t go in because I imagine I will be judged. If I was a little more accountable to somebody or even thought that somebody would notice if I wasn’t coming in, I think I would be progressing. I just don’t know how to raise these issues because my supervisor has treated me like a responsible person and I don’t know how to admit that I want him to assign me a babysitter.

I think a PhD should be self-motivated and I don’t think that it is my supervisor’s job to help me with these things, so I am too embarassed to ask, even though I think if I did then he would be supportive. My project is amazing though and if I don’t make a success of it because I am too afraid to try then I will never get over the disappointment. The way I feel is nothing to do with the actual work or the actual people, I just can't get past these imaginary disasters.

Does anybody have experience of raising these issues with a supervisor? How did you do it and how did they respond? I would like to “come clean” about my lack of progress and discuss it with him, but I don’t know where to start. Any advice welcome!

Could it be that if you expanded on the work you have already done it would be publishable, whereas if you move on to different areas then you could "lose" the work you have already done if somebody else gets it out first?

If that could be what your supervisor is concerned about then maybe their advice is good, you should discuss it with them and make it clear what you would prefer to do, and ask them to explain why they think you should do it differently.