Reading this thread I am actually surprised by some of these comments which really need qualification as not all African countries are developing and certainly South Africa is not the hallmark. Plus African scientists who do train abroad are tending to go back and train other scientists (they also collaborate with other universities). The question was in regard to continuing their studies in Africa to which they seem to feel strongly about. The best thing to do when in doubt is just phone the universities in question.

jobs.ac.uk

I would agree with your perception of the e-mail that he wanted to see the proposal which you had already written. Although I am not sure what the difference would be in terms of the one you wrote before and the PhD proposal you have yet to write as I am assuming they will have the same background knowledge unless new papers/evidence means you need to update the research proposal you have already written.

If in doubt ask the potential supervisor in question but sometimes it is best to present your ideas in person as these are your ideas so protect them.

Many faculty members are on holidays right now so i agree leave it for a couple of weeks. Good Luck

I am really sorry to hear your story.

The good thing is that from what you say you have a nice supervisor who at the end of the day is really the only one that can turn your fortunes around by rallying the postdocs to be more helpful in your final year. I therefore suggest you write him an e-mail of your progress (i.e. what experiments you have done to date and the outcome) and your worries without going into too much detail about what brought you to this position (i.e. how the postdocs treated you) so that both of you can come up with a feasible action plan in the time you have left. Following this you will have to make sure that you follow the plan/timeline so as not to give anyone an excuse to ignore you again.

On another note forget about what you want to do afterwards for now as this is just an unnecessary distraction. If all your data is going to come from the work you do in your final year (if you mean year four) then writing as you go on will be a good idea as you need at least three months to write-up without distractions. Not looking after yourself is going to slow the work down along with thinking about who is or not your friend as this only leads to paranoia. At the end of the day, do you really want to be friends with these people?

I have been in a similar situation to you but it will all come good in the end just hang on, the year will go quickly.
Good Luck

Hi Guys,

Reading Dan B's post again I can see it in the light it was meant I just guess I had a bad week and so have just been feeling a bit vulnerable. Never imagined that the PhD could be like a pressure cooker. I mean I knew the situation in Year 1 but it didn't really register but coming up to the last three months of lab work everything in the past seems to be linking up. I have now taken some time off and my strategy is just to distance myself from negative energy- which has made me feel much better.

I guess calma will take care of the rest. Thanks for all the comments.

This forum is great though I was a member years ago but somehow forgot about it - which I really regret as the stories/people here are very relatable.

I think it is so easy to say "Life is only unfair if you let it be" .
Unfortunately we live in a world where we have to interact with other people and while I don't blame you for making such a comment it implies that the problem is somehow made up. I did start almost three years ago very positive about everything but that all went away when my supervisor showed preferences in terms of who he would give the most support to.

I have come to terms with the fact that a supervisor has to make sure everyone passes but it still hurts now and again. So maybe one day I can come to your level of enlightenment - but looking at other message boards you may be one of the few people who can reach those heights.

Why is it that it is acceptable for supervisors to add more workload to the people who work the hardest and longest and let the lazy people get off the hook.

I am in my final year and throughout my PhD, I have optimised and contributed to a fellow students PhD work who is at the same stage as me. Whilst they focus on there other work and dont even acknowledge my contribution. I wouldnt be complaining if this worked both ways but I have received no help even when I asked. Plus they are so under-handed that I wouldnt even trust them to do it properly. So while they have admitted they were lazy for most of their PhD I have had to work most week-ends. They have waited for me to optimize a technique then have copied me after I had made the protocol.

I dont necessarily need any advice because it is to late but sometimes I just want to know that I am not crazy and things are unfair.

I am not the only one in my group who has experienced this, but in a way I dont know who is to blame. I could say it was my supervisor or my fellow weak student but at the end of the day maybe it is the funding bodies who are less likely to give a supervisor another grant if they have a failed PhD student in their group. Which means that supervisors will do anything to get a weak student over the finishing line even though it is detrimental to other students.

Seriously there have been times where I wanted to act weak just to be treated differently as i can get the how are things conversation rather than the optimise conversation.Arrrghhh