He's very considerate and helpful and I honestly feel like he "likes" me in some way (even if he probably thinks I'm a lost cause). He is also very frank. However, the fact that he's nice makes me worry that perhaps what he said was in fact his way of trying to stroke my ego (which makes it all the more depressing). He explained well why he thinks the way he does, and I agree with him on most of his points. However, I may not be a genius (or even too clever), but it doesn't mean I'm entirely useless in my field (or at least at the moment I don't accept that...).

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While discussing post-graduate opportunities, I was recently told by my thesis suspervisor that neither does he believe that I am "PhD material" nor does he sees me working in my field of study. It doesn't get much more depressing than that. Despite how bad it sounds, he doesn't actually dislike me.

He threw out some ideas of what he sees me doing well at, and none of them involve working at a fast-food/supermarket chain. However, I don't know how much I should take his words without a grain of salt or two:

1. I'm not finished with my thesis
2. All the courses of his I'd taken were not only difficult but extremely confusing and I had no prerequesite knowledge of the subjects
3. I'm terrible at exams anyway (much better at papers/projects)
4. His background/specialities are entirely different from mine
5. He's much, much, much smarter than me overall

I'm not against his ideas for my future (in fact some of them I'd thought about myself before), but I somehow don't think that ANY related field would want someone whose letter of recommendation + transcripts can be summarised as: "He tries really hard, and has lots of skills, but none of them are well-suited to the field he actually studied".

How do I get a job in a related field with such a performance record? Similarly, how could I apply to a PhD programme in a related field when my performance has been less than perfect?

P.S. I know that I can of course get a job in an entirely-different field, but:
a) at the moment I'm determined to do something related to my studes (it's why I studied them, after all)
b) it will present similar problems nevertheless

Cheers for any advice.