That must have been a blood curdling moment to hear those words but great that you managed to go through it and argue your points well. That must have taken some doing so congrats on that! You've definitely passed so you can start calling yourself Dr! As others have mentioned a book - wow that's great news. Don't worry about the corrections - they probably just didn't like the way you structured one chapter or something like that as they can be very critical. I had a very long "general" questions section too before they got to the specifics! Overall my written comments were more positive than I thought as I didn't know what to feel afterwards - I think numb would have been a good word! I think we are often overly critical of ourselves especially just after the viva which wasn't as bad I thought it'd be! Glad to see that you've had some time to mull it over and it doesn't seem so bad. Once those corrections are out of the way you'll be fine. Good luck. (up)

You can do it - just think after this you'll be free! Have you done a detailed chapter plan so you can see where everything fits and do a little bit at a time? Hope this helps. Good luck (up)

======= Date Modified 06 Mar 2011 02:23:26 =======
Congrats Dr. Chuff that's excellent! Has it sunk in yet? I know it took ages for for mine to sink in and it was the most surreal experience ever especially when people ask you what you feel or are you relieved? I said I didn't feel anything as it just didn't feel like it was happening to me! I was in a daze for days and didn't begin to properly sink in until I got the offical letter so they couldn't change their minds!!!

I like your comment about if you knew what to do it's not original and you would be following a recipe! Very true indeed! Hope you're enjoying your celebrations! (up) ;-):p:-)

Hey Zoraxe what you're experiencing is normal - I felt like that for most of my time especially re the Red Queen Race! When one problem gets solved another one crops up and some just end up dragging on (well you understand the source of the problem but doesn't really get fixed so you have to live with it!) I always felt like I was behind as I had a very intensive work load and nothing ever goes to plan so allow yourself lots of time for things to slide/go wrong (sod's law) especially with lab work! There are few people that ever have everything under control although some are better than others at hiding it. Panic becomes your friend which is strangely odd but I think it contributes to the stress of doing a PhD!!! That is always below the surface which contributes to people's mnegative experiences which you probably have read on this forum and elsewhere! That's the nature of doing it - always on the edge!

You are also very lucky to be in a supportive department with a good supervisor which is essential as I'm sure you've also read here! Also great that your girlfriend understands that your PhD takes over your life and you will probably spend almost every waking moment thinking about it! Hang in there and you'll be ok! Most people feel like their breaking point is only 5 mins away and it gets worse in 2nd and 3rd year as I've just read a post that someone suggested the 2nd yr blues which I remember occurred around the 16 month stage and another one at the 28th month I think. I don't remember the 28th month one - just that I was strangely calm at that point despite still have loads of work, problems with data and needed some more (don't ask...) So you have to steel yourself and just work yourself through it! It's like an endurance test and think of the prize at the end!

It's a rollercoaster as you gets good days when everything works out and you have eureka moment(s) and bad days when you just wish you hadn't got out of bed! It's a very emotional process and you become very attached (too attached some would say) to your work the so ups and downs of it affect you more!

But remember you do need to take time off occasionally, enjoy yourself and switch off as much as possible otherwise you will go mad! Hope this helps and good luck with everything. Try to take it in your stride, take a step back and see the humour in some things!

Tough luck about the "dropbox" - just think of all that potential space you could have got!!! ;-)

I totally agree with Bilbo - there is nothing for it but to work through it I'm afraid! It is very common indeed to get the 2nd yr blues when you lose motivation or interest in your work. It just seems to hit even the most motivated and dedicated sometime in your 2nd yr and you realise that you have at least 1.5/2 more years of hard slog - what a glorious way to spend your life with your nose buried in books/the library, the lab or glued to a computer for analysis or write up! It can just be the monotony that is wearing you down - sorry to quote a cliche but it seems to apply - "Research is 99 % perspiration and 1 % inspiration!" So that might seem a bit drastic but you get the idea! It's completely normal especially as you are so absorbed in it!

How about taking a break and having a holiday for a week to refresh yourself? Or vary what you are doing so it's not so repetitive? Even a small change in routine helps esp if you are doing repetitive time consuming research. Go on spoil yourself and take that coffee break, go to the library to return that book(s) you've been putting off, go and do some exercise or take an outside hobby and make some time for yourself to relax and recharge your batteries.

But remembering that end goal should be incentive enough to pull yourself out. It's tough but it's needs to be done. How about mini-deadlines as Bilbo mentioned or make a schedule of when you have to do things by and stick to it. You could note down what you do each day so you can see how much you get done and what still needs to be done! You could arrange meetings with your supervisor and agree to have stuff done so that you have deadlines to stick to if you need some motivation to do stuff.

Hope this helps as you are at a tough stage now but keep going and you'll be fine. Just remember to take breaks and look after yourself and you'll get your energy back. It will pass. As you are ahead if schedule you can allow yourself some time off and recharge your batteries.

Good luck and tell us how it works out. (up) ;-)

Hello, I agree with the others - hang in there! It's nearly done and then you can take a long break! It sounds like you're overworked at the minute which is generally the way the closer a deadline gets. You'll get there and remember to get enough sleep which does wonders for refreshing you.

Good luck, take care and enjoy the holidays (up) (snowman) (robin) (gift) (tree) (turkey)

P.S. Chocolate does wonders too! ;-)

I know how you feel as I'm in same boat too!  It's pretty tough out there especially when you haven't got a PhD or any publications yet! I agree with Sneaks about the internal candidate or giving it to a person who is a few years post-PhD so they've done a postdoc already and have experience.  I've seen that under desirable experience in ads for postdocs which is a bit demoralising especially if haven't got that. It's hard to compete against that -it seems that we are at the bottom of the ladder again except for people who haven't submitted yet! 

I was told just to keep knocking on doors and publications are the key! If they like you they'll give you the job and train you in the skills if necessary so a lot of it is coming across well and being confident (harder to do than say!)  I'm applying for postdocs that are not exactly my field to broaden my search - I'm hoping to argue it's transferable skills or want new perspective or something like that. Good luck! (up)

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Congrats on finishing the beast ... that's a great achievement and a weight off your mind! Hope you're celebrating in style and enjoying actually having free time! It's such a novelty!

======= Date Modified 04 Dec 2010 00:28:54 =======
Congrats that's fab news ... good to hear another positive experience.  I'm starting it think perhaps it won't be soooooooooo bad after all as long as I do loads of prep! I should open the old thesis again to see what I wrote!  You'll be able to enjoy Christmas this year - it'll be great just to chill out! (gift) (robin) (snowman) (tree) (turkey)

======= Date Modified 04 Dec 2010 00:18:37 =======
Don't worry about going into a 4th year which is pretty standard as it's very rare that people finish within 3 years so I agree with what the others have said.  There are many factors which might mean you need longer, e.g. change of direction in research, difficulty with data gathering/analysis, having to learn techniques from scratch to analyse data etc... Even if everything goes to plan (very rare) as research seems to have a mind of its own it's very rare to finish within 3 years. It also depends on what the subject it is as I know a few people who have finished within 3 years in social sciences and it's practically unheard of in science (people seem to question how lab time you used as that is such a labour intensive part but then again that varies depending on techniques used as well) so there are many variables which affect how long it takes. 

Writing is another kettle of fish - everything takes twice as long as you think especially when preparing diagrams and their analysis/interpretation. Writing takes as long as it takes (there is a recent thread on this), some days you can write loads and really productive and other days you just struggle to write a page or even a couple of paragraphs.  It's a bit of a roller coaster so don't be too hard on yourself. You just need to keep at it and just plough on and it'll come together eventually!  And remember to take breaks - if you're having a bad day go and do something else for a while and come back to it with a fresh mind! And chocolate is the answer .... it doesn't matter what the question is!  ;-)

Excellent news ... a bit late to join the party but I've been distracted by the snow the past few days and testing my snowman building skills is essential in weather like this. You never know it could contribute to my PhD with such transferable skills! Good luck with the end bits - just keep going and it'll all get done somehow even if it doesn't feel like it now! I had this really weird feeling towards the end as it didn't sink in that I had to hand my thesis in a few weeks time. The viva seemed more real to me at that point for some weird reason but it all got done in the end.

(up) (snowman) ;-)

Glad to hear everything's on track and it has all worked out. I'll have to keep my fingers crossed and annoy some more people. My supervisor also said the same thing to me about publications as they suggested that publications were the key to getting a job to make yourself stand out especially in the current economic situation! In my field most people do at least 1 or more postdocs before they get a lectureship it would seem.

It would seem like a catch 22 position at the moment which I think I've mentioned before - how does anyone get their 1st postdoc if they've just finished a PhD and not done a postdoc before hence no experience? I've seen a few postdocs advertised that suggest having previous postdoc experience would be an advantage!

So I am considering diversifying into other areas that I have an interest in which are related to my main research topic although with a twist (quite a lot in some cases) with the hope of getting back into what I really want to do later once I get a few publications under my belt. That's a good idea to try and do some publications while I am waiting - it would certainly speed things up and get the ball rolling!

Just wondering if you know if there is a good way to ask someone if they're interested in collaborating with you? Is it too direct to just ask? Or is there better being more subtle?

Cheers :p

Congrats that's excellent and I'm glad to hear it was a good experience. Cheerful's definitely good. Could I also get the viva questions please as I should get a going to my prep too.

Thanks and good luck for the future (up) :p

Surely negative results are just as valid and extremely useful (in some cases perhaps more so). Your supervisor probably doesn't want to deal with negative results as they don't make "good" publications but at a recent meeting I was at academics were saying that many academics don't publish negative results as it's thought to be bad for getting funding etc... especially if you're early career. But these results are just as useful to tackle the problems in the research that most people will know about it. And with more of these results published there can be more frank discussions on to deal with these problems and move the subject forward. It saves other prople going down the same path too. Isn't that what science is all about? It's not perfect and there are many unknowns out there so some of them are bound to be dead ends or negative results but all results help in a constantly evolving subject.

Hope this helps ... good luck and stick at it.

P.S. Is this more a problem your supervisor has in that they can't be wrong or been seen to look "unsuccessful?"

Congrats on the lecturing post - that's excellent news! I'll have to get tips on getting one of those those though I'm trying the ole postdoc route first.

Great to hear that your supervisor is working hard to get stuff back to you. I'm sure there won't be too many major changes, probably just small ones. I did manage to track down my supervisor when I was back at uni and they were quite "helpful" and even mentioned writing papers which is what they are really interested in all along! We'll have to see how this works!!!