If you think you are going to have some "spare" money from your stipend during your PhD, is it worth using it to pay off some of your student debt, or is that pointless?

At the moment though i think this forum beats facebook any day, because it actually relates to my life, with people who understand what i am going through.

I was convinced to get facebook about a year into my undergrad. I have hundreds of "friends" on there. I hardly ever use it. It is just rubbish in my opinion. Furthermore people post photos of you from a night out regardless of how crappy the photo is, and that isn't good. People often just waste their time on facebook and i think it adds to insecurity over relationships and friends, constantly needing to be validated with some stupid profile update with some random statement- and constantly checking for replies. I have long considered deleting my facebook account because it adds no value to my life, but i am keeping it because it is good for one reason, and that is it is like an address book of people. Half these people i would probably forget i knew if it wasn't for facebook and would never actually have their numbers on my phone, but, just incase one day i need to contact somebody, then i have their names there.

It is good to be aware too that if you have an addictive personality it can be dangerous. Infact, very similar to drug rehabs, they have had to make facebook rehabs (i believe mostly in America) for people addicted to it.

I recently had a discussion about the worth of facebook to my life too because it is difficult to know if you are missing out on something important. Many people use it and a few successfully use it to enhance their social lives (organising when to go out in person). Others use it in a fashion that actually damages their social lives, their relationships (watch Jeremy Kyle lol) or even decreases their contact with real life people. There has been everything from paedophile facebook rings busted in the newspapers to people fired from their jobs by posting off-hand comments on facebook. But of course those things are few and far between. It isn't at all useful in professional (academic) networking or your image in that world. There are other netwroking sites for academics and professionals like linked-in or other more specific networks to individual fields (ask your professor, or google their names to see where you find them).

I don't think most people take facebook as far as the south park episode, i mean i have never even seen this farm application that many comedians and south park refers to, but sure there are some who get stuck into it.

I knew many PhD students who checked their facebook page whilst in university, to me as an undergrad i thought this was very unprofessional, but there must be something to it, perhaps a little break and a connection to prevent the isolation from getting to you. So is facebook a valid tool for sanity and social connection over a time period of years that may keep you from seeing your friends in person regularly? Perhaps so, it is hard to tell. I don't know how i will feel about it months from now. Maybe i will become a regular facebooker, i don't know. I will just see how it goes.

Ender

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I feel when people do PhDs they are mostly doing it for their own personal satisfaction, which is good. But in the career world a PhD in physics is worthy if you decide to continue with physics. Other people will argue that there are many transferrable skills if you want to go into a different career if you do a PhD in physics (without a doubt more so than any other subject), but remember that there will be people specifically trained in those other careers who will get that job instead. Transferrable skills may have been more important in the past but in these days with no jobs then you really have to be the best qualified for what you want to do. It would be extra difficult to do a PhD in physics if it isn't something that you intend on using to your advantage afterwards.

If you do intend on going into banking i think it would be better to do something business or finance related, because remember you will be up against an army of people with PhDs in business and finance and all you will have is a PhD in physics.

If actually you do really want to have a career in physics, but just afraid about the job prospects, i'd say go for it anyway. There is no reason why you can't be the one who makes it.

Ender

I would suggest, before quitting, it is a good idea to form an idea on what alternative jobs will be open to you- have a look at the job market and see if you can time your departure to fit with times when job openings are more likely.

Another option. I know people who have been able to change supervisors (or add additional supervisors, or change the weighting of work between supervisors and co-supervisors) whilst keeping the same project and funding. The department wants you to do well, it looks good on them, so if you discuss your communication difficulties with the head of postgrad studies then they may be able to do something to make communications easier.

It does sound like the balance is tipped to quiting though, if you hate everything about it then this department may not be for you.

Ender

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Just seeing the title of this post makes me really want chocolate.

But if you think you are eating out of habit or as a distraction (and if you think it is making you unhealthy) try substituting the food. I read in the "tips" section of this site that it is a good idea to substitute chocolate for a healthier alternative like carrots. When i was in America the person i was staying with liked to snack on these little baby carrots. You can eat them with dip if you like, they sell this lovely spinach dip over there (yeah it doesn't sound nice- spinach dip, but it is really nice!) but i am sure there are many nice dips. So you can treat yourself with other nice foods that are more healthy.

I am not sure how related this actually is to your post, but i hope it helps.
(i'm starting to realise that i am talking about food a lot, and realised i forgot to eat today, been too busy, i have to get that corrected- and here i am giving advice on eating!- whilst half thinking that it is another 2 and a 1/2 hrs before the shops open if i want to go on an early morning chocolate shopping spree).

Ender

Thanks KB!

That's really useful thanks, i didn't really understand how it worked with papers, but that makes a lot of sense. It gives me a lot to think about. I think having a focus with publishing papers is really good, gives the whole thing more structure, i think i will put that approach to my professors and see what they think. My PhD will have a number of parts, first i have to do the whole review thing and design an approach, then i have to learn how to fabricate my project and make a method of making it, then testing and characterising. So most of my final data analysis depends on successfully making the device i need to analyse. Of course there is all the theory, and i will have to do some computer modelling too- something tells me it will take me more than 3 years, but i will do my best!

Ender

This is really interesting. I am in the UK doing Physics. Does anybody know if it is normal to publish a few papers during a physics PhD? or is it just usually one big one at the end? Should i be aiming to get papers published each year?

Also keenbean, what do you mean by saying you had 5 chapters accepted for publication, chapters of your thesis? if so, how can chapters be published separately? or do you mean you were waiting for the others to be accepted?

Often in Physics when PhD students go to conferences they present their work using posters, but don't necessarily present papers all the time. How would you choose whether to present a poster or a paper?

Also, if i publish a paper on my prjoect, doesn't that mean my name will be the first author? since it is all my work? under what circumstance would you be a middle-author?

Ender

I think i already answered the questions, but maybe written more concisely (and only in my opinion)

1) No- in general most people will see a PhD as higher than a Masters despite the institution
2) Yes- as i said earlier- the institution, by league table rankings, doesn't matter as much for a PhD since league tables don't tell you which university is best at your specialisation. If you go to a university that isn't good at your specialisation then yeah that matters because you wont do very well. If you are going into industry research then yes it does matter more at Masters level which university you went to because of elitism.

If your looking for specific info about Manchester and Salford then i haven't got a clue sorry.

Personally i don't think the rankings matter with science subjects at PhD level. I think it matters a little bit more at undergrad level (if you don't intend to continue your studies). The reason i didn't go to Cambridge at undergrad was because of money worries, i could have got in. But the reason i am not going to Cambridge for a PhD is because of PhD projects and department specialisations and reputation.

When you get to PhD level every department is so specialised- you can't compare. If i want to do a certain subject then there are universities lower in the ranking tables that are far better and far more universally renowned than Cambridge for that particular specialisation. I think it is really good to find a good university with a proven track record, and check where the PhD students end-up in the end, how many papers the group get out and the quality of them, the reputation of your professor/supervisor in the field, all those things are important, but for a specialised topic this doesn't correlate with university ranking tables.

It depends on the topic, and of course your interest will be in the actual projects available. If you intend to go for a job afterwards that doesn't relate to your science area then yeah the average joe on the street will think Cambridge is more impressive (even if it is not in that particular area).

My masters was painful, if i learnt anything from my masters it was how painful research can be. I made lots of mistakes both in my lifestyle and way of research that i hope i have now learnt from. It all depends on the type of course you are doing, really. If you are in science it is useful to have time working independently in a lab which you get from your masters and 3rd year project. Getting to know how things work in research. So really more to do with the experience of it (working with PhD students daily), which also helps you to decide if a PhD is for you.

Contents and knowledge wise i personally wouldn't say you are at much of a disadvantage. If you had gone to do a masters that was a very similar area to your PhD sure you would have that extra knowledge and that would make things easier, but starting a PhD there is a whole load of new learning and, at least i have been told since i haven't started mine yet, a really steep learning curve.

So sorry i can't really give much advice on whether it is a bad choice or not, i guess it depends how ready you feel.
One thing that i would say is i think it is common to worry about whether you are good enough or not, whether you did a masters or not, so don't let that put you off. If at anytime you feel stupid i think it is important not to be hard on yourself thinking it may have been a bad choice not doing a masters because you can bet the people who did a masters are probably also feeling that pressure.

And hey, if you have been accepted on a funded PhD course it means they have full confidence in you!

Ender

I'm in a similar position. I will be starting my PhD soon and there will, at some stage, be some programming. Although i did programming modules in my undergrad i have never used it for anything and that was years ago. I suggest that you are completely honest about it with your supervisor, there may also be a course in the grad school you can do.
I told my supervisor about my situation when we first met to discuss the PhD. He was really nice about it- he said we can learn together. I think we may also be using Python. In my undergrad we were using Fortran.

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Thanks everybody, i'm really seeing the value of these forums now! all of this has been so helpful.

I think the 8/8/8 approach is a good suggestion, and i had never even heard of the pomodoro technique, i wish i had known about that earleir, it looks good. The comments about quality over quantity is really useful- and to get that a balance is really important. I had been wondering about the risk of burn-out without the right kind of balance. I wasn't sure if PhD students were allowed to even utter the words "life-balance", but i am glad it is something we can try to aim for, even if we have to be our own enforcers against the will of supervisors. I think i will start with 9-5 at the begining like many of you have said. If i find it fits okay without too much exhaustion i will try to stay until later in general. Working late for experiments i have no problem with, and staying later when the day is productive is a good idea.

I know that some weekends i will have to spend time in the lab because of long processes in the clean room which have to be done without interruption, but hopefully that wont be every weekend!

I have also been very unsure about my path. After my masters in physics (where i got a first), and also after being treated like a PhD student during it, my brain was becoming fried (it was super-stress and at the time i was going through other problems so i wasn't sleeping). I decided to pursue a "normal" life and become a teacher, dreams of being able to settle down, have a famly, thinking that my career ambition didn't matter anymore. It did. I had to look through proper physics books just to keep myself sane. I wanted to follow my dream. I realised that there was no way i would be happy otherwise.

After training and being in a couple of schools as placements, teaching up to A-level (18yrs old), i decided that i had made a mistake, i wanted to do my PhD. I like working with kids and do it in a few other roles i hold, but i wanted to do the PhD for me, and for a different future career. Many reasons. So i gave them their money back (they were willing to pay physicists a lot of money to train as teachers because they had this idea that they need proper scientists to become teachers- i no longer think that is so), and quit the whole thing.

Finding myself at the wrong time of the year for most PhD entries i was being pressured financially from all directions, so went on the "back-up" job hunt for jobs in industry with physics. Even after going through some lengthy interview and presentation processes with industry and also holding agencies at bay, i wasn't sure. The money was tempting, but when the offers came close i just felt that it was not right. I knew what i wanted to do, i was just pretty scared about the prospect, the gamble of waiting for something that may not come quick enough.

Now i know for sure that doing this PhD was the right thing, it just feels so right. I will be starting the end of this month. I can hardly explain it. I was so happy when i found out i got my PhD, and came out top of all candidates, that i was roilling on the floor! I guess what i am saying is that it is more important to follow your heart, your passion. That's what i think. I think that should help to decide which PhD to do.

I am glad now though that i took the route that i did because it gives me more perspective and more passion to do the PhD (not going into it sluggish like i would have). Taking a year out in a different world, looking at teaching and industry, and seeing how life can be. I can't imagine anything else i would prefer to do with the next 3 years of my life, the choices seemed to be to basically work your way up in a job you probably are not so passionate about or do something that you really want to do.

I see what you mean about the postdoc thing, but that is one of the things about doing a PhD, you pretty much have to go in with the attitude that yes you will have to move about a bit because it is so specialised until you can settle down. It is just one of those sacrifices (but often people have to move about for other jobs too). But i was talking to my Professor about this, he gave a good speech, i wish i could remember it, but it convinced me that it isn't such a dangerous route, the speech was something about uncertainty, and about learning to be okay with uncertainty. He also said that most people he knew who graduated and went straight into these jobs are now not doing as well as the people like himself who did the whole postdoc thing. In any case, it is hard for me to name Professors and Doctors in my dept who dont have families and kids, and whilst i was in my small group of around 10 PhD students (when i was a masters student) about 4 of them came into show off their new borns, so people manage to have relationships.

Ender

Hi Everybody,

I am starting a PhD at the end of this month. I have been trying to think about what kind of general schedule i should have. I know in reality, because it is science, and with experiments, i could be staying very late unexpectedly.

However, as a general rule, i am trying to think about what time i should spend at uni. I can get there by 8.30am to properly start at 9am. I was once told by a Professor quite negatively that "you can tell that some of the PhD students just don't want to be here, you can see they don't want to come in and they are only hear from 9-5. If you want to make a difference you have to put in the time."

So i have been thinking, what time do i suppose to leave? i know lots of the Professors at my uni stay until about 6pm. But in my schedule it would mean i would have to get a late transport, and wouldn't be home until about 7.30pm- which doesn't leave much time to do all the normal things like eating, exercising, showering. When i was an undergrad it wasn't a problem- i hardly ever slept, but i am taking sleep seriously this time around.

I am very happy to stay until late at night on nights when i am doing experiments and things like that, no problem. But as a general less-than-active kind of day, what time should i think of packing up, 5.30pm?

Ender