======= Date Modified 26 Jan 2010 00:21:30 =======
Hey! Rants are what we are here for! What your supervisor did sounds completely unprofessional really- it's not good to go slating another person's PhD the week before their viva, or at all for that matter. Pointing out limitations of people's work is one thing, but what your supervisor did sounds particularly insensitive. Personally, I would be tempted to just try to ignore it and concentrate on your viva- if you were going to say anything you would need to know for sure exactly what was said, and whether this other PhD student had exaggerated it in any way and so on. I think the last thing you need this week is a major row over it, so I would try to let it pass. The other question would appear to be- if the data analysis is so awful, why would your supervisor let you submit it? So either your data analysis really isn't that bad, or your supervisor didn't know any better anyway- if it was so bad your supervisor thought you would fail, then I'm sure he/she wouldn't have let you handed it in to start with. Sounds like the PhD student is also crassly insensitive- why would anyone say that to you a week before your viva? I'm not surprised you are pissed off- you have every right to be. Personally, my supervisor has made bitchy comments to me about another PhD student of hers who she didn't get on well with, and it's just really awkward and none of my business either. And of course it makes you wonder what they're saying behind your back too... Try to focus on the important things for now, not the tittle tattle- you can have that one out next week if you need to, i.e. after your viva! Hope it goes well- it never seems to be as bad as people think so I'm sure you will be fine! KB

Hey Phoebe- I think the others have already said it really, but just to re-iterate! Everyone feels a bit out of their depth to start with, it's completely normal, and in my experience everything seems to just get more confusing for quite a while, and then suddenly something clicks and you find yourself feeling a bit more on top of things, a bit more like you can do it, and you start to enjoy yourself and develop more confidence (hopefully!). Absolutely do not compare yourself to others- there are plenty of PhD students in my department who are mostly mouth, and it would be easy to feel inferior. There always seems to be someone who is much further ahead, has more data, has presented at more conferences, has more publications etc (and what's more they love to talk about it very loudly!), but every project is completely different and people work differently and have different priorities. Equally, people come to the PhD with different strengths. Some people need to get used to writing in an academic style, some people have nailed that already but have no people skills, some people have both and some people have neither. If you really need some reassurance, go speak to your supervisor and tell him how you are feeling. He/she will no doubt reassure you that you are good enough- they were happy to keep you on at the same uni so they must see the potential in you! Best wishes, KB

Hi Sneaks, I have exactly the same problem as you- when I have something serious to do, I like to have a whole day to sit and focus on it. This is quite problematic for me too, because I am out testing my participants most days of the week which can take 4-5 hours per visit including travelling time, and have had two two-hour teaching sessions per week and a number of weekly medical appointments too, and of course meetings, supervision etc. Fortunately, because I did double my teaching quota last semester, I will not have to do this next semester, although I still have MSc students to supervise. Basically when I have just an hour or two at a time I concentrate on getting the small irritating tasks done- emails, printing out and collating testing materials, entering a few sets of data...anything that doesn't require an hour for me to get into the swing of it! To be honest, having my foot in plaster for two months has actually been beneficial for me in some ways- I have had 10 hour days stuck at my desk reading, writing a new paper, teaching myself how to do the qualitative analysis I need to learn etc. Given this, I think when I restart testing (when I can drive again- hopefully in a fortnight!) I will try to block my time so that I have full days and weeks of testing (which can be exhausting!) and then maybe a whole week at a time in my office concentrating on the other stuff. In reality it won't work out quite like this because there are always meetings etc, but I'm going to try- I guess it's just about experimenting and finding out what works best for you! KB

Hey guys!

Random question...I have a friend who's recently started a PhD on the same team as me. I've been trying to give her advice, mainly starting with what NOT to do! I reckon we all could do things a bit differently if we could go back to the beginning, but what really stands out to you guys?

For me:
1. I would quit not talking to my supervisor because I was scared of her
2. I would have started my NHS ethics form earlier
3. I would not have installed a 'chocolate box' on my desk....too late to change my ways now though!
4. I would not have gone on holiday with the creepy stalker guy in the next office

Hmmmm. Think that it's it for tonight. What can you guys think of?

Best, KB

Hi Yanichka! It kind of sounds like you have answered your own question really. You are clearly unhappy with a few aspects of your life- your job, the place you live etc, the people you work with and it sounds like it's really getting you down. Is it actually a PhD you are doing at the moment or is it a research job? I wasn't quite sure from your post. Either way, it's not doing you any favours, and if you can find projects that look really exciting and that you would rather do then I would go for it. Your supervisor probably won't be best pleased, but it's your future that is at stake, and you deserve to be happy. It sounds like you are really depressed at the moment, and no-one can carry on like that for a sustained period of time. You need to get help with that (medical, or counselling etc) and take steps to improve your situation by finding something that you want to do, in a place you like, and with people you get on with. Life is too short to spend it being so unhappy! Best of luck with whatever you decide, KB

Hey! This sounds really odd- I have never heard of anyone having their PhD taken away from them. Has he actually threatened to do this if you don't comply with his requests? When you say he wants you to adjust your results, do you mean the actual original data you have collected? Or does he want you to use your data but analyse it in a different way or something? Certainly, you can't be expected to fabricate your data so that it matches another person's- this is a really serious faux pas in the world of academia, and if you published it and it ever came to light what has happened, your reputation would be torn to shreds. Of course, people can do all sorts of amazing things with stats to make their data look like it is showing something different, and I have come across research where the stats aren't actually wrong, but deliberately misleading. Is it this he is asking you to do? Either way, it sounds like he has his own best interests at heart here, and not yours. I would absolutely refuse to change your data...there would be serious implications for the world of research if people started doing this sort of thing. At the end of the day, you get the results you get, and whether they are what you wanted, what you expected, or neither, you have a duty and responsibility to report them accurately. I would stand your ground- I honestly don't think they can take your PhD away when you've already got it! Best of luck, it's a difficult situation. KB

Hey Angel. This sounds like an absolutely horrific ordeal and every PhD student's worst nightmare. I just can't believe that this can happen. Even if someone doesn't like your research they shouldn't be able to fail you just on the basis of that. You are doing so well to just pick yourself up and carry on- you must have buckets of guts and determination. I can't really help much with your specific questions, but I had a friend who had difficulties with his viva last year. He got torn apart and was given a revise and resubmit with 12 months to do it, so sounds like a similar position to you. This was completely unexpected, nobody could believe it. Originally he was told he would have to have another viva, yet in the end he didn't need to have one, and he recently resubmitted and was awarded his PhD. I'm not sure why he didn't have to do another viva in the end, but he didn't. So it can be done. Personally, given your circumstances, I think you should have grounds for not having to repeat the experience on health grounds, but I guess it doesn't work like that. But I really hope you persevere and go through with it- then turn round and stick two fingers up at the whole experience. On a slightly different note, are you getting any help with the anxiety side of things? You are doing amazingly well to be dealing with situation- I think I would just fall apart- but it might help to get some support, or at least somewhere you can offload about all this. I really wish you the best of luck with things, you just don't deserve this- nobody does. Best wishes, KB

Hey Kayzi!

Probably the best people to speak to about PhDs are people in your department who are involved in the sorts of topics you might be interested in studying- I can imagine that the careers service will probably be quite vague about the whole thing. Have you got a tutor you can talk to or a lecturer you like and who would spare you a little time to talk to you about your options? You might need to think about doing a masters first, but this really depends upon your subject. For most subjects, you probably won't need to, but for some subjects it is compulsary- the department I am in has an MSc as a requirement for entry onto a PhD course. With a PhD, funding is the main issue. You can either apply for a project that already has funding, or you can come up with your own proposal, find someone who is willing to supervise it, and then look for funding.

The topic would be quite important with respect to your further career, but the main thing to take into consideration is the set of skills you will be learning to study that topic. I know quite a lot of people who have switched topics (within the same vague field, obviously!) after their PhD- as long as you have the experience and the skills then there is room for a bit of a jump in topic. I guess it depends a bit on what field you're in too.

And not all PhDs are horror stories! I for one absolutely love my PhD and wouldn't want to do anything else. But it is important to find somewhere you like, a topic you are interested in, and supervisors who are willing to offer you enough time to support you properly. This might all sound obvious but a lot of people who get only two out of the three right find it very difficult to get through their PhDs- a lot of difficulties are caused by issues with supervisors and a lack of motivation/interest in the topic. Having said that, some people who only get two out of three right manage fine and do very well, but best to aim high!

Best of luck- have a look around the forum and ask more questions if you need to! Best wishes, KB.

Hi Natassia! I almost don't want to respond in the way I am going to, because I'm not sure it's what you want to hear at the moment. But I really believe it, so I'll say it anyway and hope you don't mind. I really don't think you should compromise on either the university, your potential supervisors, or your topic for your PhD...it is really important that you get it right. I can only speak from my experience, but for me if I didn't do my PhD where I am, with the supervisors I have, I can't think of anywhere else or any other people who would be anything like as good for my topic. PhDs are really quite specialised, so it's not necessarily as though you can just apply to a few different universities with the same proposal if it is very specific. In a way, your application is almost more important than your MSc. If you get an offer of funding for your PhD, your MSc will fade into insignificance and it is unlikely that an offer of funding would be dependent on you getting a distinction on your MSc. I obtained funding for my PhD partway through my MSc, and wasn't required to get any particular mark for my MSc, but I was then able to concentrate on the course knowing that my PhD funding was sorted and managed to get a disctinction anyway. I understand what you are saying about wanting to do your best at the MSc, and of course you are right, but if it is at all possible I would really try to stick the application in too. Given your difficult circumstances around Xmas, are you not able to get an extension on any of your MSc work? I know it's not ideal, but it might ease the pressure a bit. Of course, if you know of other paces and people that could supervise your PhD just as well then you can put applications in there anyway- I am just so aware of what it means to have a good supervisor and a good department that I wouldn't want you to compromise and settle for less than the best for you! Hope you don't mind me saying that- I don't mean to pile more pressure on you, I'm just talking from my own experiences and those of my pals! Best of luck with it, KB

Hi guys!

Thanks so much for your replies. Just to make it clear- we haven't actually applied for funding yet, so nothing is settled by any means. But my supervisor and I are working on a proposal for a post-doc, and she is usually very successful with funding, so I need to think about my commitment to the university now, rather than later, in the hope that we might be successful.

You have really just backed up what I was already thinking...I would probably be crazy to move if I can stay here. I work within a fantastic team in the department, and so many of my pals have supervisors they hate, departments that are unsupportive, subjects they're not that interested in etc. I seem to have it all on my doorstep so would be very reluctant to leave it behind, and I know that I can learn so much more yet from the people I work with. Yet a lot of people still say to me that I shouldn't stay here post-PhD as it will 'look bad' on m,y CV (not staff- usually PhD students who don't like where they are, or who have had to move for a post-doc). I asked my supervisor whether she thought it would harm my career to stay in the same place (okay, so she's hardly impartial!!), and she said that I was best to spend my early career within a well-reknowned team building up my research skills and my reputation through publications and networking etc, before moving on to become a more independent researcher elsewhere.

I think that you are probably right- researchers seem to be judged mainly on their actual research, publications and conference presentations etc. My current supervisor is very supportive with respect to these things and encourages me to publish and present my work etc, which is great and I hope it will stand me in good stead in the future. I guess I will keep plodding on the post-doc planning- thanks for putting my mind at rest with this one guys!

Best, KB

Hey Wal...I know what you mean. I'm only in second year of my PhD and I feel overwhelmed when I think about what I am going to do when I have all my data, how it's all going to fit together and make sense, and so on. I have so many ideas for other things I would also like to do that I got really enthusiastic about and researched quite heavily, only to find that actually, I just don't have the time within my PhD (or my word count) to do everything I would like to do. Other people have also said that my PhD seems very ambitious in terms of workload. So I have already had to cut things back to what I actually need to do to have enough for a PhD, and so that I can write it up in some sort of logical flowing fashion. I have already spoken to my supervisor about this issue and she has said that some of my results probably won't even go into my PhD, but I should write them up and publish them anyway. It sounds like you need to take a step back, speak to your supervisor, and re-focus your research question(s). Think about what you actually need to do to get your PhD in terms of amount of data etc. The rule of thumb seems to be that in terms of data, you should have enough to get three papers out of, if you were to publish it, for it to be enough for a PhD. So if you are massively over that then maybe need to speak to your supervisor about the most important bits, which bits are vital, and which are not. I know a couple of people who didn't analyse all of their PhD data who were able to get funding for a 1-year post-doc so they could write up the rest and publish it, so all is not lost if you can't get through all of it and get it all into your thesis. I guess the hard bit is joining all the bits up and making it into a coherent project...def time for a chat with the supervisor I reckon, it can be hard to get your head around it when you're right in the middle of it! KB

Hi guys! As you can probably gather from the title, I have completed my BSc, MSc, and now my PhD at the same university. The main reason for this is that I really like where I live and am very happy here, the department are fantastic and have been extremely supportive (especially through my periods of ill-health due to bipolar disorder) and my supervisors are world class and great to work with. I really cannot think of anywhere else I would rather be and anyone who would be more suited to supervise my work.

Now, my PhD supervisor is talking to me about applying for funding for me to do a post-doc here. I am thrilled that they are very keen to keep me on, and my supervisor has a very good track record with obtaining funding. I would be delighted to stay if we could get the funding, especially given how hard it is to get a postdoc right now. The subject would be perfect for me too.

So how bad is it to do this? I know from previous threads that a lot of people think it's bad to even do two or three degrees at the same uni, let alone all three and a postdoc, yet there doesn't actually seem to be any evidence either way about how it would affect a future career. I am not opposed to moving elsewhere to develop my career at some point, but I genuinely believe that at the moment I am in the best place for me in terms of the work I want to do and the people that I would like to learn from. If the situation was so perfect, would you stay on, or would you really seek to move elsewhere?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts, KB

Hey Bug! To be honest, it sounds as though the topic just isn't quite right for what they're looking for. I wouldn't stress too much- I would feel much worse if it got sent for review and then got slated to be honest! But it sounds as though the editor was impressed with it, and I'm sure they wouldn't be asking you to re-submit to a sister journal it if they thought it was rubbish! When I submitted my last article to a (rather ambitious) journal my supervisor said if it got rejected straight off then I shouldn't worry about it, it would just be to do with whether the topic was right or not for that journal at that time. Luckily it was! My supervisor is really high up in her field and even she got something rejected straight off from quite a modest journal recently because they thought the topic didn't quite agree with their 'aims and scope'....but then it got accepted elsewhere immediately! So it happens to the best of researchers! It's clearly of publishable quality so I would just submit it elsewhere- it's probably not worth having an argument with the editor over! KB

Hey Slowmo, I'm completely in the same boat! My research topic constantly has me thinking about the meaning of life, what it means to be human, what it means to have some sort of brain disease, and all sorts of 'deep' things like that! Also, my research is in mental health, and I was drawn to this sort of topic due to my own awful experiences of being a long-term mental health patient, so I do end up reflecting on myself and my experiences an awful lot. In one way it helps- I have a lot of empathy with my participants, and am extremely well motivated and dedicated to my research because of my personal experiences. In another way it can be difficult- I am constantly being reminded of really awful things that I have experienced or seen at the hands of the mental health system, which I sometimes wish I could just forget. My PhD is mainly quantitative, but I am also doing a qualitative study using interpretative phenomenological analysis, so I have to be really careful about putting my own experiences to one side and concentrating on the experiences of my participants without being biased. I love my topic and I wouldn't have it any other way, but yes, I do feel as though I spend far too much time self-reflecting and thinking about myself! You're not alone! KB

Hi Jessebel! I'm in a different subject to yourself, but I think some of the principles will be the same. I think it's the transferable skills you learn during your PhD that are most important, in addition to the topic. I want to continue into research in my field after my PhD, so I have made sure that I have used both quantitative and qualitative methods in my PhD so that I won't be restricted to one or the other for my post-doc. I could probably quite easily change topic if I wanted to (within reason!) so long as the underlying research skills are there, and I have seen people in other subjects do the same. I don't know much about PhDs in Chemistry (I quit after A level Chem!) but I would imagine that if you do a PhD in inorganic stuff, then it would be relatively easy to switch to another topic within inorganic Chemistry, but might well be tricky to swap to organic. So you probably need to think quite carefully about what you do your PhD in and try to make sure it is steering you in the right direction. Probably a good idea to talk to someone in your department and see what they reckon about opportunities to switch either for your PhD, or how likely it is you will be able to switch after your PhD. Good luck with your dilemma! KB