It sounds to me like she's very insecure of herself. If she were truly confident she would not be writing down what you've just written she would be thinking of her own ideas. Potential is one thing but turning it into something concrete is quite another and she seems a bit lost looking to you and the big names for validation of her own self worth. I personally wouldn't be bothered by her but you can always try to phase her out by mirroring her behaviour - asking her very specific questions about what she's doing academically etc. If you challenge her in this way she will probably find it exhausting and unnerving conversing with you and she may gradually stop talking to you or maybe she will tone it down and talk to you about other things.

I used to work in a research institute that had a lot of medical doctors studying for phds and they used to always identified themselves as clinicians either by putting MD after their name or by using the Dr title.

You've gradated in medicine therefore you have earned the right to call yourself Dr. It's not proud it's simply stating what you are and I doubt that any reasonable person would take issue with that.

Also using your title could work in your favour lending you additional gravitas which will instil even more confidence in the people you correspond with.

Go for it with pride I say!

I just got me a dawg and I love her. She's a basset hound, big, chunky, slobbery and generally smooshy.

She's an adult basset so she's hardly sprinting out the door every minute but she does enjoy a long sedate walk where she can sniff each individual bit of grass.

We gel pretty well and we do our thing but sometimes I wonder how I could do more. I've changed my lifestyle considerably to make time and I think she's happy enough but I wondered how you guys (who are pooch parents) organise your daily routine to maximise quality time with your furry buddies whilst getting your phd work done...

I just got me a dawg and I love her. She's a basset hound, big, chunky, slobbery and generally smooshy.

She's an adult basset so she's hardly sprinting out the door every minute but she does enjoy a long sedate walk where she can sniff each individual bit of grass.

We gel pretty well and we do our thing but sometimes I wonder how I could do more. I've changed my lifestyle considerably to make time and I think she's happy enough but I wondered how you guys (who are pooch parents) organise your daily routine to maximise quality time with your furry buddies whilst getting your phd work done...

I am also four months' in. I've also been in the same place - reading, writing but not sure where I'm going with it. I have a structured programme so I know when 'the reviews are due and when I need to submit ethics apps etc so using those dates I drew up an 'anticipated' project progression chart where I've laid out the deadlines and then made myself little targets to complete in between. I then have a few files of ongoing projects/tasks. Each task has it's own file (nothing fancy - just a paper document holder) with a large post it on the outside stating the project name/deadline, and a bullet point list of all the steps needed to complete before submission. I tick these off as I go along. It's all handwritten because at first i did fancy labels and then volume and turn over of work did not permit that to continue. Every week on Friday I look at the post it's and can see which deadlines have moved forwards and I put those files out on my desk for Monday. If I've finished my priority files for that week then I can dip into my pile of files and work on something that's got a long time to completion and progress on that. I'm always putting things in the long-term files like a note with an intereting ref to follow up or website to check or stuff a bundle of readings in so there's always something to be getting on with. I even have a general file for methodology meaning stuff I'll have to look at for the thesis. That way I've collected things from the beginning and won't be scrounging around for a ref I read three years ago. Then on those afternoons when you really can't read/write but you don't want to do nothing - I'll go through the files and chuck out any crap I've put in there thinking it would be useful and on reflection seems a bit off the mark.

It's a system that works for me and it's flexible because I know that sometimes things get manic and it's not feasible to sit around playing with files. So there's the anything goes file where I stuff everything I find that might be useful that I haven't got time to put in it's relevant study file. Then I sort at a later date.

If you are going to use this system use paper files because they aren't bulky and make sure you look through them and reduce the workload otherwise they build up and look like mountains of work. Paper files take up less space and are physically less daunting then loads of lever arch files.

Most of all the key to keeping the system afloat is to make in between targets flexible so instead of saying I'll definitely do that on Friday the 25th I would select the entire week and say it would be ideal to get it done by the 25th at the latest. This is because at any second your supervisor could arrive and say I found a useful reference that I'd like to discuss at tomorrows meeting so you gleefully take the single A4 sheet of paper turn it over and find 50 handwritten refs crammed on the other side.

I think it's important psychologically to always have something to do otherwise there can be long periods of inactivity which is thw fastest route to despondency and demotivation.

I don't know how feasible this system would be in later years but it works for me at the mo.

Would love to hear other suggestions.

Thank you everyone for your helpful messages and advice it's really appreciated. I'd never heard of project envy so yeah maybe it is a case of that.

I chose the res questions in collaboration with my sups. But I'm doing a phd in a field that's different to my undergrad and maybe that's why I'm lacking confidence and thinking my project is crap. I think on reflection I was impressed with the other phd students confidence in their topics but when I thought about it rationally last night all the presentations I've been to have been by 2nd and 3rd years so I shouldn't really be comparing myself but aspiring to be in the same position. It's just that the vast majority of the projects are hard science based and mine is more social science for clinical practice (palliative care) and maybe I was overwhelmed a bit by the preciseness of other people's data. I don't know it could have been an off day. Sometimes I'm really into it and other times I wonder if I understand it at all. But then again that's the nature of academic enquiry I guess.

Still it was nice to hear your suggestions and advice. I'm definitely not going to drop out - that would be like winning the Lottery and declining the money!

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If your project might not actually be that great after all? I'm four months in and have attended enough phd seminars to get a good idea of what other phders are doing and when I compare it to my project I feel a bit crap. I'm supported by great supervisors but I can't help feeling that their other phd students have better projects. I've tried talking to phd friends in other unis about how I feel and they've suggested dropping out which is extreme in my view considering I like where I am, I like my supervisors, the dept is great, the subject is great and the uni is prestigious. The only thing I'm not confident about is my project. One of the other phd students commented that my project is interesting but not useful. I disagree since all research is at once useful and useless and so their research could equally be considered 'useless' in the vein they meant.

I'm sure that my sups wouldn't let me do something totally off the mark but then why do I feel like my project is the horse and cart to everyone else's shiny Mazarati's?

Anyone else felt like this? Any suggestions?

Hey there,

I think maybe you're fishing in too small a pond. Oxbridge is a law unto itself and neither university operates like any normal one. This might be making it harder for you to secure the position that you want. It sounds like you have a lot of great stuff to bring to the table but if positions at the table are governed by personal politics then you may have to be prepared to fight longer and work twice as hard. Why not consider other unis. There are some with worldwide excellence in research quality and also tough to get into but they might look at your actual achievements rather than whether you 'fit' into the brotherhood. If you see what I mean. Going somewhere else won't be a step down if it has an excellent rep. Or as the person below suggests, why not try the US? Alternatively may be try again when you have your phd cert in your hand that might make a diff. After all anything could happen between about to complete and actually completing and this possibility may put them off. If you have it you have it. In any case with a superstar cv like that I doubt you'll be hanging about for long. All the best

I like both my supervisors but my relationship with them is formal. I wouldn't dream of sending jokey texts or emails. I like the relationship although I imagine it's not to everyone's taste. I've not heard any other phd student say anything negative about these supervisors because they are genuinely nice people but they expect a certain professional conduct and I was explicitly told not to use any other email address other than the official university one to communicate with them.

I think everyone's experience will be different.

(1) Struggling to find work in an area that is saturated with graduates. I would probably be fighting for temp jobs and being told that I am over-qualified (as happened over the summer). I would now be frantically applying for PhD places...

(2) Defo NO!! I would be gutted! Although there are aspects of my life now which could be better (I've moved to another country to do the PhD) and have few friends and no family here I would not be in the alternative future for any money!

I did an MA a couple of years back after getting a 2:2 for my first undergrad degree. I was also told the same things re 'it's almost impossible' 'hardly anyone gets one' yada yada yada. The way I saw it, they had said 'almost' impossible not, 'totally'. We didn't get any tips either except 'read lots of journal articles' but there's a real difference between reading a journal article and READING a journal article. The way I approached the MA was to find out who were the big/established names in the field that I was looking at and read their work, then I expanded into looking at other people's work and what the range of views were and why people might have those views and what they said about the big names. Then I read everything again critically appraising what had been done, what hadn't been done and what I would have done (all backed up with research evidence obviously). Getting to grips with the important issues and having my own thoughts that were logical and based in empirical evidence plus an understanding of the terminology and conventions of writing are all what earned me a Distinction at Masters level. I didn't just read articles, I also read specialist books, policy documents and all sorts of things that had come up time and time again in the references of the articles I had read.
At undergrad I just read superfluously and then regurgitated what I had read - no critical appraisal, no insight, no thought. I didn't make that mistake for my second undergrad and it paid off there too.

It is NOT impossible to get a distinction. It is certainly challenging but it's not beyond the pale and it can be done with hard work and motivation. It depends on how badly you want that distinction. I was basically not prepared to leave without one and that drove me to make up for my appalling performance in my first degree. The MA was really a revenge against myself to prove that I could do something properly if I really wanted to.

Good luck with your studies and I hope you get what you want!

I spent my summer doing work ahead of starting in October. Absolutely pointless. Not a single bit of it was even remotely relevant after the project changed dramatically. Should have enjoyed my summer and let loose.

I would enjoy (tree), (turkey) and lots of (mince) and then get cracking once the actual project starts because then, your life will not be your own. Enjoy freedom while you have it!

I started in October like you but I already have my schedule mapped out for me. I just basically conducted several literature searches, read a million papers (feels like) wrote reviews on those searches presented them to the sups, attended research seminars and additional skills training, received feedback for reviews chose the one they liked the most, started writing the most horrendous ethics application ever and that's where I'm at now. That was the first month. Coming up are more seminars, more training, 3 month review process, giving various presentations to various organisations and charities and hopefully in among that I'll submit the ethics and enjoy my Xmas!

It was much more work than I'd ever imagined in the first few weeks. Mostly though it has been reading and writing but that's been pretty much the exact same experience as everyone else in my section.

Hahaha classic! I'm so tempted to stick that pic somewhere in the office...

If you haven't got any specifics that you want altering I'd say leave it natural. I had my teeth whitened at the dentist and then when it came to grad photos they touched up the teeth even more even though I didn't request it. When the photos came through I gasped in horror when all I could see was teeth even though the picture was a headshot. Even in 'the pic with the scroll thing they do - TEETH.

It was as if my teeth were graduating and the rest of me had gone along for the ride. Remember the Friends episode with Ross's teeth? Yep. My grad photos.

I rang the company who apologised and couldn't explain why they had been touched up and eventually sent me the originals.

I chucked the other photos away in case someone looked at them in bright sunlight and detached their retinas.

But that's just my experience.