oops sorry - just read that it's office politics that's delaying you, which must be very frustrating. Give yourself a large contingency time then, and make it clear you have to be done by the end of the 5 years. Can you submit despite the office politics if you're done writing?

Hi, well at my university the university says you HAVE to finish within 4 years. However, I also know that it's possible to extend beyond this (a) for a couple of weeks without any hassle, (b) for longer - but then it goes down as a fail on the university and funding body records - though you can still get awarded the PhD. That's why the university comes down hard on finishing to time. But I know quite a few people in my university who've had the rules stretched and taken longer: 5+ years. What you'd need to find out is how you persuade someone in the university to let you if you didn't have the support of your supervisors. But I'd set yourself a definate goal to finish before your deadline - its easy to slip otherwise (I know I'm like this). It will be good enough, you don't need as much time as you think, you just need to stay focussed. Good luck.

I've just been having this dilemma too - I've seen PhDs in my university either before or after the abstract, so I'm going for gut feel at the moment... which is... I haven't decided! Hmmmm. If I get better at procrastinating over this discussion... then maybe I'll run a mini survey and see what the consensus is... though probably not wise since I have to submit in 18 days... tick, tick, tick...

...blank...
that is what my writing is at the moment. You have my sympathies! I have a nice bottle of ale lined up to get my writing juices going later...

p.s. not being pushy and shouting about yourself isn't necessarily a bad thing - sometimes being pushy can actually be to your detriment. However, don't hide under a bushal... forget being called average - and go and give a talk in your department or at a conference. Then people will start to sit up and actually notice you

Hi there. Well on the positive - you're average not bad... but I know that doesn't help that much. I have had the feeling all through my PhD that my supervisor thought I was a waste of space. But finally, now that I'm writing up and giving him results, he's finally perking up and maybe even showing me a bit of curiosity and interest in my results. Maybe I've gone up the scale a bit in his book? So, hang in there, try not to take your supervisors comments to heart, soldier on, and before you know it you'll have results that will spark their interest and prove that you're not so average afterall. No PhD student is to be honest... it is such a hard thing to do, and at the end you've done something that nobody has ever done before, and are expert in that field. Nowhere near average!

Hey there Hums! As far as I'm aware 'major corrections' is still a pass, so you're a doctor... congratulations!!!! Well at least one of my friends had major corrections too, and so was in the same boat (horrible examiner too). Good luck though with the corrections... I know i'm just writing the last wee bits of my thesis so I have this yet to come. But although I'm happy with my analysis, my writing is so atrocious I wouldn't be surprised if they failed me on my writing skills! gahhhh! Can you fail for sending your examiners to sleep with your writing?
By the way peppermint - in the UK PhDs are 3-4 years long but we don't have any classes or modules... just straight into research (which was a bit of a shock for me!).

Welcome to the forum! As to your problem - were you thinking of doing a masters in an entirely different area & change areas completely or stay in the field you're working? Is it the subject itself or the job prospects? I'm not sure about molecular biology jobs, but friends who've done biochemistry and anything that has a medical slant get jobs easily, and good ones when you have a PhD. It's normal to go through a period of lack of motivation in a PhD. You're doing well, with two publications already you may even be able to submit within 3 years. One year isn't so long in the grand scheme of things. If it's just a lack of motivation rather than a positive dislike or hate of your subject - I'd stick at it. There's nothing to stop you changing if you want to at the end. To remotivate yourself, take a bit of time off, go to some conferences (great boosters, I love getting all nerdy and talking shop and bouncing ideas off others who are doing similar stuff). Good luck

…I'd say, get a doctors note, and take as much time off as you need to start feeling positive again. My friend had 6 months off before she was starting to feel human again. If you really can't face seeing your supervisor, write him/her an honest email - tell them what you've told us - or go via your 'pastoral tutor' (we have one who is separate from supervisors who deals with personal problems we don't want to explain to supervisors). Don't try and hide it from them, it's nothing to be embarassed about. Then take time out and spend it with your partner, with family, and with anyone who will make you feel better about yourself. For my friend it was her family and friends that helped her out of her depression... and an awful lot of running!!! Good luck

Hi there :o) Sorry to hear about your dreadful amounts of stress - sending big virtual hugs :o) Please don't be afraid to talk to your supervisor or head of postrgraduate studies in person. My supervisor is also head of postgrad studies, and I can say that he's well aware of the stressed that PhDs put on a person, never mind when external events occur to make it even worse. Two of my friends went to him having had nervous breakdowns, and he was fantastic - giving them the amount of time they needed to recover - both came back to their studies after the time off. Don't be afraid to show emotion, everyone is human and supervisors understand that - they're used to students blubbing all over them!

...wonderful inspiring story... thanks for sharing that, it makes me smile :o)...
...like last night's tv program about the oldest people in the world... such inspiring feisty 100+ year-olds. Watching them somehow inspired me to go back to my writing with extra vigor... these inspiration stories keep us all going, and smiling while we work :o) ...and on that note, it's time for lunch

Yeah! Congratulations!!! No great news for me yet today, but waiting on referee comments back for a post-doc proposal... so fingers crossed. To be honest, at the moment I'm happy if I can just be productive

Hey there - all great advice. I'll just add one of my little tips - take the advert for the PhD & underline each of the things they're looking for in a PhD student e.g. lab experience, ability to deal with quantitative methods, etc. then find something from your cv/experience that matches that. If there are some of the skills they're asking for that you don't have, give an example where you've been a quick learner & show that you can adapt easily from your previous experiences. Write down all your skills you think would be useful, and if they don't ask about them, raise them yourself... 'did you know that I could do this?'. Do read around a little, it's good to be able to show that you have made the effort to find out that bit more about the PhD. Good luck

He he! In my current state of stressdom the thought of a science gossip magazine with paparazzi makes me chuckle. Thanks for that comment! Cheered me up no end ;o) There's certainly plenty of gossip and within dept or subject incest to write about in my area! I'm afraid I haven't got the energy to argue about the state of education in this country - though by no means perfect (& I moan about it!), we're lucky. My Mum always envies me the opportunities I have that she never had, and though I have few job prospects and sometimes feel like this PhD is going to push me over the edge - I feel lucky to be able to do something that I love. Something nice and positive to think about when I'm feeling rather battered and bruised writing up

Hi, I'd say if you set yourself an aim or a question to answer for the chapter - do enough to answer that aim/question... I'd do the analysis and it would raise some interesting questions, and then I'd do a bit of analysis to try out that hypothesis, and keep going down those lines. I think it's essential to stay focussed. If you have enough analysis to tell a nice story that meets your objectives - that's enough. If you know you have plenty of time to do the additional bits of analysis, that's great - but only do them if you know you have the time. My supervisors left me to my analysis and it's only now that they're reading the full chapters that they're suggesting other analysis or questions to answer... it's a bit late for me to change much. Hope that helps (I might come across as being overly negative but am at wits end right now!)