You can’t make generalisations from the few students that post on a forum. And you cant judge the research that a student is going to produce from their attitude or how hard they appear to work – they might look like complete slackers but just be working very efficiently or be very bright and not need to work as hard.

This is going to be long (and split over several posts), but hey, I'm a PhD student so I've nothing better to do ...

The original post was confusing. If it is a question of disparity between PhD programmes, that suggests the quality of research in different countries varies (a PhD being a research degree with the definition, in the UK, that the research is ‘of publishable quality’). If true, is it because of the people doing it or the resources available? The US might top the league tables, but is that because it invests more money in research (and so quite possibly attracts bright researchers from other countries). If it is suggesting that PhD students are of different quality, is that quality of students in or from a country (given student mobility). I’d suggest students are as varied as their number and there is as great a variation within a country as between countries.

I thing sugar_student is absolutely right and today's PhD students are a load of time wasters and slackers who dont know the meaning of hard work.

when i were a lad (err, before the sex change) we had to work 10 hours a day in t'mill (frequently lopping off a finger or two), trudge ten miles home across a ploughed field, peel three ton of spuds to feed the bairns and THEN do fourteen hours a day in the lab.

and if you were caught on an internet forum you were whipped. (although some people quite liked that .....)

Think I used to get the cotton liners from the big lab supplies catalogues, like sigma/aldrich or BDH.

though if you can find a glove that doesnt bring you up in a rash you'll probably find that easier to work in.

http://thelostdoctor.blogspot.com/2006/12/grab-yoke-from-pilot-and-fly-whole.html

the picture thingy that is - expresses it perfectly

I just emailed to ask where my money was, an hour later a mail appeared 'It has only just come to our attention that we are now responsible for paying ESRC funded students their stipends'. How the f**k can they not have known till I asked? F'ing department couldnt organise the proverbial piss up in a brewery.

now mega flap to get forms filled in and signed to hopefully get money by 10th jan

happy christmas everyone!

aw thanks Pea. much appreciated.

at least i got done in time so i could go to the pub yesterday

yo ho ho

gglurughprflfhghgprghfugugh

have lost the power to think. but have got chapter two sent off to supervisor (well, first draft off).

i really dont want to think about the 8 i have to go ........ or the fact i was supposed to be getting chapter three done by the end of the year.

hmmm i need lots of

University careers service

or even the local careers service - I found talking to an advisor there helpful when i was trying to work out what to do

reed are more of an employment agencie aren't they?

garethrgrs this might be useful in helping to think about whether further study is right for you
http://www.prospects.ac.uk/cms/ShowPage/Home_page/About_postgrad_study/why/p!eklFeFX

like the others have said, if you want to do a PhD go for it. BUT I think you need to first decided what career you want, and only go for a PhD if that will help. Maybe go and get some careers advice first, before looking for a PhD.

But you can't get pregnant if you have sex while standing up on a toilet seat. Or standing up while a man is kissing you.

OMG thank goodness for that. I thought you meant you got pregnant in an interview.

Yeah, make a positive of it - that you can prove you are organised/dedicated/good at time managment because you've already done degrees while having/bringing up kids

Bah, humbug, all this talk of christmas. Am I the only one glued to thesis writing? I think my brain is going to explode soon. Why oh why did i tell my supervisor I'd have another two chapters by the end of the year? I'm about half way through one and it is turning into the monster chapter from hell.

aaaaaaaaargh! I think I'm going to BE the main Vegetable by christmas.

not sure if this is any use

http://www.isiwebofknowledge.com/endnoteweb/

I havent used it myself or investigated closely but it seems to suggest if you have access to WoK via athens you can use this web based endnote version ...