Hi Losti

Ok, here's explaining the differnece with time. Here is my account, on Thursday night, of my view of the PhD, at a moment of wiped out fatigue and feeling horrid. (Purpose: I hope to come and edit this post the next time I feel rested/different, and we'll see the change)

1. I am doing my PhD because I see I am doing my PhD.
2. I am told I have made brilliant progress in 1 yr, that my CV is growing apparently in leaps, I have a phenomenal supervisor and apparently I write with rich metaphors and speak 'melifluously'.
3. Ok. great. I am FT, I have 3 jobs for 3 days of the week, I have my sup as my emploter on 2 of those jobs, plus my co author/presenter for stuff, plus as the career mentor person. I am ambitious and demanding and rushed. And poor. Very.
4. I earn a lot of money with the jobs. The jobs go on my CV. the money goes in my bank to come out and pay 13000 quid tuition fees. Plus rent. I am poor. But, international eucation isnt my birthright, it is my luxury, it is another matter that I am earning it, for even scholarships from my uni cant cover it.
5. I am told, 3 jobs plus a full time PhD means I need to not try and publish and present while doing a 3 yrs PhD. I refuse to do that, for writing/presenting are my loves, and if my jobs take it out of me, I wont let them.

6. RIght about now, I want to take 3 weeks off, quit all 3 jobs, go and eat and sleep for a month.

Why am I doing my PhD? I effing don't know, I don't care, and I am aware that I wouldn#t say the word 'effing' unless I didn't really effing feel it.


I will edit this post on another occasion, to add another chunk of text. With one aim: TO give you empirical evidence of the 'rollercoaster ride' we all say the bloody PhD is.

Hi Lostinoz.
I had replied to your post about the "Q" word. Here is why I decided to do My PhD;
1. Interest in the subject
2. My chosen career path required a PhD
3. The money is reasonable
4. Secure job for 3 years
5. I like learning.

I had thought about quitting (at the start of my final year) because points 1, 2 and 5 just didnt apply anymore and I didnt feel my work was good, I had other reasons also. What made me stay was;
1. Money
2. Job Security
3. I dont like to give up.

Well then I stayed and I motivated myself to finish. I then grew to love the subject I was studying. I was very upset the day I submitted my thesis. It's amazing what a year can do. I think my thesis is rubbish, but I finished on time :-)

I'm glad it was a joke. I find your arguments hilarious.

[quote]Quote From cleverclogs:

In our office of five phd students, two of them openly and proudly admitted they were just there "because i want to be called a doctor"

This is so pathetic. Beyond pathetic. The very thought that someone could be motivated to do something for 4 years for a reason so selfish, ignoble and ignorant makes me quite angry.

i for one did it for the title.

am not about to spend the rest of my life being called MRS!

now that's my reason. hate it or love it!

More truthfully I suspect I wind you up more than humour you.. score 8-)

Interesting thread, and hope things are improving for you Lost.

I'm a bit surprised at people's responses - apart from Eska and Stressed, most people seem to want to do a PhD for personal reasons, which, of course, is fine. Like Eska and Stressed, one of the main reasons I'm doing the PhD is to contribute to my field - but more than this, I like to think that my work will make a difference, albeit v. small, to making my corner of the world a better place. That probably sounds really wanky and pretentious, but it does motivate me. When I decided to start the PhD, there were major debates about employment rights here, and academics were at the forefront of arguing against the introduction of draconian workplace relations legislation. This inspired me and made me also want to contribute to the debates.

So, I have a bunch of personal reasons, but trying to contribute to more equitable workplaces is also a main motivator. How altruistic and possibly naive of me!

Actually you don't wind me up at all. Takes a lot more than that to get to me. score.

======= Date Modified 21 Nov 2009 11:29:56 =======
Well I appear to be very boring in my reasons for doing a PhD...I absolutely love my subject (I have several relatives who have suffered from Alzheimer's so if I am ever short on motivation I have it right there), I love writing and I find research exciting. I would love the rest of my career to be in research though I know it's a tough old world out there with respect to postdocs etc. I honestly don't know how people can put themselves through a PhD if they're not really enthusiastic about subject area, but we all have different motivations for doing all sorts of things in our lives- people have different reasons for going to the gym for example (to keep fit, to lose weight, to bulk up, to de-stress etc) but while we're there we all have something in common (we're exercising) and who is to say that one person's motivation for exercising is 'better' than another person's? It seems rather pointless slating other people's reasons for doing a PhD- we're all different and all arrive at our PhDs in different life circumstances and with different needs. So good luck to everyone doing a PhD. Whatever our reasons for doing a PhD we're all on a similar journey and we're all after the same end result to some extent- to finish our PhDs and hopefully be proud of the result! KB

Hi KB

I hope that slating comment wasn't directed at me - I certainly didn't mean to slate anyone. All I said was that I was a bit surprised at people's reasons, and I am. I thought there would be more people who would be doing a PhD to for example, find a cure for cancer (!), or try and get rid of homelessness, or stop global warming, or any other really big social/political/environment reason. I find it really interesting that people are doing a PhD mostly for personal reasons, and as I said, that's perfectly fine and I don't mean to be judgmental in any way.

Hi Sue!

No, it honestly wasn't directed at you at all- sorry if it looked like it was meant to be! It was just aimed at the whole thread really, because some people (I am not going to start mentioning any names, but yours wasn't included!) have been extremely rude and dismissive about other people's reasons for doing a PhD and it just seems to me that there is no point in doing this...we are all different and have different needs, motivations etc, so why should we be slating each other?!

Really sorry if it looked like I was getting at you- I didnt mean it in that way at all!

KB