Bogdan, in answer to your question, I don't know. But why would you want to do another PhD?

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I agree with the post above. Write things down prior to the meeting. I'm also 10 months into my PhD and whilst my supervisor isn't as senior as yours (he's a very young PI) I also got nerves in my first few months when we had meetings. What really helped is sitting down the night before and just writing about the things I wanted to say/discuss with him. And a concise, bullet-pointed list of objectives agreed from our previous meeting, what I'd achieved and if things weren't working as planned then an outline of my approach to troubleshooting them.

Supervisors will always appreciate this level of preparation and it shows you're taking things seriously. So it helps you prepare but it also impresses your supervisor.

It's a tough one and there's a few things you need to weigh up. If I were you, I'd prefer to live with people. I'd go crazy living on my own. It's not like you'll get no privacy if the people you're living with are also students, they'll understand that you need time to work and some 'you' time. And when you need people there to provide 'the right level of distraction' then they'll be there. I can't imagine living alone, my flatmate has gone home to Portugal for a few weeks and it's already bothering me. It's just nice to have someone there who you get on with who'll crack open a can of beer with you and talk about work, sport, politics or whatever. Gets me out of my main circle of friends (who all work in a similar area of research to me).

As for your parents supporting you, you need to decide if you're going to end up feeling guilty about allowing them to help you when you have a choice to live somewhere cheaper. Again, I can only speak from personal experience but as a young adult I prefer to support myself. My parents did loads for me growing up and I can't thank them enough, I don't want them to have to continue supporting me in my 20s. So even though I can't really afford to pay them back what I think I owe them (I can't even measure that in money) I can at least let them save a bit more for when they retire! I realise this isn't an option for everyone though. As for the 35 minute distance... get a bike and get some exercise! The increased fitness will be a big boost to your work, seriously!

Both qualitative and quantitative research can be empirical. Empiricism is the school of thought which states that knowledge must be gained from experience (experimentation). In my field (molecular biology) I rely on empirical research of both a qualitative and quantitative nature: qualitative - do these two proteins interact in vivo? Quantitative - by how much does over expression of this protein in vivo enhance virulence of the pathogen I'm working on compared to the control?

The reputation of the groups/departments/institutes I'd be joining if I'm honest. I applied for two projects I found really interesting at the best two places I could. Got two offers. The generous research budget on top of my stipend offered by one institute but not the other swung it in the end.

Do you have some kind of graduate board you can go to for support? Also, do you feel like you can approach your supervisor in a calm manner and letting her know how you feel?

Where are you going to be studying? Lots of places run courses to help develop things like presentation skills, managing your research project and surveying the literature. A PhD is a learning process and I know I had doubts before I started mine but you quickly settle in. Once you start cracking on with the research everything else just comes naturally.

It seems like one of the main reasons for people dropping out or not completing.

Mine can be a slave driver at times but honestly, I like that. He's ambitious and expects his group to share his ambitions. It's one of the reasons I chose his group over my other offer. He's constantly asking how things are going, if I have any new results, suggesting things I could try out and it's great. Keeps me on my toes.

The worst supervisors seem to be the ones that take little or no interest in their student leaving them feeling isolated and lacking motivation. I've got a friend who started at the same time as me with a supervisor like that and he's achieved absolutely nothing in the nine months since we started. It's getting to the stage where the grad studies office is on both of their backs expecting an update on his progress every two weeks as they're so concerned. Said supervisor has been banned from having a student next year as well.

The way things are nowadays it's darned near impossible to find something with a third class degree. Heck, I have a first class degree and even I faced a real battle to secure funding for my PhD last year.

I don't mean to denigrate you in any way but were there any exceptional circumstances that led to you getting a third class mark? Maybe there's a possibility you could ask for those circumstances to be taken into account?

As for not disclosing your degree classification, I've always been asked for proof of mine and even if its a rare occurrence, it's never wise to run the risk of being found out later down the line.

We have guidelines set up by our graduate studies office. We're meant to have no more than five weeks off work per year (that doesn't include conferences etc') but are encouraged not to just take all those holidays for the sake of it.

You should know what you're talking about in terms of the project you're applying for. No need to go on some refresher course but seriously hit the books on your area of interest for a few weeks/months and then make an approach to a supervisor.

Absolutely no chance I could live away from university. My PhD is in molecular biology, I need to be in the lab.

I have spoken about this to her, about me quitting and starting again at a university near her (which is nowhere near as good as the place I'm at now but I'd probably do it) and she says she's made her decision and there's no point. The only chance we have is when I'm finished.

I value her more than I value qualifications but I have some people saying "don't be stupid, you're only 22, you can't jack this in for a girl." and others saying "don't let her slip away."

To even get on a PhD course you'll need to refresh your maths first because you'll need a pretty good idea of what research you want to do, how it will be an original contribution to the field and you'll need to get through and interview where they'll probably ask you technical questions about the work you want to do and the work you have done.

If you have an MPhil you can be reasonably assured that you are bright enough to do a PhD, whether or not you're dedicated enough is something only you can answer.

The best thing to do is use findaphd.com and look at which funded projects are available. Then e-mail a supervisor to discuss the project. If they're interested in you and your CV then usually they'll ask to meet for a chat about the project and for them to get an idea of what you'd hope to achieve. It's also an opportunity for you to see if you could get on well with the supervisor. If your maths isn't up to scratch then the chances are they won't even put you forward for funding.

Funding is so competititve these days (in the UK at least) that you simply won't get onto the course if you don't have the ability, so I wouldn't worry about that. You just have to decide if you have the motivation to devote 4 years of your life to your subject.

So I'd posted on here before about planning to keep going with my girlfriend long distance while I did my PhD. Nine months in and its over. She ended it and I totally understand her reasons. The age old story of a PhD student becoming distant. It also seemed like she was putting her life on hold for me, which really wasn't fair.

I'm absolutely gutted but just about coping, I've got a good group of friends around me. My ex and me are still friends and still talking. We'e even spoken about getting back together in the future if the circumstances are right.

I'm just worried that I'm going to start to resent my research and the city I've moved to. It's the only reason I've lost her and I already feel myself being less motivated than I ever have been. I've lost all sense of self and security and just feel no affinity for my work at the moment. For the first time ever I actually wondered about what the process for withdrawing would be.

How am I supposed to manage this? Has anyone been through something similar?

To answer the question better it would be good to know which field of study you'll be going into...