Good luck with your applications, dotdottung! It's natural to feel anxious when you really want something. It sounds like you have a good CV already, so try to keep the anxiety under control and give yourself the best chance to do well :)

The early meetings will probably just be about getting to know each other, discussing any initial ideas you have and setting expectations around supervision (frequency of meetings etc). There might be some induction stuff to discuss. I would say just relax!

A weekly meeting is really quite frequent for PhD supervision. Perhaps you need to change the focus of the meetings, rather than the frequency - is it possible that you could email your guide ahead of the meetings if you have something specific you want to discuss, so that she knows in advance what you need to talk about?

In two years you could have finished your PhD, instead of just being at the stage of applying for one. If you are doing well and looking to publish your work, perhaps you don't need a lot more support? Do you have a second supervisor you could talk to?

I'm quite shocked that a supervisor would say 'everybody does it' in relation to false data! There's a big difference between some undergrads replicating an experiment that's been done 20,000 times already and someone who's actually got a career based on being at the forefront of scientific knowledge. It is a shame we have such a results-driven academic culture in some ways - the studies that show strange, confusing or disappointing results are just as valid as the ones with the big breakthroughs!

Good luck with sorting things out, Albatross1986.

I would imagine all that critical feedback would affect most people's confidence!

I get more supervision now, but it's because my original supervisor left and the department decided to be extra-supportive by giving me more. I'm not complaining because I know so many people have issues with hardly seeing their supervisor at all! What about you?

I know what you mean - I've always been confident in my work outside of academia, and it takes a bit of adjusting to the feeling that you're never getting anything quite right and there is always more to do! I guess the thing is that if they're giving you constructive comments, then they are taking you and your writing seriously and are engaging with it. Good luck with the supervision :)

Good stuff wowzers!

I've had a participant cancel for tomorrow so I need to make the most of the day and not just think 'yay, free time' - think I'll get working on the plan for the rest of the year.

Recruitment can be very difficult and I think it's always tempting to think that a different group of people would have been easier to recruit. I'm recruiting both men and women for my research, and haven't noticed any gender difference, but I am recruiting from a very specific group of people and again it has been really challenging. I have found that I have most success when people feel that the interview is a chance to 'have their say' and influence things.

Hi dotdottung,

Sorry, I'm not very clear about what type of scholarship it is. I got a PhD scholarship (mine was what is referred to as 'competition funding', where the uni has several PhD topics proposed by members of staff and the student applies for one of the topics, without knowing whether it will go ahead). In my case, I prepared as I would for a job interview, going over the skills I had, why I wanted the place/funding, what ideas I could bring to the topic, and so on. I'm not sure if this is helpful, but in any interview I would say it's a good idea to practise beforehand with someone asking you questions if you can, as it helps you to form your answers.

I'm also commenting from a different field, but it sounds to me like there is much to be salvaged in this situation - especially as the PhD is increasingly considered as 'research/academic training' and doesn't rest on you making a hugely important breakthrough. If you've conducted the research according to plan and ended up with what have been described as interesting results, I'd personally be trying to forge ahead on that basis and figure out how your results contribute to current knowledge.

If you can get plenty of reading and writing (even detailed notes on what you're reading) done at this stage, you will thank yourself later on.

Well done on getting an interview. Is it a PhD scholarship, and is it one where you get to decide on the topic, or one where a topic has already been agreed on and funded by the department?

Sounds like a few of us have similar amounts and things still to do. I can't believe how the time has gone in - you start off thinking a few years to concentrate on one topic is a luxury (which it is), and then suddenly you're in third year and it's all needing finished!

Hi both! Yes, a support thread would be great :)

I'm still recruiting and collecting data - I am recruiting from a very specific group of people and it has been an on-going nightmare for more than a year now! I am pushing to get that completed for Christmas plus analysing a qualitative study I've already finished.

I'm hoping after Christmas just to focus on writing. I did write a big chunk of stuff during my first year, including the literature review, which will need to be updated towards the end. I'm just about to draw up a plan for the year too, wowzers, as I think I need to see it all on paper!

I am still doing a small amount of teaching this semester, but I'm teaching one of the methodologies I'm using, so it's not like I need to do a lot of prep for that. Apart from that, I'm going to practise saying 'no' a lot :)