In the past, I would want to observe a group of Neanderthals and marvel at intelligent hominids who if evolutionary or environmental history were different might still be here today. A species that at one point existed at the same time as humans. Imagine, 2 intelligent bipeds looking at each other....

In the (possible) future I would want to see i.e live in the same period as (not probable in my lifetime) at the very momment first contact with an alien species (reception via SETI, or verification of simple or complex life on another planet in our solar system, or something more exciting is made.

Thanks for you post. There is lots outside of the PhD I love my partner for and I hope when he does leave his PhD he still sees that.

Happy Birthday!

Thanks for the book suggestion :). I'm really hoping the counsellor helps him as it is well beyond my capacity to do so now - and sometimes I wonder if I am part of the problem as well. Anyway, the immediate problem is the PhD and I think that will be resolved soon, eitherway.

A humanities PhD in the UK will take, on average, between 3 and 4 years full time. I think that the chances of a supervisor agreeing that something is ready after 2 or 2 1/2 years are minimal - actually zero. Not only for £ reasons (the university will want their tuition money) but also it is impossible to start, research, write, and defend a thesis in the humanities within two and a half years. I do know of some humanities PhD students in history who have do it more or less exactly in three but they are unusual and had projects that were very well defined and had been well trod in existing secondary literature. They had it written and examined in 3 years exactly.

So block out your diary for 3 years if you're an optimist and 4 if you are a realist. If you give yourself a two and a half year deadline you would allow yourself no time for research dead ends, procrastination, illness, relationships, and other life events of problems. It can't be done.

Yes, Bilbo - you are the person I was thinking of, thank you! Yes, I had thought that it would be a difficult thing and that I would talk about it less. I rarely talk about it now and was never the kind of person to mention the title anyway. Graduation was also always on the rocks because of family issues anyway. I think I will be content with being happy inside.

I am glad that you and your husband got throught it - and that you are back for another PhD :)

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Thank you Florence, much of what you wrote is very sound advice, thanks for your thoughtful post. Unfortunately, yes, it is depression that is being treated with counselling and goes beyond sadness and frustration at work. Oh goodness, we never sit down and have serious probing discussions about our topics (heh) I meant asking in the loosest sense possible like "how is it going?" - which I stopped when I noticed it caused him grief. My topic is more user friendly and "cute" so can occupy casual conversation - but I have sickened of my topic now so don't hold court! ;)

I do like the advice of holding on to what is likeable about them outside of academia - and there is lots here - I just need to get him to realise that too.

Sneaks, I wish he would see some positives - but that is difficult right now.

Goodness, who would do a PhD, huh?!!

My boyfriend's doctorate has not gone well for a very long time and after an intermission there has been no improvement mostly due to his depression. He is scared to leave but not interested by his project and I get the impression that he has made slow to small progress. It looks like he will have to make up his mind to leave soon or throw all he has got to salvage it. This does not however seem probable. I have asked others that know more then me and they think that he may end up being "suggested" to leave if he does not do so himself or rapidly produce the goods.

Meanwhile assuming I manage to submit and defend I look set to become Dr X this summer/autumn. His thesis hell has affected our relationship and I want him to be happy so much - but I have no idea to deal with the next few months. I don't know what it will be like and what will happen when I (with hope!) become a Dr and he sadly leaves (or is even worse, pushed) from his doctorate.

Does anybody, at a long shot, have experience of this? I think I remember that a regular poster on here once left her PhD whilst her husband got his...? This is a long term relationship and I want it to carry on so I need to find a way in which I can talk about my PhD and about the expected end of his with as little awkwardness as possible. I don't want it to turn into a box that nobody can mention.

Argh.

6 entered, 1 shortlisted -all failed. I expect if I stick with it, it could well be 50-100 +

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I think I have the humanities equivalent of your supervisor! He always encouraged me to publish from an early stage and to get writing and do stuff. Very goal orientated. I doubted whether it was possible to do it, and at times I have gone insane and hidden it from him, but produced the goods. I think I have done well from this in general (even though I am tired now and find it a pain to complete) because I needed somebody to push me and give me things to aim for since he as a supervisor would have had a good idea of what was (or wasn't possible) to do in a certain time. I have gone over the 3 years, but most hand in at 3.5 - 4 years and I am prob. going to be 3.7 years. I used to get a real buzz from juggling teaching, thesis, publications, conference papers - I think my supervisor helped me to make the most of my time, by making some of the decisions as to how I spent it for me - if you see what I mean...

I am not sure if you have seen the Devil Wears Prada? But I think I would thrive under Amanda Priestley. ;-)

The only productive thing I have done this week really has been to order an image from a US library for a publication, and that took all of half an hour to sort out. I'm just tired and can't be bothered. And my new part-time job is tiring because I work evenings and don't get home until late - so wake up late.

I want this thesis to be done but can't bring myself to do it. My thesis has sat still for the past 3 weeks. I should have been close to handing it in now! And the thing is, I almost am. Minor changes to one chapter, about a weeks work on another. And then another week work on general stuff. So ashamed.My supervisors would be so annoyed if they knew I have slacked these past few weeks - I haven't done this before on the thesis. Just too tired now.

I should return to staring at the screen.



(sprout)

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Edit: what a huge procrastination post I have written!!! :(

I went to two different types of state secondary school, the first was a grant maintained Church of England school (state and church funded but requiring an additional small voluntary annual parental contribution) which had formerly been a very good London school and the other was a comprehensive in the countryside. Both recieved average ofsted inspections at the time and had the usual stereotyped problems of state schools which led to the first being closed and reopened and the other being put into special measures.

The first school had a number of good teachers but these increasingly left as the reputation of the school declined. Unlike many other state schools it also offered unusual subjects like Latin and Classics. I took Classics there and despite being in the mid-ability stream came top in the year in the SATS exam. In every other subject I did rather poorly. More a reflection on my own abilities at that time and childhood circumstances (bullying/ family life) then anything else. The school had a good library and that was a great asset to have. I think that the excellent library (loads of fiction and non-fiction) helped nurture me as a book worm, and I was a total nerd and was there every breaktime and was the highest borrower in my year


:$

The second school had fewer resources though was still a better then average comprehensive at first (computer labs, excellent art department, swimming pool). I changed schools halfway through my GCSE's and so I spent a lot of time in a classroom at lunch and afterschool redoing coursework and modular exams to meet the requirements of my new exam boards and new subjects in one year (instead of two). I did pretty well considering with all but one subject in the A-C boundaries.

So, I think that the schools were okay in as much that they did their job but a lot of the lasting impact on my "life chances" came from self-motivated learning outside of school. I wish that my schools had been better at languages - as it has been hard as an adult to learn extra European languages. I know that many independent school students leave having a much better command of other languages (extra trips, intense teaching, unsusual languages offered etc). My schools were also incompetent in tackling bullying or counterproductive classroom behaviours. I had to, for example, start my Information Technology coursework at GCSE over again after a fellow student deleted it. I was also streamed according to Mathematical ability rather then other subjects meaning that in English and History I was always well ahead of the rest and fairly bored.

I left my not very impressive state school (which is now in special measures) with 2 A level's and 1 A/S level. At the time I went there the sixth form sent around 40 people (out of 100) to university - which was good, but often many went to very low ranking universities and choose courses that were not perhaps best choices. The staff "sold" degrees as a way to get a good job, which we wanted. So I would say that most - including me - picked our undergraduate degrees from a not very informed position.

I have never thought about my A levels every again really and nobody has ever asked about them on an academic application form post undergrad. I don't even know what my close friends or boyfriend got for their A levels! Mine weren't that bad (one A and two Cs) but equally nowhere near reflect where I am now. I developed and changed so much post A level that I really was a "late academic bloomer". If I am to be judged by my A levels, then is is akin to comparing the 20 something adult to the 17 year old child I was when I took them - hardly fair or accurate.

A levels are not a good indicator of future achievement in my opinion - though they may give recruiters and universities a certain sort of "risk assessment". I know that there are certain paths where they do matter though. Even if one gets a 2.1 or 1.1 from a good redbrick and wants to apply to a graduate recruitment post at a big firm like Deloitte or Acenture etc - they will need 3 or perhaps 4 a levels at A and B grade. These must also have been taken at the same time, so no repeats aloud. There types of career paths clearly think that A level grades matter to a degree for screening purposes.