Hello i am in this position.This is probably not very helpful. All i can say is, its awful. Im in debt, tired, ill (currently lay on the sofa with a virus) and fed up. All i can say is do your best to get as much done as you can now.

Hi try jobs.ac.uk good luck!

My situation is that i had three years funding, i am in my fourth year. I dont think ill be done by october, bevause of working full time and other reasons. Is it unrealistic to ask to go part time? Thanks.

For a ra position in the humanities please? I hate wearing 'smart' clothes, but I realise I will have to (I'm a girl)

I am due to submit in October and have a draft of the thesis, but it is too long and also some chapters need more work than others. I am also trying to publish and attend conferences.
I had funding for three years and have worked since I am now full time in a call centre for financial reasons. I am really struggling with balancing both.
Is anybody else in this position and if so how do you manage your time? I feel like the quality of my work is suffering. Also, is it likely i will be done by October, given where i am at? I am convinced not.

Hi,
First of all, sorry that you are struggling, but I am sure you will find a PhD. In addition to the points above, I'd suggest another point. You say that you have given potential supervisors ideas on their papers- do you mean you've worked with them collaboratively, or you have volunteered a critique in the process of your phd application? If it is the latter, I can't imagine that would endear you to potential supevisors. Otherwise I'd say keep going but, as above, quality not quantity and tailor your application to the specifuc research area of the academic you are applying to.

Thank you everybody- I will not say anything. I can honestly say it has not been the PhD- I feel great since I have been signed off work, and am just doing the PhD- but it is the combination of doing both, but probably worse because the job was so awful. Sadly, though, I do need to work, but I might just have to accept that I will flit from job to job whilst writing up . I have previously had problems, before going to University, with jobs where I would get bored within a few weeks, and would physically being to dread going in, before being diagnosed with clinic depression and then having to leave- but I have been fine through University and in positions where there is an element of stress/responsibility- it tends to be jobs without where it starts to go wrong for me.

I am near the end of the PhD, but my funding has finished and so I have needed to work. Long story short, I took a job I hate, which I have done for about 6 weeks. By last week, it made me feel so bad that I have been signed off for it with anxiety and depression, and put on anti-depressants. The PhD is not behind this at all, but I don't know if I have a duty to tell my Supervisor about this situation or not. Thoughts, please! :)

You have a publication, within three months of starting the PhD?! Wow! That is seriously impressive, and so I am sure that you will easily pass your upgrade now that you have the time to work on it! Keep going, that's a really good start (although it might not feel like it!)

Hello, I was not on this forum when you made your first post, but I wanted to reply firstly to say that I'm happy you are in a much better place, but also to say how good it was that you were able to follow you conviction, and have the strength to do that, and make what must have been a difficult, but the right, choice :)

Are you absolutely sure that this is the case, before you go down the route of accusing your supervisor in a tight-knit environment? If so, then you clearly need to act. My suggestion would be get the proof, then take it to your personal tutor or director of studies, and let them deal with it and find an alternative. I personally would not approach your scurrent, or intended new, supervisor. Good luck, what a tricky situation !

Hi everyone,

That's great, thank you, and I feel significantly encouraged! One is more marginal changes (extend the scope, reads like a PhD chapter-it does!-so place it in a broader context) and the other was much more critical, saying there was 'serious concerns' about some elements, which they have outlined and given me three months to put right. I'm very happy because I have great feedback, but I was not sure if this was a particularly bad outcome. I retrospectively checked, and both are INT1 journals, which perhaps I should have checked first! I am quite naïve with all this!

Hello; I'm currently moving toward the editing of the PhD, and have had two journal articles sent back to me as a revise and resubmit. I can't help feeling that this is a failure, but is this the case? Both were to peer reviewed journals, one was more scathing than the other, but both invited re-submission. Thanks

Hi Lexica, I would send a copy to the potential post-doc lady, with the clear explanation that it is pre-viva and so might change slightly. I probably would be more cautious about sending it out to other people who are just interested, perhaps prepare an overview of it that you could give interested parties instead? Best wishes with the viva!

I find myself in a bit of a predicament. My PhD funding ceased this month, and so I started applying for jobs from June- literally, doing anything! One job was in a University, in a support role, excellent salary and permanent. I applied for this in July, forgot about it, and then was offered some hourly-paid teaching from my PhD university, which I accepted. This is only a few hours a week and so I have had to take some bar work to supplement my income, whilst I finish up the PhD (I'm fairly near the end). I have also been somewhat messed around regarding the teaching; I cannot get an answer as to when I will be paid, and the hourly rate has been lowered, although nobody can tell me what to.
I have now been offered an interview for the other university, in the support role, and attending would mean missing my hourly paid teaching, which will be difficult to re-arrange. Also, there is no definite start date- it can be decided if I am successful- but I am unsure what to do if I get the job, and they wanted me to start before the teaching finishes.
The last thing I want to do it upset my current university, although they've not treated me too well, but well paid and full time university positions are hard to come by. Any advice is much well-received!