shouldn't be an issue. I am pretty sure that a) you might be able to establish an improvement in your working relationship with your supervisor b) there might be other individuals or academics willing to act as referees and c) actually completing the PhD despite the difficulties should be your priority right now rather than thinking about the next job. After all, you started a PhD for certain reasons. You don't want to change your mind after so much time/one marriage/social life is wasted - not for nothing. If you get your PhD you will at least know that all that trouble has resulted in a doctorate. Contrarily, if you quit now you've lost everything for nothing.

Don't leave.

These are the test we all had to face. One year on you'll have it completed and be glad you didn't quit.

Unless of course, you have published widely in top journals and/or won the Nobel prize. Although the latter two could also diminish your chances of getting accepted as the magic rule in academia is:

"Never outshine your master"

(But don't be a fool, either)

That depends on the quality of the submitted work, if it's well-written, provides many references of the potential supervisor's work, provides a similar theoretical position etc.

My opinion is that it's a mine field and could do potentially do a lot of harm to submit some past work, in particular if it's not explicitly asked for.

Why?

How about just leaving as it is and to wait for result/feedback/admission or whatever you are waiting for. In this stage you don't want to create unnecessary attention (which could be counter-productive), you want to keep you head down, keep a low profile and wait for the result.

I think it would not help. I think it would rather harm and be seen as very negative, or at least create such an impression.

Deadlines are not just ballpark figures-they do actually have a purpose.

I think it's definitely too early.

I know the editor of a well-known journal in my field, and he told me that they usually take 5 months to respond to authors and to confirm that the paper hasn't been rejected and will now be forwarded to peer reviewers (which would usually take another 5 months to hear back)

Not sure if such a structured approach is really necessary. It might be useful to read a few papers and student textbooks so you get an overview and have enough shallow knowledge to be able to compile a list with basic sub-topics which need to be included. So you start with the broad subject area and then narrow down in the course of your literature review.

I wrote my literature review differently though: I went to an academic database (keyword search), printed out about 100 articles which appeared to be remotely related with the broad area of my thesis; then I put these sources in Endnote and just started writing. In the beginning, this approach was a bit chaotic as I hadn't read the articles yet, but after a while you will get an overview and can fill in the missing pieces. Obviously, different people have different approaches, so I guess it's up to your personal style.

Thanks 404. Off to mainland Europe, Switzerland, Italy, and wherever my bicycle and/or budget takes me. I got four full weeks time for this trip so enough time to forget about the "pleasures" of everyday job life.

Just in the packing process for holiday myself but had to come back here quickly to say: LOL@Coastman. His GANTT diagram must look funny - with a time gap from 1971 to 2007!

I'd strongly advise not to throw all eggs into one basket. As you said, competition is fierce, but hope is the key to success. Lots of luck.

I would like to refer you to the thread "depressed newbie", just a bit further down. I think it summarises the Part-time experience quite well.

I wholeheartedly agree with jojo (and more or less everybody else). All the best from me, too.

I'm not being negative and it's not a matter of being on "Gamba's side" or not. I am on Gamba's side, that's why I attempted to give some realistic advice in the first place. I just wouldn't recommend it, that's all I really have to say.

Just did the whole thing. It's amazing and really fun.

Once, in the African desert (also in the Swiss alps in a place called "Braunwald") I saw an amazing nightsky. Now I'll definitely return to test my abilities!