sorry to say this and hopefully not insulting anybody but in my opinion this thesis title and research topic is definitely a case for the other thread"can a PhD project be pointless". Looking at the "definition" of elephants 300 years ago in Britain seems to be a particular good example for that.

But then my topic isn't any better. All in Happy Easter spirit..

Hi

From your posts it almost sounds as if you did not get the support you should have received. Usually your supervisor should insist on you having a mock viva and reading the whole thing before you submit.

Maybe you could ask for a 6 month extension of your writing up?

On the bright side, you've come so far, so all you got to do is "survive" the next few months and then the sun will be shining again. Imagine your viva being successful, how good will you feel when they shake your hands and say: "Congratulations, Dr IR261".

You are so close to that moment..

Post-PhD, your job prospects inside academia will depend on quality of your publications.

And in the real world a PhD is just a PhD (people might ask you:"what is an academic publication")

just one last word. A PhD is a PhD (as long as it's not from Belford or similar). So if you sell yourself well you don't necessarily need to teach microeconomics all your life!

It's all or nothing almost everywhere. But you play the game to win, so that shouldn't be a problem?

Re research training and coursework: increasing trend originating from US universities, but benefits are subject to debate. A PhD is not a MBA, so I don't know why you are so keen on coursework. Besides, I am sure your department/university offers a number of training courses for research skills etc. which you can attend.

Apart from that, a PhD is a long, lonely and sometimes difficult endeavour so just start reading...

"Valid reasons for continuing are: loving your subject, wanting a life in academia, wanting to do research for a living."

I completely disagree on number two and three. I can answer both with a clear NO and still think that I have valid reasons to complete a PhD. You forget that many people actually want to leave academia for good after completion as there is a real world out there and more opportunities than one might think.

Additionally I am planning to use the Dr on my credit card application, as well as on my business card and as a general show off. Call it inferiority complex but people display their BA (Hons) or MSc, so why not show the world that you suffered three years (or more) for a bloody research degree?

Fair enough. It's hard to find the balance between "apprenticeship" and control.

I also think it depends on the individual supervisor. If I did not trust my supervisor completely, I'd probably also try to take more control. From my experience I can say that most supervisors try to test you in the first few months, i.e. they try to establish whether you listen to them, take their advice and board or if you rather do your own thing. And I don't think they like the latter although it's hard to generalise. There are so many different types of supervisors around so it really depends.

Thank you very much. That is very useful!

Question for Zelda:

Question for Zelda
Hi,

long time ago you posted a question about the length of your interviews. You were planning to do 20, but the first couple of questons were only about 20 minutes long so you were wonderning if that is sufficient for a PHD.

Being in a similar situation myself now, I was wondering if your later interviews were actually longer than 20 minutes? If not, how many did you do and were there any problems with that.

Thanks so much

Otto

cheers, I'll give that a try

Hi,

long time ago you posted a question about the length of your interviews. You were planning to do 20, but the first couple of questons were only about 20 minutes long so you were wonderning if that is sufficient for a PHD.

Being in a similar situation myself now, I was wondering if your later interviews were actually longer than 20 minutes? If not, how many did you do and were there any problems with that.

Thanks so much

Otto

It would be a very bad idea. In fact, it might reflect bad on you and provide you with a number of serious disadvantages if you choose to do on step back. Employers (both in and outside of academia) will ask themselves:" did this guy just want to waste time or did he not find a job or similar"

congratulations for acceptance of your conference paper!

And the same to Dr F.!

I think there is a general flaw with your whole argumentat, snappy Jaw:

being a PhD student is NOT about being in control and feeling stupid is exactly the right state of mind. Why? Because a PhD is like an apprenticeship, you are there to learn and to do exactly what your supervisors tell you. If you think you know everything already you will fail.

So I'm rather not in control and get pushed out of my comfort zone every second week as I know that ulitmately it will result in a PhD completion.

as other's have said. If you think about quitting so early than you are not well equipped for the difficult journey ahead. Patience and persistence are the two most important research skills I have acquired in the past (almost) two years.