Hi Neo,

Im in the same boat as you. Started a PT PhD in jan, and have dedicated 3 days plus bits at the weekend. My sup says its very possible for a under 4 year finish (the quickest you're allowed to finish as a PT student), but Im not so sure if its possible.

However, I asked a similar question on here a few weeks ago, and also have spoken to some other PhD students- and the message is 'if you can go full time, go full time'. I lecture 2.5 days a week, but want to strip it down to 1.5 (10 hours a weeks) and transfer as a full timer. It's a financial pain, but think that total immersion will be the most efficient and also the most enjoyable...

At my uni you can switch between Ft and PT, you could try going PT for your first year, then FT during data collection...

Good luck

:-)

Thanks Sue,

Its good to hear that FT pays off. I'm ready for the sacrifice, while my partner is not over the moon, as we're thinking of moving abroad, the sooner the better!

MY employer is my sponsor- so they are paying my tuition fees (which would go up around 2k a year as a full timer), plus they throw me a few hours of work. Other than that, it would just mean having to sacrifice the luxury's and have a few more meals round at my mum' s!

Do you know if my supervisor has to 'agree'- obviously I'll ask her, but can she have a say? I would have thought its down to me?

Hi all,

I sort of asked this question on an earlier post, but am now 'refining' my postgradforum question :-) I have just started a part-time PhD, putting in 20 hours or so a week. My schedule is 2 days on PhD, 2 days off (paid work) half a day on PhD, then dribs and drabs at the weekend. Already I am finding the on-off nature distracting, and cant get a proper 'flow' going. I would really like to fully 'immerse' myself, but cant at this rate. As such, I am toying with registering full-time and taking a financial hit (probably just lecturing a couple afternoons a week instead of 2.5 days), but at least I'd be able to start making some headway a little quicker, I hope!

Fortunately I have a partner who is working- but there's no doubt we'd be skint for a few years. However, I feel that I need to concentrate all my effort and motivation in 3 years instead of a spreading it thinly over 4-5 years part time, anyone else feel the same? I realise a PhD is a marathon not a sprint, even full-time, but 3 years seems a much shorter marathon than half a decade!

Has anyone found that from switching from PT to FT made a big difference to you rate/quality of work?

BTW started using mytomatoes- excellent! Well done Sue:-)

Hi Su,

if you have an iPod/iphone with an itunes account, theres a wholes series of lectures from Berkley College- Its under the 'iTunes U' tab.

Im planning on watching them when I get a little closer to analysis.

Good luck!

Thank you everyone for your advice. It certainly seems that to complete a PT PhD in 4 years you'd have to be putting in close to fulltime hours. I'd love to go full time. At the moment I have all of monday and Tuesday, half of Friday and weekends to commit to my PhD(but want to have some sort of social life, time with girlfriend etc). I'll have to meet with my work 'people'/sponsors and suggest I'd prefer total 'immersion' in my PhD, so can I have more time in the week and more money to pay the full time fees 8-)

I'm thinking a split of 10 hours of 'work work' and 30 plus hours PhD (hopefully as a full timer). I totally agree that you need a good few solid days on the trot to get going, there's nothing worse then having to stop for a day or two when your just getting in to a rhythm.

Will go practice negotiating skills in mirror

Dee
:-)

Hi KB- 40-50 hours- wow!

I am a lecturer (undergrad), so my work is definately related to my PhD. However, Im registered as a PhD student at another institution, I will do most (if not all) of my data collection at the the institution that I work at (hope that makes sense !). Actually, my second supervisor is my boss/head of dept at my place of work.

It seems they want to squeeze all they can out of me i.e teach/cover required areas plus finish my PhD ASAP- but they have to understand that they cant have it all. I really hope to publish as I go, so you're quite right- thats added pressure/time factors.

I'll be meeting with my sponser/second supervisor/boss to discuss my concerns next week- I just wanted to have an idea what would seem a reasonable time to ask for- Im guessing 25 hours, instead of 17.5...

many thanks

Hi all,

I have enrolled on a part-time MPhil/PhD this January. I am being sponsored by my employer- and have just received an addendum to my 'work' contract regarding my PhD funding.

It states that my funding will be 3 years, plus 1 years extension- i.e 4 years in total. However, I am expected to dedicate 17.5 hours a week to my PhD (the rest of the week is taken up with my work duties). I know that at my uni, I the quickest one can complete a PT PhD (as part-time fees are almost half the full time cost) is 45 months, but can take up to 6 years (max). If most fulltime PhD's take 3-4 years, with students spending 30 hours plus a week on their project, does this time scale seem extremely unrealistic!??

What do you guys think? I haven't signed the PhD contract with my employer yet, so can negotiate-request re-wording.

I realise all PhD projects are different (mine is in health sciences/health professions), but how long would many hours would you expect to dedicate a week to finish in 4 years?

My intention is to tell my employer that their time requests are highly unrealistic, and for me to complete in the required time they'll need to allow me to have 25 hours plus a week to spend on my PhD, whilst cutting down my work duties....

However- perhaps Id be better of registering as a fulltime student and ask them to cough up more funding? The point is, they WANT/NEED me to finish as soon as possible- so its in their interest (as I'll be filling a much needed position when im done)...

How can I tackle this to get the best for me? (i.e. milk it, ultimately im the one doing the hard work!)

Thanks for any ideas...stars for all ,-)

Hi Rebel,

I'm definitely with you about family thinking that a PhD work can be slotted in around other stuff. I'm a part-timer, but only work wed, thurs and spend mon, tues and Friday on PhD, because I'm usually at home at my desk, I get ...'Phdee you dont work mondays, can you run me down to Sainsburys then help me wallpaper'....aaaahhhh!!!! Very frustrating, sometimes I have to lie and say Im going into to work or uni...just so I can keep to my schedule...

I live with my other half, but did live with my folks during my Masters, love them to death, but in truth they drove me bonkers,...but did save cash...so  well done for sticking with it for as long as you have :-)

But they'll definately all get mentions in my thesis cause they do alot more good than harm!

Great advice from you all- greatly appreciated. Comforting to hear other's experiences. I will e mail my sups and inform them of my lack of quali experience- but let them know 'I'm working on it', but some guidance would be helpful.

Sneaks, the TA link by King looks really useful, almost a step by step guide- excellent  , as does the Cassell and Symon book- I have PM'd you- that's very kind of you:-)

Less daunted now,

thanks all

Hi all,

I'm relatively new to the site, having just started a PT PhD. I am in health care, and had my first supervisory meeting a couple of weeks ago and talk about direction, initial projects etc, it was all going hunky dory until it was suggested that I carry out an initial study using qualitative research, specifically a thematic analysis, to refine my clinically based quantitative work. I'm a 'quanititative kinda guy', I feel safe in the comfort of formulas and statistics, both my undergrad degrees and my MSc used a 'do somthing-then measure' approach, and I thought my PhD would be the same. When she suggested this, I smiled and agreed it'd be a great idea, but since then I've been reading up, trying to familiarise myself....but Im struggling to get to grips with it....Also, I have asked around in my dept, but no one can really help...

My question is, do I tell my sup that I haven't really the foggiest on how to proceed with a thematic analysis, nor quite sure how it relates to my initial PhD idea(s)...but risk looking incompetent (and so early on:-()

Or Just keep pushing to try and figure it out myself....I have no problem in using quali methods, and have total faith in my sups, I just feel out of my depth already, and have to master a very unfamiliar area with little help...


Unfortunately my uni is 3 hours from me so attending lectures isnt really an option...

Im not a moaner, honest,-)

Would really appreciate any advice, similar experiences

Hi Sherlock,

good question. I would say that the university's rank does 'matter', but no to a great extent. As you said. that your subject and supervisor will offset any low rankings, but also, a uni which might have a relatively low place on the league table, may excel in a certain field, or have good a good research background (look at the research assessment exercise RAE scores).

I am doing my PhD at a uni overall ranked sixty something, but has excellent RAE scores, my supervisor is a big name in the field nd very experienced and I just 'like' it. I reckon its more important to go with an educated gut feeing- if you have a better good 'feeling' about the uni and supervisor etc then perhaps don't focus on ranking too much.