Am I not making a valid point in saying that statements like the above are potentially as unhelpful and provocative as stereotyping all Asians as terrorists?

This discussion if continued should be started on a non postgrad related topic thread

I assume because it was getting off topic and getting a little heated

here is my last post on the matter:


I do apologise. Olivia that is out of order and I agree there are some valid points there amongst the ill considered angry rhetoric this person has been using.


But this person clearly has issues

Juno, you talk about my comments as unhelpful stereotyping but the comments that this person makes are indicative of the kind of stereotyping of western nations, which encourages young impressionable Muslims to answer the call of fundamentalists ( how ever small a minority they may be). For example views that all western nations are only interest in exploiting third world, destroying their cultures and waging war on their religion only helps to fuel the fire. Consider the following:

This is nothing other than INFORMATION HEGEMONY of West. why not Block the uncivilised lot .eh?? BOMB IRAQ, COLONISE ASIA, BOMB Hiroshima, and Then.... it is White mans Burden EH???

well boys and girls.

nice to see notes at the top of forum asking people not so ask silly questions asking for money or studentships :) my work here is done

its a shame the last thread was deleted. although it was getting heated I thought there was some interesting banter flying about

well well well. I know your upset but get a grip ive never heard such bitterness!!!!


what you are saying is completely unfounded. I dont come from the UK and I had a terrible supervisor/experience during my PhD here but I dont get on my high horse and blame every university and supervisor in the country. I will be coming back to the UK to do a masters and Phd in October

consider this:

According to the times and shanghai league tables of world univerisites: UK universities are consistantly in the top 10 best univerisites in the world.

Some of the greatest scientists of all time studied at British universities in some capacity or another

Cambridge Univeristy has more nobel prizes than any other country in the world.

But it is often the case that even supervisors who are completely hands off with PhD projects and couldn’t care less how their students do their research will have very specific designs on the direction and ultimate outcome of the project. To some extent this is reasonable given that in most cases the supervisor is the one who conceived the project in the first place, wrote the proposal and secured funding for the project and hence has a vested interest.

But if a supervisor goes too far down this route then their PhD students are nothing more than lab whores, not world class researchers who think and act independently

It is the big irony of research and ive been thinking about posting a thread to this effect.

A PhD is supposed to be by its very nature a significant individual contribution to knowledge and as such is a very personal thing i.e, your project, your responsibility, your pain, your chance to shine or fall... basically four years of your life which you could of spent pursuing less stressful and more financially attractive career options. If this is the case, then the student should really be the one calling the shots on their project ( initially with guidance from the supervisor that gradually dissipates as the project progresses)

Well as a start, keep your CV to two Pages. Your CV should match the skills and knowledge appropriate to the studentship you are applying for and Phd study in general.

Think about high achievement on relevent modules of your undergraduate degree, skills you have developed: planning and organising, time managment, problem solving, communication skills ( written and oral ), specific technical skills, team work....

demonstrate a commitment to research: undergraduate placements, papers published....

What ever happens. Chin up. I know how you feel. Ive spent a number of months feeling sorry for myself and it hasnt done me any good but the best way to look at situations like this is that everything happens for a reason.

what is for you, wont pass you by ;)

If you don’t feel comfortable with talking to a member of staff just yet, do go see your graduate union; specifically the welfare officer ( your department should really have one as well) That’s what they are there for. I am sure they will be happy to help and once you given your side of the story they should be able to give impartial advice and go through your options with you. They may well have heard of a lot of similar cases. I know I have.

Remember you are not the only student who has gone through this. If you look back over the many threads of this site you will find plenty of horror stories.

If your supervisor is not being reasonable and it sounds like that is the case, your department will likey take your side. Like I've said before, it is in a department's interests to hold onto their students for both financial reasons and in the interests of not getting a bad rep.

JD. Yes if I were you I would talk it over with someone in confidence before anything is said to your supervisor. Your supervisor is not likely to support your decision to transfer to another supervisor.

You should have a student hand book or at least a website which lists the rights and responsibilities of both student and supervisor. In such a document, it should give some kind of advice on who to talk to if you have issues with your project.

thor. I would agree that in general that there is a negative perception towards the teaching profession, not just in this forum. I respect good teachers which from my experience of secondary education are few and far between.

I mean no disrespect to the profession by saying this but from my experience the profession is populated by people who just arn't very clever and make terrible teachers.

It's a career option I am considering but anyone I know in the profession has pretty much warned me away.

A joke which I think is kind of funny is that the three best things about teaching are June,July and August...

2. Will it affect funding for a PhD?

Depending on what your field is, funding is usually attached to positions. So your main concern will be convincing a prospective supervisor that you’re the right person for the job.

3. Do I/Can I carry on to an MPhil instead of a PhD?

Yes it is possible to do an Mphil instead, but this is likely to take up to a year and a half to complete. Do you really want to work on this project for that long and then go on to do another PhD which will take another 3-4 years.

My advise is discuss your issues with your supervisor first (i.e. about changing project or changing from PhD to Mphil) if that doesn’t help, go see some else in the department about discussing your options.


I hope this helps. Let us know how you get on

You have a number of options:

1) You can continue with your current supervisor and change the scope of your current project or stay at your university but change supervisor/project.

If at all possible most universities will prefer either option because if you drop out this will put a black mark on the department. The funding bodies seriously frown upon departments which lose a certain % of their students and this can have repercussions for future funding applications the department might make.

2 If you do drop out and apply to other universities, you are going to have to convince them that you have both the commitment and ability to see through a PhD program in what ever field/topic it maybe. The best way to do this is get relevant work experience or do a taught Msc in that field or Mres and get a paper published.

To answer your questions:



1. If I leave will it be frowned upon (or a major draw back) when applying for another PhD?

Not necessarily. It depends on your reason for leaving your program. In general you will have some convincing to do with any prospective supervisor but this isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Consider this:
From my experience at my university and from talking to academics at other universities, it’s quite common for students to have major issues with their project/supervisor and hence it’s a lot more common for students to change PhDs than you might think.

I didn’t even pass first year and have been offered a PhD studentship at another university. In my case, my head of department and advisor got involved and took my side. So I had a reference with was able to backup my claim that I had reasonable justification for not continuation.

JD,
I completely understand your situation. I joined a PhD program at a top university last year and dropped out after a year.

I made a big mistake. I accepted the position without properly researching the background of the PhD topic and without ever attending an interview. I always knew it would be a risky venture but it was a very prestigious university so I just felt I couldn’t turn it down.

I would say I hated my topic from the start. My supervisor was never around and didn’t show any interest in what I did, apart from tearing my head off every couple of months when things were not going to plan. I worked with a post doc who couldn’t have cared less about what I did either. So to sum things up, the first year of my PhD was a nightmare. I dropped out after getting mauled by my supervisor in first year review. I really should have bailed out months earlier.