Scienceishard is cheered up already coz now she knows she's not alone! Think you're right about the break Rubyw, I'm ready for lunch as well!:-)

It gets to a point where the quest for stars is more important than the quest of the PhD! Help!

point taken

Hey PhD bug, the upgrade is the transfer from Mphil to PhD NOT the Mphil thesis. The transfer process involves writing a report usually about what research was done before you started (lit review), why your research would contribute something, what results you have already, what you think they mean (if scientific) and what you plan to do to finish the project. This report is submitted to examiners (most people can choose), then you have to meet with the examiners to either discuss whether they think your project will make a good PhD or whether it would be better to just write a Mphil thesis (usually because there is not enough there for a PhD), however usually this decision can be reviewed and you can have another go. Sometimes this takes the form of a mini viva. If you pass, you carry on as a PhD student, if you don't you have to write an Mphil thesis and NOT PhD. At least this is what happens at my uni

Scienceishard is tired and grumpy! she hates being in the lab on sunday mornings and hope somebody will cheer her up!:-(

Hi Stardreamer - I often hate doing my PhD. I go through periods of hating it and losing my motivation, but I always seem to come out of the other side and get interested again. I think however much you love your research and are committed, there will always be times when you want to quit and find it hard to cope. Doing a PhD is a tough task, its lots of responsibility and pressure to succeed and to publish can be overwhelming but I really think you should stick at it. If ever you need to vent frustration or it starts to get you down, its a good idea to talk to people. People come on this forum all the time to complain and get advice, and its a really great thing. It helps to read other people's troubles so you realise you're not on your own. So if you need to complain, come and share with us on the forum. If you're having trouble with motivation, I find it helps to attend seminars/conferences etc to get me thinking and get ideas, are there any that you might be interested in? or if you really can't face that just yet, take a break. You won't get anywhere if you don't give yourself breaks every now and then. A PhD is like a marathon and if you put in too much too quickly you will burn out and you will probably find it hard to get motivated again. If you give yourself time out, things will be put into perspective and you should find it easier to cope and get motivated again. With regards to asking your advisor and questions, I think its important that if you have a problem, you should ask. Thats what I would do, complaining or not, its best for everybody if you know where you stand and establish good communication lines. At the end of the day, your advisor is there to help you, its their job. Also if you have ideas for papers, thats great! You should be encouraged. Remember your supervisors interests are mainly to publish, yours is to complete your PhD developing skills as a critical thinker etc (hopefully with a paper along the way), so don't let go of your ideas so easily, just make sure you've thought them through. I agree its very hard not to lose yourself during the PhD, but do try and stay yourself. I would say stand up for yourself and defend your research. If you are completely heading down the wrong path, I'm sure your supervisor would stop you (they would stop you in no uncertain terms), if you're unsure about this, ask directly and make sure. But as yet they haven't so maybe you're onto something! Stick with it for now, let us know how it goes!:-)

I think a lot of supervisors like it when you challenge them and disagree, although not for the sake of it! You have to be careful though coz some sups HATE that and only cooperate if you massage their ego enough!

Well done you! What a brilliant way to start the weekend. Congratulations!:-)

I voted too! I'm a scientist (obviously). I work in molecular embryology.

Hi FrenchyMarie, I'm so sorry that you had to go through that experience. It sounds really harsh, especially as you were making such good progress and were used to presenting and defending your work. I seem to hear many stories of examiners who give the student a rough time if the student didn't use the exact same method as the examiner. It seems as though their egos and reputations are more important than encouraging the more junior members of the field to carry on with research. Please don't let it put you off though. From the sound of it, you were doing really well, and if you are confident enough to present at international meetings, I'm sure its possible to pick yourself up and carry on. Maybe spend a bit of time doing something nice to try and distract yourself from the appeal and so that you recover. Would it be helpful to visit friends/family to try and put this into prospective. Remember, its not over yet, and despite how it might feel now, its not the end of the world. I think its a real shame when students are so discouraged, even if the work was not quite enough for a PhD (which would be strange as your supervisor should have seen and warned you), there is no need for bullying a student during what is surely a very stressful time. Hope that your appeal gets settled positively and that you feel better soon:-)

It occurs to me Pete, that your medal/administrator badge of honour is disproportionately too large for the rest of your purple person. Whose idea was that?:p

Scienceis hard is worried that her experiments aren't working and she's running out of time!:-(

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Buy and run a safari park!!!:-) I might finish my PhD first though

Is Dr. Sloane the guy who appears in every episode so be the modest master of everything from race car driving to ice skating? Definitely think Quincy would win. Add Jessica Fletcher from murder she wrote though, and who knows what would happen? Its very suspicious that wherever she goes, people she knows, die! And she then comes up with the theory. Dodgy!:p

Hey! I'm from the north west and am doing my PhD in London (start 3rd year next month). I have to say that I'm not a fan of central London, I find it unfriendlier than the north in my experience. Don't get me wrong, not everyone is the same and there are plenty of northerners here, but I think you will find it very different from the north west. Depends what you like. I'm from a busy northern city, but find London too busy and overwhelming. I find there are unwritten rules that you get used to once having lived there for a while. This particularly applies to walking in and around stations/busy streets. Also I find people aren't as "chatty". For example on public transport people tend to avoid eye contact (papers are a good tactic) and don't really talk to each other. However I must say that if I approach most people in London, they tend to be helpful and friendly enough. There are bad areas everywhere you go. Yes it is expensive but London allowance goes some way towards helping this. I actually live outside of London, in kent to be exact. The transport is more expensive but rent is cheaper and I live in the countryside, which I find more bearable. Its also very easy access to London (30 mins) and I get to travel overground (great as I don't like the smell of the underground, my journey to work used to take up to an hour on tube when I lived in central London), so thats may way of getting around living in London. Hope this is helpful, everybody is different, you may learn to love it! I don't so hopefully I'll be back up north or abroad as soon as my PhD is over.