I would also say B, dependant on how bad it is - particularly in case they have made any notes in the txt - you don't want to throw that away.

They will either be annoyed but realise its a mistake, or not be that bothered

can't imagine anyone needing a new book for the sake of a little water - and you save £40

S

As for visas - easy peasy - you have a choice of J1 or H1-B visas that will last you up to 5 years - usually your employer will pay for these. I had my visa interview 2 days ago and there was no problems whatsoever - and my wife gets to come to which might prove to be a bonus or not.

Starting pay is not great between $35000-$40000 - but you are going for the expereince anyway - who needs money?

anyway

Good luck - don't give up

S

I think you will find it easier if you

Hi Amy

All is not lost!

Your PhD is as valid in the US as it is here

I got one (in fact I got offered 2 one in Texas and one in Virginia)
Admittedly I targeted people in my specific field at a conference which made it easier so they knew my skills were useful to them. Another current post-doc in our lab has also just got one in LA - in a diffeerent field. Oh and another PhD has just been vivad and taken a position in Richmond - its almost like they can't get enough of us

To be honest I think its about what you can offer, target specific labs or jobs that relate to what you are good at and you'll have as much chance as anyone

you should do it ASAP (as long as they are relevant)

you need to be familiar with these things to gain confidence, and looks great on your c.v.

even if you just attend the first one and get an idea of what they are like and present at the following ones

I would always put in an abstract to see if it gets accepted - then worry about whether you know enough or not later

S

Difficult one as its easy to offend and sometimes easier just to accept it

You could put forward another candidate for X Y and Z reasons- if you collaborate with anyone outside the uni you could maybe use that?

You should however make sure that you weren't being a bit sensitive to them and their jests that day (obviously I wasn't there and you'll know best)- but if you get on well with your supervisor and like their style, its possible that one day you might get theor jokes too? I personally prefer a supervisor with a sense of humour and openness.

Another thing would be that you could try focus these types of meetings by subtly interrupting with points about your work etc - something like that?
or you could have a frank discussion with your supervisor, one on one and tell them that you felt uncomfortable at the meeting the other day and didn't acheive what you wanted etc etc

S

in a way I agree with Jouri and jojo - I did get married - but only at the end of first year when the stresses are few

Getting married brings with it horrendous stress that a you would best avoid combining with final write up - which is also very stressfull

maybe they should update that list,

'the most stressful things to do in life':
1- Write up a PhD
2- Get married
3- Move house
4- Move country
5- Lager or Beer

There are probably more for the list like babies and what colour to get your new car in, but I think I highlighted the main ones

forget the lottery, I bought a ticket on saturday and didn't win!

What a frikkin scam!

You should hit the roulette tables bet red thats a 50:50, all you need is like 100 in a row wins and you'll be sorted

yea that would do it ;) you pretty much walked in to that one then!

learning experience blah blah blah!

Anyway, if you are about to publish, you are doing very well

it'll all be fine

good luck for the rest of your PhD

S

yep - married is good - I did it just before the end of 1st year PhD - no probs, everybody needs a good support network

saying that tho we'd been together 9 years by that point

good luck

S

Put it this way, if your work is good, you will aim to publish it - right? so every experiment you do should be a piece of that paper - in that resepect you are constantly dissecting whether it fits, if its novel enough (has anyoune else published it), what it means, what the next stage is etc etc.

In other words critical analysis of what you are doing - all the time

don't wait for someone else to tell you its wrong - very often - and I suspect you felt this even before the panel - you know its wrong, or pointless etc and you have to be willing to face up to it and fix it

This all seems very negative, on you, but its not. Its just a learning curve, PhDs are hard but they can be good once you get a handle on what you are doing

S

as has been said independance is really about you taking responsibility for where it is going

And also when someone asks you questions about why you've done something - you can't be of the opinion you only did it because you were told to - you need to know why you've done it, what it means , what you hoped to find

It is a lot and at first year probably too much - as I said before you are probably the same as most folk at this stage, but you do need to start to develop your own ideas

as for meetings, the are fine if you want them, but you should use them to really disect the work you are doing. You might find if your supervisor is inexperienced she will enjoy the challenge of lively discussions about your work - don't be afraid to ask questions

How do you mean citing incorrectly?, if you are following a standard format, then you should be fine

If you have acess to a ref manager like endnote it make sit much easier

missing out a reference, I don't know how you can do this unless you have been told references must be used - which would be unusual

either way these would most likely be minore corrections in formatting

But as everyone else says, don't take it so hard, give it some time

hopefully in a few weeks it'll be all a distant memory - but make sure you take on board what they have said about becoming more independant - if your supervisor is inadequate at this stage, you will need to take a lot more responsibility for your project

good Luck

S

I think there are some positives to take from this

As I said to you before the panel seems to have asked questions which have been aimed at telling you where you are going wrong and directing you properly

Everything they have done, it seems (to me), is to make sure you do become more directed, and maybe that is a criticism (by them) on your superviosor anyway- they are now making sure you are well supervised

As for blaming your supervisor - this could fall in to the category of why you didn't question it either, and you needing to be more independant - I'm not saying it to be harsh, but I wouldn't waste energy blaming someone for poor supervision.

All of these things take time to develop and by no means are you doing anything wrong, but eventually you will find yourself doing more and more of these things - even if it takes till 2nd year

keep at it

S