Your experience sounds very similar to the one I had when I submitted a paper last year. The first journal I submitted it to rejected it outright, but sent me the reviewer's comments anyway. So I incorporated all their changes and submitted it to a different journal. Like yours, one reviewer said it was ok, one ripped it to shreds (they even said that they doubted I was english due to the appalling grammar and style!!) and the third reviewer said it made a strong contribution to the field and just needed a couple of minor adjustments. I felt pretty crap about it after reading all the comments, but my supervisors told me to make the suggested changes and resubmit (like yours, the letter invited me to revise and resubmit). So I made the changes, sent it back, and within a fortnight it had been accepted and is now published!!

If they have asked you to resubmit, then I would say it doesn't really matter if they officially class it as 'reject and resubmit' or 'revise and resubmit', the fact is they haven't rejected it outright so they obviously think it will be good enough for publication once the changes have been made. As long as you have made the changes they suggested then I would say you have a good chance of it being accepted second time round. Good luck!!!

Hi, I think it is possible, but it very much depends on how much other support you will be able to call upon during your phd. Obviously to some extent it differs from field to field - for example, I am in the sciences, and would have found it really difficult to find someone to help me with the very technical aspects of my phd if my supervisor hadn't been an expert. So if you could discuss with your supervisor who else is available that you could turn to for specific help, that would be useful. The fact that he is willing to supervise you suggests that he feels he understands and is able to help you with the project - is there any overlap at all with your research and his, such as methodology, techniques, etc? It isn't ideal, but shouldn't be impossible either. However, be prepared for the extra work that it may entail, researching things that you are unable to get help with, looking for others within your department/uni that could help, etc. For example, in my dept there is no one to help with statistics, but the maths department runs a workshop where you can go to get help with specific problems.

I am near to submitting my phd, so have been thinking about this myself. On balance, I think I would prefer not to have a mock viva, as I find it hard enough to talk to my supervisors about my work as it is, as they can be quite intimidating! A friend who works in recruitment gave me a mock interview a few weeks ago and I found that excrutiatingly embarrassing and not particularly helpful! I find it easier to talk freely in front of strangers, so I think I will be ok in front of the examiners, weirdly. I have ordered a viva preparation book from amazon, and I will be doing a lot of googling to make a list of the sort of questions that might come up. I may ask to have a meeting with my supervisors about the sort of questions I am likely to get, and discuss some possible answers, but it won't be a mock viva.

Hi everyone,

Not really sure if I have a specific question or not, but could just do with a bit of a rant!! I am due to sumit my PhD any day now, and I cannot sleep for worrying about it. I feel my thesis is 'ready' - it may not be the best thesis ever written, but I'm pretty sure it's the best I could have done. However, I am having a confidence crisis. Not once have I been given any indication of how good/bad my thesis is by my supervisors. I have two - my first sup has been very good with checking all my chapters bit by bit etc, but my 2nd sup decided yesterday that she wanted to read the whole thing (she's had 6 months to read my chapters one at a time as I sent them all to her!!), therefore delaying my submission date by a couple of days or so (and no doubt she will come up with a load of suggestions/corrections that I will have to make at the last minute!) I have had a chapter of my thesis published, but I still feel that I have no idea of what the examiners will make of my thesis, and have no indication of how my viva might go.

Another issue is also stressing me out - I am lucky enough to have been offered a job, which I start next month. The job is conditional on me passing my phd, and I told them my viva should be before the end of March. but now, with my 2nd sup faffing about, my potential viva date is being pushed back more and more and so I'm in a complete panic about the job! Obviously they are aware that I haven't submitted yet but they still want me to start before my viva. (it doesn't help that my stupid sup didn't put a date on my notice to submit form that I had to hand in to the grad office a few weeks ago, meaning that my examiners have no idea when to expect my thesis which may also affect my viva date!! arrrgghhh!!)

As I said, not sure what my question is really, as I know none of you have any idea of what standard my phd is at, but I feel better already for having written it down!! I guess I just want to know if it's normal to feel this way and hear some words of encouragement from fellow panickers!! Sorry for the epic post, and thanks if you've got this far ,-)

Hi Woodengiraffe,

It sounds to me like you have to be brutally honest with yourself and decide if you think you will ever be able to get your phd. If the answer is no, then in my opinion it would be best to quit now, rather than drag it out any longer (easier said than done, I'm sure!). I never like to give up on things so I can imagine how difficult this must be, but if it is making you depressed and unhappy then I think it would be for the best in the long run. When you think about quitting, how does it make you feel? If you feel excited about the prospect of not having to face your phd anymore, then perhaps you have your answer!!

I live away from uni and work at home alot, so I know it can be isolating and make things more difficult. I definitely feel that I get much less support from my supervisors than other students as I am not there in front of them everyday. I also struggled to get motivated because of this and also because I don't *love* my topic. I like it, but it is not something I am passionate about. However, after drifting through my first 2 years, in my third year everything just sort of came together and now I am weeks away from submitting and feeling much happier about it.

Please don't feel like you have 'failed' in any way if you choose not to complete - nobody knows when they start their phd how hard it will be and if the interest they had in their subject at the beginning will last. I actually think it's braver to admit it isn't working for you and quit than to struggle on with something just because you feel you have to.

Is there anyone else at the uni you can talk to about things apart from your supervisor? Maybe even some fellow students who you could have a bit of a moan to might make you feel better?

Hope some of this waffle has helped in some way! And whatever you decide, I wish you the best of luck.

Hi Mlis,

Sorry to hear you are having a tough time. I was just wondering if you have applied for any other jobs outside of academia? I don't know what field you are in, but could you try working in industry? I know it may not be your first career choice but industry probably won't care about recent publications, and you may still get to do some research. I work in biological sciences, so could apply for jobs at a pharmaceutical company, for example. They may not require a PhD necessarily, but often you get employed in a higher salary band than others who are doing the same role, but don't have the same qualifications.

Additionally, can you do a postdoc of some sort? Or is that the sort of thing you have been applying for already?

Apologies if you've already done this sort of thing, I was just thinking that perhaps you need to have a bit of a rethink about career direction to get your confidence back and get some more work experience.

I can imagine it must be utterly disheartening to be in your situation, but there will be a job out there for you somewhere! Getting through a PhD requires determination and tenaciousness (if that's even a word!) so you must already have these qualities - and it will pay off in the end!! Best of luck.

Yep, I guess I've always been a 'good student'!! I loved learning even before I started school. I got good grades at GCSE and A level, and a 2:1 in my degree (probably should have applied myself a bit more and maybe I could have got a 1st, but to be honest I was enjoying myself too much! I'd have been disappointed with less than a 2:1, so really knuckled down in my final year).

I got my masters then decided I'd had enough of academia and got a job (at a university though!!). After a year, I decided that I missed learning and being in that academic environment so I started my PhD.

Now, three and a half years on, and I think I've finally had enough..... Got a job in industry to go to after I finish which will still involve learning about different scientific topics on a regular basis, but I won't be doing any of my own research. However, think I'll always have that 'student' mindset, and I've always said that if I won the lottery I would spend the rest of my time taking degrees in any subject that took my fancy, just so that I could keep on learning things!

I have used the term probably hundreds of times in my thesis as a number of the models that exist in the literature and that I am comparing in my work are 'a priori' models, i.e. they make predictions entirely from scratch, using mathematical concepts and no in vivo data. Therefore I am often writing things like 'many methods for predicting drug distribution a priori exist in the literature' or 'predicting drug distribution a priori is of importance because...'. However, I agree that if it doesn't easily fit into your thesis, I wouldn't bother trying to shoehorn it in! It is a commonly used term in my field and it would be weird for me NOT to use it.

Hi all,

It's been a long time since I posted on here, but I'm now finally in the final stretch of my PhD (submitting next month - eek!!) and so I have a question for you all!

Does anyone have any idea where I should mention publications/conference papers/posters in my thesis? My university has no specific guidelines on it, my sup isn't sure, and the couple of example theses I have looked at from my uni had it in different places so I can't decide! Should it go near the front, i.e. before my Intro chapter, or at the end? I'm worried that if I put it at the end, it won't get noticed, and as the paper I had published is basically identical to one of my chapters, I want to make sure my examiners see that it has been published!

Thanks in advance ,-)

i tend to do a 9-4 Mon-Fri as well, and so far haven't really worked in evenings or at weekends at all (just started 2nd year of pharmacology phd). i often panic that i'm not doing enough, and this year i think i am going to have to step it up a bit. i have some things to publish and will hopefully present at a conference or two in 2010, so i think my level of work is ticking along ok, but i still always feel like everyone else is way ahead of me and i need to work much harder!! (this may well all be in my head though, i'm probably not as far behind as i think!). some days i have a really productive few hours and allow myself to leave a bit early, and others i procrastinate so much i feel like i probably only did about half an hour of actual work, but i think that's the nature of a phd, and there are highs and lows.

if tuition fees had been any higher when i was at university, i wouldn't have been able to go, it's as simple as that. university should not be for the privileged few; it should be accessible to everyone. if my sister and i had been closer in age, neither of would have been able to go as our times at university would have overlapped and my family simply could not have afforded two sets of fees at the same time. the introduction of fees has ruined the chances of so many, as the fear of surviving on so little money for the duration of the degree and then being landed with thousands of pounds worth of debt has scared many people off the idea. being a postgrad means that at the age of 26 i have barely paid off any of my student loan, and the thought of paying it off makes me feel physically sick (so i just try not to think about it ;-) ). how any could possibly think this is a good idea that will benefit future society is beyond me.

oh, and i forgot to add - i get along great with all three of my very supportive, very helpful supervisors ;-)