Lmao - oh I do love a nice bit of spam on a Monday, I look forward to it! Especially one as naff and with as many posts as this muppet!

Again, not debating at all, but just an observation that the percentage of 'no' is actually what I'd expect it to be, if anything a little lower. We're quite a spiritual lot when taking the general academic community into consideration :-)

I agree with the others - how do you think Cambridge would view the fact that you're 3 months into a PhD and want to leave it for a name (if you read posts you'll find that we always say at this level its not the insitution that counts so much) and for a shorter duration that in reality isn't the case anyway - we have a 3 year set PhD and a completion year - the completion year isn't covered by any funding of any kind so you're worse off in the long run. How would you go about supressing the fact that you're currently enrolled on a PhD? Do you think the offer would still apply (if you even got one) when they found out? Would your current team not notice your name on any publications etc and let them know maybe 2 or 3 years into the future - then you're thrown off your course for lying on your application. Stay where you are, you've said yourself you're in a good team doing good work - why jeopardise everything for a name and what will most likely be the same duration anyway?

I've just realised that I read your message incorrectly - the 52 is in a philosophy MA? If so apologies, my mistake, I missed that bit (will teach me to read properly!). I totally agree with everything that's been said, speak to them, people can be very understanding - go for it :-)

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Publishing is not necessarily part of doing a PhD - its good to do, but I know of many people in my field that haven't published until after their PhD - they are all Drs and all have a large number of publications in top peer reviewed journals and books to their name. There may be a very good reason why your supervisor is suggesting you hold off for now and to publish without their permission (or not so much permission as blessing) is asking for trouble in your relationship. I was advised NOT to publish too fast - for a start your writing isn't always up to it and your ideas aren't ready - I was told its better to wait until you can get your first publication in a highly respected journal in your field. It may well be that this is the case with you, that the journals that have accepted your work are top flight, but it is apparently potentially damaging to a student to have a low grade publication - you can't then publish your results again in something the main players read. I'm submitting for publication in Sept at which point I'll be just starting my 3rd year - suddenly my sup is saying go for it - write, write, write, publish :-) I will be writing as sole author, my supervisor will advise, help with editing etc but wants my work to be 'mine' not me in his shadow. I'd just be wary of ignoring your sup's advice - they may well be suggesting you don't publish for a good reason. If he says focus on your thesis you should be doing just that - its the thesis that will be examined for your PhD, not your publications.

Well I personally love these threads! They are incredibly useful, not only to the original poster, but also to the rest of us who have the same situation looming - they are encouraging, informative and a perfect use of the forum! So what if we have a few of them? It really doesn't matter - better than half the spam rubbish we get on here - that does annoy me, but this kind of thread is great. This forum (in my mind) is a group of people, all in the same boat, all relatively isolated, and a place where we can get encouragement, help and build up friendships and share our hopes, fears, ideas, success, etc etc. Don't like, don't bother reading, but don't make a new member feel bad *climbs back off soapbox*

Hi there, I don't mean to pry but did you inform your university of your personal problems? These things are often seen as extenuating circumstances and are 'allowable' - its difficult to perform at your best under that kind of pressure. You're not a dumb idiot, you're someone who had a lot of problems during their study but still pushed on and completed it, in my book that is one brave person! I certainly wouldn't say that you aren't good enough, its such a shame that your references couldn't see beyond the marks to the person and what they were struggling with - don't let it break you! I would say that there is every chance - they might insist that you take some core courses to train you in your new subject if it is very different from the subject your MBA is in, you could even offer to do that - but if this is what you want to do never give up!

yes, it is quite expensive isn't it, but then as you say its an essential part of a wardrobe and if you can get one that does up without hanging/gaping its got to be a good thing

Oooh, they do properly fitted shirts? Excellent! I have terrible trouble with them as I'm slightly larger around the old boobs than my 'size' and whereas I'm a size 12 so that fits around my waist etc a size 12 blouse just won't do up and gapes - very bad look! I normally need a size 16 to go round at the top but that just hangs like a sack on the rest of me - its hard!

Gooooo Sneaks :-) *grabs a cheerleading outfit and waves pom poms* If you can do it it will give me a whole load more confidence that its possible and I can emulate your feat :-)

I'm at the same stage as you and am nowhere near write up yet, I still have more research to do and then analysis etc before the write up. I've spoken to my sup about it and he says not to even aim for 3 years, if its done in that time great, but the completion year is for writing up in - you'd aim to have the research/transcription/analysis done by the end of the 3rd year. In that case then yes, you have plenty of time - I'm desperately trying to get through as close to 3 years as possible though and can't really see how its going to happen :-( One year should, in theory, be enough to get the analysis and write up done if all goes smoothly and you get quick responses from your supervisor to drafts etc, but I'm beginning to give up and accept that its just not going to happen. Not sure how I'll cope financially once my scholarship ends and also the psychological effect of going over the 3 years, I'm already exhausted to the point of repeated illnesses which isn't good but if that's what its got to be then so be it :-(

Ah... that's a shame - I followed the link and got very excited! I've developed quite bad RSI in my wrists and am worried about how I'll cope as the amount of writing I have to do builds up. I can't afford to get anything like that til the next bursary payment (in Oct lol) so I'll be interested to see how Jepsonclough gets on too. It says that it can write at 3x typing speed - maybe that's 3x a very slow typing speed? I need to do something though as typing a paper just kills me :-(

That is rough, really rough and I feel for you especially if you thought this time would be better. I have to agree with the others though.... it might be time to accept that this thesis lark isn't for you, or at least not just now and with this subject. It doesn't mean never, but for some reason your topic just isn't working out for you and 3 strikes is enough for anyone to take. Get what you can out of this and maybe later down the line if you're certain this is the road you want to take then you can go again and with time, experience and more knowledge you will be ok. Take care (((((hugs)))))

I find typos in published books!! There is no way under heaven that with 80k+ words that all of them will be perfect lol - its a fact of life and a limitation of word's spell checker lol. STOP READING IT lmao :p - its your weekend of relaxation and relief after the hell of completion and submission - why are you reading it - there's months for that woman - put it down and go get some hardcore sunbathing/wine drinking/chocolate eating in 8-)

Hi, i'd second everything that KB and Eska have said, but whatever you do don't hassle a prof - they don't like it! No generally means no and if you continue to contact them then they might get annoyed - always be extremely polite.

The other thing I'd say is that I wouldn't consider doing a PhD unless you are extremely interested in the subject matter and you will be prepared to spend 3 or 4 years studying that exclusively - its a long slog and so to change your research area significantly just to fit in with a certain prof's interests would be bringing stress and trouble on yourself and lower your chances of completion. Most of the people that I've seen come on here in trouble and wanting to quit are people who have bent their interests to fit that of a set program and its been a disaster for them, emotionally and professionally.

Decide on what you want to do, check the sites mentioned to see if there are funded opportunities already there studying the topic you want to study, if not then contact suitable potential supervisors to see if they'd be prepared to consider your proposal, if you get a yes then you need to discuss with the administrator for the proposed dept funding opportunities - they are on deadlines so you have to work around them - research council funding is limited but there are also university scholarships and a mass of smaller scholarships that you could apply for dependent on your personal circumstances.

Hope that helps a little