That sounds great haventgotaclue. I think that is what I need to do as well.

Yeah, what he says is great when you have 3 months to do nothing but write, but I don't. I wish I did. My bog is going to be 'how to write your thesis in 1 hour per day'...

Does anyone else ever get told to do a new lab method where no one has any experience with it, and no one knows how to operate the machine? I just got handed the 70 page manual and got told to 'work out how to use it'.

This is not an effective use of my time! I think this should be the job of a technician or lab manager, not a PhD student with only 6 months of funding left!

I feel you lemonjuice! It's the same for me at the moment. I have my thesis document in front of me, but sometimes I just stare at it and I think how the hell am I ever going to write thing damn thing! Especially when I still have a lot of lab work to do, and a parttime job to find...

But like wowsers said, we have the thesis in our heads and we have to just get it out, bit by bit, slowly, slowly. We will get there. Also great tips from wanderingbit.

Today may be a bad day but tomorrow can be better. Hopefully...

I think that's fine. I think for biology my university says between 50,000 and 80,000 words but I believe this is just a guideline and you can have fewer words as long as you have given sufficient detail.

The information you are looking for is very specific to your field and I'm not sure that anyone on here is going to be able to assist you.

So I have spent a lot of time filling in 10 funding applications (none of which I have heard back from yet) and 2 of which required my supervisors to submit references.

One of my supervisors has been great and filled out the references, the other one is being a total idiot and hasn't bothered, but is so caught up in his own lies that he forgets what he has told me! He told me he sent one, and that 'they must not have received it' and he said he would send it again. Today I got an email from the funders who said they haven't received it still, so I emailed him again and asked him to send it, and he said he isn't sure that he will have the time! Clearly he hasn't even written it otherwise it wouldn't be such an onerous task to send it!

It doesn't matter anyway, it probably won't be a successful funding application either way, but I don't appreciate being lied to, and it would be nice to think my supervisor actually cared about my funding situation and completion of my PhD. I've already decided I'm going to get a part-time job to fund my 4th year anyway.

Welcome to PhD life.

Situations like this are very common. You say you feel as if your supervisors don't care about your study - to be honest, they probably don't. They have many other priorities.

My advice to you is to not take it so personally and just to continue pushing on to get what you want. You should probably also read more about ethics and differences between disciplines - you can't use lack of knowledge of procedures as an excuse for anything. It's your responsibility as an independent researcher to find out about these things.

I've done the first 2 years of my PhD in the UK and my third year is in the US. I'm coming back 2 the UK in 3 months time.

I honestly do think that in general students in the US work longer hours and more is expected of them, yes. Bear in mind, this will really vary depending on the supervisor though. There are plenty of people in the UK who have to work many hours too. In general, PhD students are not officially given holidays in the US - it's supervisory discretion. In the UK you are generally given 25 days off and extra for bank holidays. Some supervisors might not want to you take holidays, but any decent supervisor who cares about their students' health would.

A lot PhD students get anxious or depressed - I have no idea about the frequency of occurrence in either country, but I expect it is the same. The issue is the structure of the PhD itself, not the country in which it is undertaken. It can be a lot of pressure, with a lot disappointment, uncertainty and stress, and many people find this hard to cope with.

The distance is also a big issue worth considering. Since being in the US I have missed births, weddings and important birthdays of my friends and family. I now know I cannot consider a post doc outside of Europe. It's just too far for me. I need to be able to get home every few months.

Regarding the bias, I mean that supervisors favour students they know, or their colleagues know, rather than country of origin. I think it's fairly ok to get a job on this basis: if your supervisor likes you, if they have many connections, and if you are prepared to move from one end of the country/world to another to get a job. Most postdocs seem to get their jobs via connections.

I can only say for me personally I am glad I've been able to do my PhD mostly in the UK.

Funding for biology in the UK and US is similar and you can easily live on it. If you apply for a funded position and are accepted, in the UK you get about 14,000 pounds and this is usually the minimum across all sciences. In the US this varies across departments. For example, at the US university I am in, plant pathology students get $1600 after tax, whereas plant biology students get $1900 after tax. It's still plenty to live on either way.

The other difference is as you said: US students feel they have to work more. Their mentality is different to UK students. I think in the UK people don't think it's good if you're in the lab 24/7, whereas in the US it's seen as normal to work like that.

The PhD structure is also different. US PhDs have 2 years worth of classes, alongside research and teaching, so it can easily be a 60 hour working week. The PhDs are 5 - 6 years long. In the UK you just do pure research, with optional teaching on the side, and you are only expected to work about 40 hours per week (although many students work far more hours than this too). UK PhDs are 3-4 years long.

Job-wise, I don't think there's much difference if you compare the US and Europe, as long as you are prepared to move around. The bias is between people the PIs know (or people their colleagues know) vs people they don't. I don't think international students are disadvantaged in either country.

I just got an official letter via email in April after I accepted it, and then I applied online formally. I didn't hear anything else until September, when my supervisor contacted me and told me I didn't finalize the application process so I needed to apply again... Then I got a few emails from the admin staff telling me about the introduction process etc and I think I got an information pack from the admin staff a few weeks before starting in October.

I didn't get any PhD specific information, just departmental stuff.

If you are starting in October, I wouldn't worry until the end of August, because you are not likely to have to do anything before then. If you haven't heard anything by then I would drop the admin staff an email.

Bear in mind that your story is similar to a lot of students. We all look back on our first year and think 'what the hell did I achieve?'. Some of us look back on our second years and think that too! You are only parttime so you are not expected to achieve much in one year anyway.

I think you need to decide if you are prepared to continue the way you are going and if so, think about what support you need and ask your supervisors directly if they will provide it. Set some goals and deadlines and work towards achieving them on time.

Hello,

Remember, universities have targets that PhD students are supposed to complete within 4 years. It's not your uni being uptight. It looks bad for them if you take longer. However I would think it would look bad for them too if you were to withdraw.

I don't think your uni can force you to withdraw but I am not sure. I have not heard of this happening though. I guess if you pass the time limit that you have for PhD and you have not submitted them it will be an automatic fail. Most students are only registered for 4.5 years so if you exceed this without approval from the university you will have withdrawn yourself.

I suggest you have another talk with your supervisor and tell them that going home will not help you and you need more time to write. Agree a plan, and stick to the deadlines.

This is a case where honesty is not the best policy. I really believe in looking after your own self-interests in these cases, but anyway...

I think uni A hasn't replied because you have already accepted B's offer. You should probably email to check though.

I'm sure your research proposal was fine, but remember everything can be improved and these supervisors know far more than you do.

As to whether universities just take any international student that comes with money? They certainly do. In my research group there are 6 international students that are funded by their governments. Not a single one had to have an interview - they were accepted straight away regardless of the content and quality of their research proposal.

Have you got your own funding? If yes, just select the university that has accepted you. If not, accept any offers you get and apply for funding. Then you can have your pick if you get any funding.

I think you really need to focus on their direct comments and not base things on your perceptions of their comments. These things are often very different. You need to ask direct questions and tell them you want direct, explicit answers. You need to know: "If I do x, y, z in this time frame, is this enough for a PhD?". Until they give you a direct answer to this question it's all guess work. It's not too aggressive; it's being assertive.