Lastly, take everything with a pinch of salt. Your supervisors words are not absolute and you need to verify the truth. Understand that ppl may not have your best interest in mind, so you do need to be more aware and stand up for your self. Dry your tears, chin up and fight

All those communications has been through your supervisors. I suspect your supervisors have identified another student whom they want to replace you with. Anyway, write directly to your Graduate School and tell them about your being sick and ask then to give you an extension. Give them a call too. I suspect you may get very different message as students are allowed to take time off for being sick and yes,they will adjust d candidature milestone dates too. Read your student policy again do you have solid points to argue with. Don't tell your supervisor you are going directly to the Graduate School to enquire until after you got an answer.

If you have a valid reason, the uni normally would not reject your application. Just try applying and see how it goes.

Regarding generation of data, could you speak to your supervisor to see if there is anything he/she can do?Perhaps ask for the help of another student or technician or postdoc during these critical times? My concern though is that you are saying that you have insufficient data to even qualify for a masters at this very late stage. Do you know that you can have an entire chapter on method if you are establishing or optimizing a method? Try to talk to your supervisor or an experienced researcher to see what else could be used in your thesis. You may have more than you think.

If you do not get your 6 months extension, just submit your work as a PhD anyway. That way, no matter what happens, you will still leave with at least a masters.

Chin up and march on. Don't give up.

On your travel grant, just apply for it and see what happens. You should attend at least one conference, regardless of what your supervisor thinks, so just apply and if you get it, attend it.

Finish your PhD. You are very far along and near the finishing line. You can finish your PhD and then leave academia research. There is a huge world out there for fresh grad PhDs who wants to pursue non-academia careers. Like industrial postdocs position by pharmaceutical companies, data analyst, product development scientist, etc. So many possibilities. But finish your PhD first.

monkiaa, you have just described academia in its current state. Due to scarcity of grants, researchers are trying their absoulte best to publish and collaborate and yes they usually cite each other to get higher citation and online presence. And yes, any research field will be dominated by the few elite Profs whom many are trying to be in good books with, in order to survive in their career.

Gone are the days where researchers can study anything they like to advance knowledge. These days, they need to get in line with the latest hype (specific topics where grants are normally awarded) and take care of themselves and their staff and students. The pursuit of knowledge is wonderful, but unfortunately this requires money/grants which are very limited.

To say these researchers are hypocrite is too much. They are only trying to survive. I know that you have been through a lot but I believe you must open your eyes to the current state of academia rather than live in a world of ideals. Perhaps now as you are searching for a new PhD you may have more time to think if you wish to join this broken world of academia or maybe you are better off working in the industry.

What do you mean you de tracked from your main research area? Did you work on an unrelated research away from your PhD?

You also went against your supervisor's recommendation on not going for viva and downgrading to master. It is natural that he doesn't speak to you. You can either somehow apologise and downgrade to master as he suggested or go solo and hope for the best. Is there anyone else you can talk to? Postdoc or research fellow?

There is no direct yes or no answer to your question. Rather, it all depends on the competition that you face. If many applicants have finished on time with high GPAs and apply for the same funding as you and there are limited positions, then you should expect that they wil be first choice and you will be considered only after them.

Hi, lovelylisa83

I am concerned that you have suicidal thoughts. Please go and get help. This is more important than your PhD.

In addition, a PhD and an academic life is full of rejections. I am concerned that you have taken your first rejection very negatively and are feeling suicidal. Could you take a break and think if this career path is suitable for you?

On your Confirmation Seminar outcome, it is definitely shocking to be told to downgrade to a master. However, many times this is not because of the student. It could very well be that the project outline/ research plan does not have enough depth. This could happen when the supervisors are inexperienced. It may be possible to recognise this and incorporate new aims or ideas to lift the project to a higher level with input from experienced researchers.

Hi, monkia,

Congratulations on the new offer. If you need some rest time before starting, it is fine to negotiate a 2-4 weeks break. Just ask them politely.

On your current role, give notice and go. Read your contract's terms and conditions. If it is two week's notice, then give them that in writing and leave. You do not need to tell them where you are going. It is your personal matter. You do not need to feel bad. They will find a replacement.

2ndyearphd,

You mentioned that

- you have hated it really since the beginning
- currently at the stage where you are crying most days and even the thought of it is making you feel sick
- don't really like your supervisor

However, you did not mention anything about your future. Do you want to pursue an academic career? If you don't, that in combination with all the things you mention previously would convince me that the best thing for you is probably to go. Please think carefully before you make a decision.

Hi, hinderka,

Talk to your supervisor about the main hypothesis and objectives of your project. Then talk about your main time lines and what trainings you need to address them. Maybe even ask to be matched with a lab buddy. Do you have a second supervisor, maybe a postdoc in the group? Yes, a PhD student is supposed to be work independently but that is to be expected maybe in the third year when you have been trained for the first two.

Have you had a look around and see how other PhD students fare in this group? What is the completion rate of previous PhD students? Did they mostly complete or suddenly left? Is your group supportive and do you get to meet your supervisor once a week to discuss ideas and project progress? Or are you basically left to your own devices to swim or sink?

I believe very strongly in gut feelings. If your gut feeling is that this project/supervisor/lab is wrong for you, you may be right. The earlier you decide on this the better. That doesn't mean you should quit your phd. It just means that you should probably consider another project/supervisor/lab. If you still want to pursue a career in academia, you could start looking around for a more suitable one. If you no longer wish to pursue an academic life, hey, it's not the end of the world, just start applying for jobs.

Perhaps you may consider wrapping up as a master and looking for a job outside of academia? Continuing a PhD when you are so fed up and uninterested and not planning to have a career in academia isn't really helpful to your well-being.

I think that you may annoy your supervisor and potentially have a pretty unpleasant PhD as a result if you intend to delay your PhD by a year after getting it. Supervisors normally have very limited funding and may be relying on papers generated from your PhD to get the grants for the following year. Hence, delay start = no paper = no grant = unhappy supervisor.

I would suggest being up front about it, even if it means that you may be discriminated against. When you have been offered a verbal offer, tell the supervisor along the lines that you want to check with him if he is ok with you starting later. If he says he can't wait, then that is your answer. Since you are not in a hurry, you can then look at other opportunities during your maternity leave.