Hi Yash, I'm just starting to learn about PhDs myself so please don't take what I say too seriously.

I've just came out a MEng Master's course, which was much more coursework based than your's I think. I've never been published or anything. During my master's I worked pretty much 12hrs/day 7 days a week. the PhD students in the department had a situation that was somewhere in the middle ground between hours a student works and hours an employee would work (9 to 5 with weekends). Sometimes PhD students would stay late but 95% of them are out of the building by 7-7:30 ish. sometimes they'd come in on saturdays but generally had the weekends to themselves I think. Writing your disertation may be a hard towards the end. It depends on effective time management. If you can pace yourself and spread the workload so that your are not skiving at the start and working flat out towards the deadline you'll be able to work socible hours - A good supervisor will help in this area.

James

======= Date Modified 19 Jul 2012 19:35:59 =======

I'm thinking about doing a PhD in the USA or Canada. I'm only a little way into finding out about their systems over there, but I have some quesitons. I'm hoping you guys can answer? I'll try to make them as clear as possible, but they might be quite ambiguous as a reflection of my naivety on the subject.

1. The general impression I get is that tertiary education systems in the USA and Canada are quite similar in comparison to the UK. Canada seems to have a stronger leaniance towards state over private Institutions but this may be because highbrow private US universities steal some limelight from USA state universities?

2. PhDs seem to take slightly longer (4 to 6 years instead of 3 to 4 in the UK). But the first 2 years seem to resemble Msc courses in the UK - they feature taught elements and things instead of pure research. I allready have an MEng degree with 1st class honours so I'm not really interested in a Msc in the UK. I am aware that some USA universities will allow you to skip the first two years if you have a USA Master's (a USA master's is 2 years but a UK master's can be completed in one depending on the effort you commit). Is my MEng degree similar enough to a USA Master's to allow me to enter a PhD direct-entry style (ie: end of second year)? I realise the entry requirements will vary depending on each university, but I want a generalised answer. How common is skipping-the-first-two-years-because-you-already-have-a-master's style entry in the USA for US Citizens?

If I have no choice but to study for 4 to 6 years it still won't put me off the USA and Canada. sorry for the wall of text

Hi Farchee, I am also new. nice to meet you

Hi, I'm new to the forum.

I agree with the bulk of what cobweb has already said. This harrassment is destructive and unprofessional. There should be facilities within your student union to help on a one-to-one level. For example from my own university Heriot-Watt we have "The advice hub" which is a drop-in service that operated during the day http://www.hwunion.com/content.asp?section=4 I'm confident your university will have an equivalent. They should then be able to point you in the right direction on how to deal with the scenario you've been unfairly dropped into in a professional manner.

======= Date Modified 10 Jul 2012 18:25:35 =======
Hi there, my name's James. I recently graduated from Heriot-Watt University Edinburgh in Meng Chemical Engineering and I want to do a PhD. I'm looking to join this online community and hopefully learn more about how to apply and what life is like for PhDs as its still unfamiliar territory for me and I know very little about how to get a PhD I'll enjoy.

I thought I'd set up this thread and formaly introduce myself before I start posting etc. I was looking for an introductions thread in the search but I couldn't find it? if this is the wrong etiquette for you guys apologies in advance.

I'm a UK citizen, I'm considering studying in the US or Canada but I know nothing about the systems over there, do you have any advice?

Regards,
James