Hi guys!
I need some opinions on my current situation. I am about 6 months into my PhD in Medical Sciences (have two full master-equivalent degrees). And I am currently really unhappy - I know this is common, but hang on.
I think I might have made a very bad decision with choosing this particular PhD - like choosing it for the wrong reasons. I am at a top London uni, my studentship is generous - as to that I really don't have a right to complain. The topic I am working on is stuck, however. And the group I am in is very passive. Not much happening here. Bad funding. All my ideas are disregarded. I really feel like I am wasting my talent here and that I will come out of this PhD without having aquired the skills I am looking for. All my talking about it to my supervisor hasn't helped so far.

(continued - this word limit sucks!)

My reason for the PhD is, that I want to work in industrial R&D later - without a PhD that is almost impossible. I definitely don't want a academic career. So maybe I was wrong in choosing a completely academic environment.
Sorry if this rant is s bit chaotic.
I try to put my dilemma more concisely:
1. I am usure whether my motivation for the PhD is right.
2. I don't think the environment is good enough to show my full potential and I doubt this is teaching me much - more like a waste of my time. And all my comprpmising hasn't worked so far.
3. I am, however, in a position, many aspiring PhD students would like to be in - namely a place with funding at good uni...

Any opinions? Also, if you want to tell me that I'm just be stupid, go right ahead.

Concerning the academic environment, I think 50% of us face this problem. We don't really want to stay in academia after completion but are more or less forced to pretend we are interested in the lifestyle of academics ("publish or perish", "life is research, nothing else" and all that crap).

As you pointed out, many people would like to be in a position like you, so why not just stick with it another 6 months and if you still feel unhappy you can then drop out after one year total and have not wasted too much lifetime. Maybe you'll decide to complete it after that but if not, I think everybody (including me) would understand.

PhD's suck most of the time. The process is crap, many supervisors don't particularly care, isolation and so on. We all hate it most of the time and everybody telling you anything else is either lying to you or masochistic or lying to themselves. There is a real world out there...

Yeah, this is exactly what I feel like - I am just wondering whether it is not easier to draw the line rather sooner than later.
On the other hand, the way one deals with the kind of PhD pressure also tells a story...

Is anyone doing a PhD in industry? Is that even possible in the UK?

Hi Tabea,
I don't thing wrong reasons, but perhaps wrong expectations. Many PhD students waste their talent on doing a PhD. Many don't really get the education they want. But you do get the degree and if that is what you need for your career plans then go ahead and get it! It might actually be easier to get a PhD if you don't invest a lot of personal interest (though some will help) and emotions into it but just see it as a ritual and necessary next step. Being funded helps a lot with this! Unfunded students will have to invest much more personal interest and everything because otherwise it gets real hard to explain to yourself why you are going through all this hardship. You on the other hand can just relax and say, ok this is not as fun as I thought, but I AM getting paid for it and in a couple of years I can go ahead to where the real music plays.
Hope that helps.

Tabea, you have summed up my feelings on my PhD exactly! I also want to go into industry and am 6 months into a PhD I don't really like. I'm going to stick at it for at least another 6 months as everyoone keeps telling me the first year is a bit strange and it will get better.

I know some people who have done a PhD in industry, it is difficult though because if your department in industry gets disbanded or focus is moved to a different area then you pretty much have to start your PhD again as you can't keep on with research that "the bosses" don't want you to do.

Keep with it, I'm sure it will get better, and as you said you do need a PhD to get anywhere in industry so even if it feels pointless it's not because ultimately you are getting closer towards your goal.

Thanks for all the support, guys.
Happy to hear, that there other people with the same problem out there...*sigh*
I have been in industry before - I was very happy there. Completely different to my current environment...