So now it's time to look for a new PhD project. I got two offers last year, and accepted one, but had a major illness thingy over the summer, and by the time I was about to start, I nearly had a breakdown. So I had to withdraw and, after considering all the options, I think a Phd is still the best option, although I do wonder sometimes, given all the people on here who seem to be getting down about theirs.

Has anyone else been in this position - having to withdraw, and then wondering whether to reapply for another? And how did it work out?

Hi Matthew - I have never been in this position but I think that as long as you justify why you didn't start the PhD you were offered -and you definitively have a good reason- it would be okay. However, I wouldn't say in the application that I had been offered another PhD, I had to withdraw etc. unless specifically asked for.

Oh, and I am sorry about all you have been through, I hope everything's going better now.

Hey, thanks for that Nimrod. Yeah, I'm certainly not going to say about withdrawing, or my reasons for doing so. If I was pressed then I guess I'd just be honest about it, but I doubt it'll come to that.

Hope your feeling better now I withdrew from a PhD 3/4 years ago, after being accepted..my reasons were the supervisor to be had promised to spend the 7 months after I was accepted looking for funding (I contacted him so many times via post/email/phone) that I decided I could not stand to work with a person like that and I was in no position to self fund. The university did ask why I was withdrawing, and I told them. Since then I have done a second masters, and followed a different route, tbh I am glad that PhD didn't work out, as it wasn't following what my real interests are and I don't think I was mature enough to cope with the pressures. Now, I have just started my PhD, and I am a week away from my 28th birthday, and I am happy with my hoice.