I'm a first year chemistry phd student. All during my undergrad I adored my subject. I found the idea of specialising so difficult but I asked my personal tutor and she advised me to just apply to what looked interesting and to work out what I wanted to do later. I did that and ended up with a sort-of-offer (they didn't know if they had funding) that looked amazing and somehow also got an offer from my university.

To be honest I was never entirely sure about this offer, it was in an area that was vaguely related to the amazing sort-of-offer and I didn't have anything else solid so I accepted it. I'm not convinced that this was the best plan. It's inorganic chemistry so it's very qualitative. Inorganic chemists seem to all get excited about the different colours of chromium and suchlike, meanwhile I'm much happier if I can make equations out of things. I miss being a physical chemist just so much (my undergrad project was physical). I've realised that for me doing the experiments is less fun than analysing the results. In my project you do the experiment and that's it. No further analysis required.

The other problem is my supervisor. He keeps talking to me. I can't handle it anymore. This is the second day I just haven't turned up because if I turn up he'll come into the lab and talk at me, and right now if he talks at me there's a good chance I'll end up screaming at him to leave me alone and that's really not how you want to talk to your supervisor.

Basically I'm just trying to work out what I want. I have no idea who I'm supposed to talk to as a postgrad. The real question is whether it's the project I have a problem with, or whether I'm letting outside things influence that? I know I probably could get through this and get this phd, it would be hard but I could do it, but do I want a phd in this area? How much does a phd restrict where you can go afterwards? How similar to the area of the phd do people want you to be when you apply to postdocs?

I know this is horrifically rambling and incoherent. If anyone manages to read this then thank you, and thank you even more if you have any answers :p. I've been puzzling over this for weeks and I don't seem to be getting very far.

Hi Jessebel, well done for coming here to share your concerns!

I think that first year is a good time to realise that your project may not be right for you. Leave it any longer and you'll have done far more work that you wouldn't want to waste.

I'd suggest speaking to someone in your department, maybe not your supervisor as he doesn't sound like quite the right sort of person to listen and be considerate. Have you been assigned a second supervisor who you can talk to about issues not directly concerning your work? Otherwise does your department have a specific lecturer(s) in charge of postgrads (I'm sure there must be at least one). It would be good to talk to someone not connected to your project/supervisor, so that they can give you an unbiased opinion. I've always found lecturers to be very approachable when I've had problems - is there a lecturer (or even older postgrad/postdoc) that you know fairly well?

Discuss your concerns with them - would it be possible to change project within the department to something more physical-related? The fact that you've been accepted to the department shows that you're definitely capable of getting a PhD, so I'm sure they wouldn't want to lose you. You could even try speaking to someone in the department who does research that interests you more than your current work - academics are always keen to talk about their work, and would probably be more than happy to consider taking you on if they've time.

It sounds like you're unhappy with both the project and your supervisor, so perhaps a change of both would be the best move? I'd really encourage you to speak to folk and get their advice - better to start afresh now rather than a couple of years down the line!

Best of luck :-)

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Yeah it sounds like its the project rather than the fact of doing a PHd that might be the issue - so talk to someone not directly related to your project. WhenI applied for my Phd I had my project perfectly laid out and organised. That changed that summer after talking to my supervisor. I met my supervisor a few months later and we completely changed topic area AGAIN! so nobody is ever 100% sure what they want to do. And it can be sorted. Don't walk away is all I'm saying.

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Hello Jessebel,

I have finished Chemistry and we always used to say Inorganic is a dry subject, i.e not so exciting really. I have always liked Physical much more, it has so many more dimensions and you can apply it to so many things, although inorganic can be useful too, but I think if you are good in something then it is better to do your PhD in that subject, a PhD is at least three years and if you hate your project and your supervisor, you will struggle a lot.
I did mine in Biochemistry and I liked my supervisor, what I mean during difficult times the only thing kept me going is my love to the project, so hopefully you will find something you like, the sooner you change the better, it is not too late, I have several friends who changed their subject in their first year.

If you do physical chemistry of a biological system (as I used some physical chemistry instruments in my project ...etc) you will have so many options for jobs in future, because of industry and pharmaceutical projects, it is very good area actually, so that is another positive thing about physical chemistry.

Good luck in your decision (up)

Thanks for your replies. I guess I'm going to have to go and find someone in my department I can ask about things and hope that they don't talk to my supervisor too much. I don't really want to talk to him about it because I'd rather discuss it with someone who didn't have so much of an interest in the situation. We do have a head of postgraduate stuff so I guess he might be ok. I might ask if it's even a remote possibility that I could change to doing an MSc at this stage. It's probably not because of the funding, but that way I'd only have to stick it out until October and I wouldn't be stuck in the subject forever which tbh is the thing that really scares me.

I definately want to make sure that if I leave it's before the upgrade. Apparently it reflects worse on the supervisor if a student drops out after that point, and honestly I quite like my supervisor. I just can't always cope with him. I feel quite guilty about it anyway as I am the first person in his group at this university and therefore if I leave he has to start all over again next year.

Someone3 - did your friends change subject slightly and stay with the same supervisor or department, or did they actually leave and manage to get accepted somewhere else?

Hi Jessebel! I'm in a different subject to yourself, but I think some of the principles will be the same. I think it's the transferable skills you learn during your PhD that are most important, in addition to the topic. I want to continue into research in my field after my PhD, so I have made sure that I have used both quantitative and qualitative methods in my PhD so that I won't be restricted to one or the other for my post-doc. I could probably quite easily change topic if I wanted to (within reason!) so long as the underlying research skills are there, and I have seen people in other subjects do the same. I don't know much about PhDs in Chemistry (I quit after A level Chem!) but I would imagine that if you do a PhD in inorganic stuff, then it would be relatively easy to switch to another topic within inorganic Chemistry, but might well be tricky to swap to organic. So you probably need to think quite carefully about what you do your PhD in and try to make sure it is steering you in the right direction. Probably a good idea to talk to someone in your department and see what they reckon about opportunities to switch either for your PhD, or how likely it is you will be able to switch after your PhD. Good luck with your dilemma! KB

hello again,

my friend changed within her department, she went to do another research but in the same area, I think if you want to change subject you have to reapply and start from zero, am not expert in these things, but I think you can change it as long as it is not too late in your project. good luck