Hello all,

I know this is probably been discussed within this forum, but has any other PhD students felt really lonely?!

Im a CASE PhD student and I have my own office suituated within an academic department. One of my supervisors wants me to stick to my departmental office like glue (which can make research trips such as to the british library difficult) whilst the other supervisors (located in my other department) are more relaxed about my whereabouts. Im the only student here and Im surrounded by researchers, academics, secretaries etc. I also live in corridors on the postgrad accomodation block and there are very few phds around. I therefore tend to socialise with MSc students.

The only first year PhD students i've met are international students (who struggle with english, which makes socialising difficult), keep to themselves and dont want to socialise or live miles away from campus. There are days when it does bother me, such as I dont feel like im a PhD student at all, and feel like im the only phd student in existence! This website is therefore a welcome relief to read similar experiences to my own!

Does the above seem familiar to anyone?

The loneliness does, yes.
My uni and department are quite small and I'm the only PhD working in my area. We don't get offices here so it's a case of either sitting in the library or in the postgrad computer room which should be friendly but isn't really. Petty things like leaving windows open and talking on mobiles makes it difficult to make friends.
I also live in a different town to my uni and work from home which is very isolating.
Know how you feel... especially today

I feel the same too. I am the only PhD student in my department and have an office on my own with no windows too, i get lonely. It's hard even when you just want reassurance that you're doing the right thing and things are going ok. It's easy to get thinks out of proportion and thinnk the worst (well i find it is)

yep, very familiar, unfortunately.I am currently the only first-year student in my department (my department is part of a bigger school,there's more people in other areas,but they're in languages and I'm in social sciences).There's one guy who's writing up and I never see him, so it basically feels like I am the only one.Still figuring out how to deal with this,trying to go to meetings,conferences,workshops etc as much a spossible to meet other people and network.

All the PhD's I know as friends are in the same uni, but in different faculties - I don't have a desk because I am, shared between departments. In one department I am one of 2/3 first year PhD's and I kind of get lost in the other one. I'm not lonely per-se because I see familiar faces sometimes and audit a MA class my sup' gives - but I am lonely in respect that I realise that nobody else is doing my topic and it would be nice to have an office to go to.