Hi, I have recently recieved an offer for a PhD at a very good university, however i am unsure if i want to accept it and was after some advice. The project has a a lot of potential and the supervisor is well regarded in the field. However i am unsure if its the path i want to take, and worry i will be pigeon holed in an area i dont enjoy.

I have applied to other Uni's and have not heard back re interviews but would expect an interview from at least one. and i am 100% happy to accept any of these. Should i have doubts or are they a sign its not what i want, i worry i am taking it for the fear of rejection from the others.

Thanks

Doubts are good. It is a big, life-changing step. My adivice would be to be objective. Is the funding (if any) good, are career prospects improved, networking potential? These are questions to ask yourself. Don't worry about being pigeonholed, a PhD demonstrates your ability to research, not that you are an "expert" in that particular field. Remember above all - do you want to do *this* for three years?

Hi thanks alot for your reply and suggestions, the funding is through NERC, and my career prospects would be increased as its a relatively new area therefore the supervisor suggests if things go well i am likely to get a publication in a high impact journal. The problem is *this* project, i would be happy but would prefer the others, as they are directly linked to my interests and this one is indirectly linked if that makes sense? I am intersted in conservation genetics (gene flow, inbreeding etc) and this project is looking at microbiotic associations with corals and bleaching.

Unless you are 100% sure it's what you want to do, don’t accept it no matter how good the university you are applying to is.

Think about it. This is the next 3-4 years of your life. In this period, you are likely to be under a lot of pressure to deliver depending on the project you are on and on whether your supervisors support you or treat you like a journal paper machine. You will be getting paid rather poorly compared to industry and you may have to work long anti social hours.

Ending up in a PhD project you don’t like/hate for this period of time can be soul destroying (trust me ) and you can quickly find that your supervisors may turn on you when they find you that you don’t think their research project is the greatest thing since sliced bread.

Also consider the time wasted that you could have spent doing something you love and the not so very nice hole in your CV if you bail out.

Hence why it so important you pick a topic you really love and enjoy, so that no matter what happens during your PhD, you believe in the end product of your research and will be proud of what you achieve at the end

No matter how many offers you get, if you’re not sure I would not recommend accepting any offers.

I Know the consequences of not following this advice from personal experience/

Consider obtaining relevant experience in the field you are interested in and/or doing a research masters first if at all possible.

Thank you very much for your advice, i am currently doing a Masters of research at Plymouth and am loving it, and the other projects relate exactly to my Mres project, and i have just heard "i am certainly iin the interview frame" (i take it thats good) from Liverpool, so i feel i should hold out, thanks alot again.

sorry i forgot to say.. i have also had a years experience in a two molecular labs using methods i shall use in all the PhD's i have applied for.

sounds like your on the right track anyway best of luck with that. I think mres are a great idea.

after dropping out of my PhD I am going to do an Msc next october, hopefully an Mres after that and if that goes well, I'll have another shot at a PhD.

talk to other PhDs in the department to find out what they think of the facilities, supervisors, life in general

I know this sounds a bit funny, but I don't think you necessarily know what you're interested in before you start the PhD. It really is a journey of discovery, and you might well end up completely enthused by something you thought you weren't so interested in, and bored to death by something you were gung-ho about.