======= Date Modified 17 08 2009 12:08:56 =======
i wondered if it is possible to switch your phd project to a masters and if so at which point during your course should/can this be done? im 6 months into my project at present and suffering many technical problems which are starting to leave me feeling miserable and unfulfilled , the whole thing including the lab itself has left a lot to be desired!

i don't think a thesis would make a very good mat... you'd be better going to ikea or B&Q. What kind of mat were you thinking of? Bath mat? Welcome mat?

Sleepy I love you!!!!!!!!!! LOL a thousand million trillion times!

you can switch to a masters after a year - you would normally write a 1st year report and then continue onto year 2, but this can be used as a masters thesis instead (you would probably be awarded an mphil). obviously the regulations differ from uni to uni, the best thing to do would be to talk to your supervisor. do they think you should continue with a phd? is your work of a high enough standard to be used as a masters dissertation? (no offence intended here, but 6 months into a phd project you wouldn't have expected to achieve a great deal, whereas 6 months into a masters project you would be halfway through and som things would have moved along a bit quicker). you need to speak to someone at your uni who can advise you as to the best course of action from here.

Aw, the original post has changed - so my comment about mats just looks silly now!

The thing to remember is, you're only 6 months in. At your stage, it really doesn't matter whether you are having problems or not - it's perfectly natural. If you have the motivation, why not spin things around, approach things differently? It'd be such a shame at such an early stage to just leave it because you're not facing such serious problems.

thanks, i really just wanted to clarify that is it possible to downgrade if in say 6 months or so im still feeling a bit :-( about it all, didnt really want to ask any of the lab members about it (up)

If things are so disasterous, what makes you think that your research is worthy of a Masters? If I were you I would bail out now and find another studentship or similar. It bemuses me that people just assume they can simply submit a thesis and be handed a postgraduate degree. This devalues the qualification that many of us have worked so hard for, which is extremely annoying.