Hey all, I would be really grateful for any help at all on this! I am a chemistry MSci graduate, finished in July 09, and currently applying for PhDs, both in environmental and physical chemistry. I've had three offers, from Bristol (palaeoenvironmental, soil soil soil), Bath (physical but biological aspect, DNA and protein-lipid composites, but physical in that its surfactant polymer interactions), and Oxford (surfactants, joint with Unilever, finding more bio surfactants to put in their products)... i just dont know what to do! and im considering whether its even right to do a phd at all... just getting scared because its such a big decision and i dont want to limit my choices for once im finished (if i finish and all goes well!)..
I dont really know what I want to do afterwards, which doesnt help, but i am really interested in forensics, and always have been because its analytical and im most inspired by that.
I dont know whether its better to take the environmental phd because i will get all the technique experience i need for forensics, even though im not so interested in it..??
Or should I just go for what I'm more interested in, ie physical, even though I'm not sure if Id even want to continue with it after phd land?? Is it really bad to do a phd in something which, even if really interests you, you don't necessarily have an intention of carrying it on further later? At the moment I'm planning on living abroad for a couple of years afterwards, NZ or Australia (just been in Aus for 4 months), and hopefully finding work there.
Does doing a phd in something and getting so specific in that subject over the 4 years, limit you to what you can do once you are out??
Is it ok to want to do a phd purely because you are interested in finding things out, investigating it further, and just want to further the education in that subject you have already received at undergrad level?
Thanks all, sorry this is so rambly! Hope someone can make some sense out of it and give me a bit of advice!
Thank you!
Jessica

Hello Jlgirli, welcome to the forum. I suppose that the most important thing is that whatever you do, you choose the PhD that interests you most. Not to give you platitudes but the decision to do a PhD is a massive, life-changing decision. Most importantly of all, you have to be interested in what you do - sometimes that's all that will carry you through when you hit the troughs and doldrums. Given the detail in your post, I would say that you have given the merits of each possible PhD some thorough consideration, and I'm not sure I can make any recommendations that you would consider constructive in your decision.
As for limiting your choices, just because you develop research skills in one particular arena does not mean that you are restricted to that particular area for ever. Search this forum because there have been previous posts concerning this matter. All the unis look to be good one's too, though I would argue that what uni you do your PhD at is not as important at this level.
So, I suppose that just leaves the real decision up to. Which PhD do you find the most interested, and yes, what kind of specific area academia or industry do you want to work in after? I see you say forensics...
Not to go on and on, but it is perfectly acceptable to want to do a PhD out of interest, furthering knowledge and bettering yourself. In essence, I think this is much of what a PhD is supposed to be about.