I just wondered how much the 'atmosphere' varies from department to department around the UK. My PhD consists of lab work, and there is only myself and one other student in my lab. To put it mildly, I'm miserable. I don't really want to elaborate much, but is there anyone out there who moved to another uni and made themselves happy? My experience here has totally put me off a career in academia, but I wouldn't want to throw it all away because of a warped opinion of what university life is like.

The atmosphere in my lab is really great. we all get on well and go out together quite a bit. having said that, the lab next to ours don't get on that well and the atmosphere in their lab is quite different. i guess a lab with more people in would give you more options, you're more likely to find people there that you can socialise with and get on with, or its easier to ignore the ones you don't get on with!