Sometimes when I tell people it is my goal to get a PhD some say (amongst other things) "It might never happen".

Why do people say that? It really annoys me.

What do they know that I don't?

Why are they so negative?

For me this type of talk is useless.

What is the point of saying that to a person that obviously cares about his or her own future?

Why the negativity?

I know I am very good at my subject and I have the paper work to prove it.

What gives random people the right to judge my situation based on no knowledge of me whatsoever?

:-s

Cheers.

Jealousy?

Very good answer Sarah.

Small mindedness

I think there must have been a period when a lot of people did PhDs - like a fad or something, because my parents know a lot of people their age that had career breaks and went and did PhDs and 90% of those people didn't get it finished, and just went on to other things, so maybe there is a generation of people who have seen a lot of people never complete?

I can't stand it when my parents give me advice about my PhD, they haven't even got degrees and they phone up and say "you should do your writing on the train" - and when I point out that I need a PC, endnote, hard copies of journals, internet access etc. to do writing, they just say "oh stop making excuses"! - like writing a thesis is like knitting or something, you can do it in your spare 5 mins throughout the day! GRRR.