Hi Charlotte!

Eventually I got the courage to tell my supervisor that I didn't like the PhD and asked if I could do a masters instead. He was grand about it actually, said he had noticed I wasn't as motivated as others in the past so I don't think it was a surprise! Apparently a large number of ppl drop down to masters from PhD's, someone told me as much as 50%!

Anyway, I had planned on doing the masters by the end of my first year, unfortunately things didn't work out that way and it took me til the end of the 2nd year. But my supervisor was very meticulous and would only let something be produced if it was top top top quality, felt like I was writing a PhD dissertation by the end :p

I still didn't enjoy the work, but at least I knew it was ending! Towards the end I was working 12 hours most days to finish the write up, it was tough but I finally finished it! I'm now working in a normal 9-5 job and it's great, you really appreciate 9-5 after 6 months of 12 hour days :)

In retrospect I'd have to say I'm glad I stuck it out and got the masters, I can say I've done it now. However, if I knew it would have taken an additional 1.5 years from when I dropped down from PhD, then I'm not so sure I would have continued!

I think the other thing that changed for me when I was feeling bad about the PhD was my general attitude. At the time I hated the PhD, but I had no idea what I'd do if I quit, it was really getting to me and I didn't even know what I wanted as a career! After a while I realized that I was trying too hard to plan my life and just decided I'd do the Masters, get a job and in the mean time figure out what I really wanted to do! Life's to short to be stressing about the long term future, just focus on now for a while :) As it turns out I actually like the job I'm in for now!

Good luck with your situation.

[quote]Quote From Charlotte107:

Hi,

I just wondered what you did in the end, as this post is a couple of years old now..? I ask because I'm in an almost identical situation now. I started a PhD six months ago, and to be quite honest, I just want out, as I really don't enjoy this way of life :( I'm bored, I hate the loneliness of it all, I no longer feel particularly interested in my topic, I have a very 'elusive' and unsupportive supervisor who is not able to advise me on anything technical relating to my research (which is where I would most need help), and I have no motivation which is so uncharacteristic of me! I think the complete lack of structure doesn't suit me at all.

I'm worried that I chose to do this for the wrong reasons - a good grant came up at a good university, and with jobs being tricky to come by at the moment, I applied. When I got it, it just seemed like I'd be silly to turn it down. I feel a bit silly now, as several people (some of whom had done PhD's) warned me how I might feel about it. But at the time, I felt quite positive and was just putting those concerns to the back of my mind I guess.

And further, I know what I want to do after my PhD (train as a clinical psychologist), and although a PhD can be a good way of getting a place on clinical training course, it's definitely not the only route, and not really the best (varied practical experience is probably considered better preparation).

I don't know what to do. I'm terrified of speaking to my supervisor about this - pretty certain it won't go down well. I saw his reaction when an undergraduate placement student backed out of a placement they hadn't even started and it wasn't pretty! I've thought of applying for other jobs, and seeing whether I get anywhere - i.e. find a better alternative before I jeopardise anything here. But then there's the problem of references, which would mean I have to tell my supervisor...

I know that everything I've written here is very one sided - it's just becaus

I was kind of in a similar situation, jobs were slack and I had the oppurtunity to do a PhD.
Don't like it and haven't got interest so I eventually told my supervisors, who were great about it, now going to try finish with a masters.

You say you might stick out another year, how long have you being doing the PhD for? I don't see how you can't get an MPhil or masters if in one more year you could get a PhD?

Anyway personally I think if you don't want to work in research, why should you spend your time getting a PhD, others may disagree but few jobs bar research require a PhD so why put yourself through something your not interested in.
But are you really not interested or do you just believe so because the work is going slow and your supervisors aren't helping?
Because for me I know I made the right decision, as well as having no interest I hated coming in everyday, it even made me down in my everyday life, even at home, you say motivation isn't a problem? I had 0 motivation!

Hi, thanks for the reply.
I think the reason I wanted to do it in the first place was I decided the only thing I could see myself doing in my area was teaching, so I decided I wanted to be a lecturer, I debated for some time whether or not I would pursue the PhD because I knew it would be a big commitment and wasn't sure if I would like it. Perhaps I choose to it for the wrong reasons, at the time everyone else was telling me it sounds great ( fully funded, payed to "be in college", no boss, make your own hours) and I didn't have any other options or plan and thought I def wasn't going to work in industry for the rest of my life. I thought I might of liked research too...or at least conviced myself I might. Now I'm totally regretting doing it in the first place, and I'm even beginning to think I'm in the wrong career , I just don't seem to have any passion for it!
I guess I should really have a chat with my supervisor about my feelings, think I'll wait another week or two before I decided to do that though, make sure I'm doing the right thing.

Hi,
I'm not even sure why I'm posting this, I don't think it'll make much of a difference, but its better than going back to work. I have no motivation to work, I hate reading papers and find it really boring, I'm about 6 months into my PhD but have only started to really feel like this recently, it also coincided with a change in my work, up until about a month ago I was doing mostly practical work and trying out ideas/new tools, I wouldn't say I loved that but I got through it with brief periods of depression. But now I have solved the problem I was working on, although it has changed dramatically as I'm assured happens in research... So basically at the moment I am just reading papers and thinking about its uses etc. and I have 0 motivation, I hate thrawling through papers and looking for stuff, I feel depressed about coming into my office, I often leave early, sometimes I get so bad I love when Friday comes around but start to feel bad half ways through saturday because I know I'm back to work Monday!
I have been reading this forum on and off over the last few months but never posted. I saw that one of the suggestions was take a break like a holiday etc. I have gone on holiday and since I came back I'm worse that ever, when I force myself to do some work I feel like I'm being crushed and so overwhelmed that I can't even concentrate...
I am seeing loads of people saying this is normal for a Phd but if it is, it's hardly a life I want for the next 3 years is it?
I feel helpless and all I do is think about quitting but if I did I have no idea what I would do...

I don't even know what to expect people to say to this post if anyone even replies but I just decided to write it, better than sitting here boiling up and feeling like I'm going to explode!