Thank you so much for your responses. I am grateful!

To be honest, people like you piss me off. I mean I have been trying forever to get a PhD position and I have had no luck for one reason or the other. NEVER have I thought about money. I love research with a passion. I could even get on with 750EUR per month if I had to. Give me your marie curie scholarship, I am sure I would make better use of it than you ever could.

So, I don't even know where to start from but I'll summarise the situation.

1) I get into a lab and have to finish a 6-month probation period (in Sweden) before the supervisor decides if I will go forward with PhD

2) I was doing pretty good, BUT, the supervisor was asking to have a word with me way too often in his office, and it was mainly related to how he thinks I am unique, how he believes that I can really go very far with the drive that I have, how happy he is with my in-group scientific discussions etc.

3) At the end of 3 months supervisor tells me he is working hard to get the money for my PhD

4) Around this time I am having printing problems so I go to him with this problem. He snaps at me saying why is this priority etc. so because I feel mistreated and I feel anger building up, I walk away. He calls my name but I don't respond immediately.

5) Suddenly, I am being put on trial everyday in his office, being attacked about my "behavior", blamed of "polarizing" discussions etc. He even asks me to go and see a counselor related to my "high level of motivation"

6) Finally, after 3 days of discussions, he tells me he does not have the "capacity" to supervise my PhD and that I should start looking for other positions. However, he does say he will provide me with an excellent recommendation letter, and he can get me a scholarship for extra few months to give me time

7) I write him an e-mail a few days later to let him know I will take this offer because I do need the time and in the meanwhile I will be as useful as I can in the lab. After my e-mail he panicks and calls a senior researcher to talk to me that he didn't promise this

8) I am confused. I need advise.

When I first completed a Master's in the UK, I was told to write my own reference for myself and the professor would read it and decide whether he approves, making changes if necessary. If you need more than one reference, I recommend that you write a reference for yourself, and go to some of your course instructors with it, saying you need their reference to apply for a PhD but since they don't know you very well you decided to write one for yourself and ask them if they approve of it regarding your course grade etc. Sometimes you need to let people know that you depend on them and require their help to go further. If they are nice, they should opt to help you go further. After all, you are a good student. They have no reason to say the opposite.

Hi all. I am currently a Master's student in Oncology..This is actually my second Master's degree. I got my undergraduate in a UK university and I missed a 2:1 by 2 points (58). The reason was the most stupid of all. I had to submit an assignment for a final year elective course and I thought it was not compulsory because in the previous years it was not. Turns out it was. I was given a 40 regardless of my real grade after they made me prepare another assignment and retake the exam. That grade on its own would have got me to 2:1. I did a master's in the same university right after, and I graduated however it was a research master and I was not graded. Therefore, most universities (for PhD) required me to submit a grade and I did not have one. Since I was quite young at the time (23) I decided to do another Master's in the Netherlands...there were courses to take so I would get good grades and get better chances for PhD. Turns out not! I was given 6.5 for most of my courses and the Dutch way of thinking, let's not even talk about it. I got a research project at a national cancer research center and I thought, hey great opportunity. If I get a good grade for this research I am surely doing a PhD. Guess what. Turns out my supervisor (a PhD student) has issues. He made me waste 8 months and the space here is not enough to explain the amount of racism, exclusion and suppression I faced. Now they tell me I dont have good results, I did not try hard bla bla. But I am a laboratory person. My university grades were never that high anyway and I am not proud of it. Considering though that I almost got a 2:1 without studying a part of me tells me I could have done much better with a bit of effort. Now my chances of getting an 8 for this project is quite low..A 7 is still possible but the guy doesn't like me so I can forget a reference. To me it sounds like a series of unfortunate events and the truth is I am dying to do research. I am always exhilarated to be in the lab and I have no doubts about my passion, my skills and capabilities. The question is, what do I do to increase my chances for a PhD if things get much worse and I do not get even a 7 from my project? I really need good advice here....I don't care about money..I just want to do research!