Hey Coop,
Man - its like you wrote this post about me! I hear you at every point (and posted an equal rant some time ago!). I'm now at the end of a 3 year funded PhD and with no chance of getting any extra money to carry on. I've been toying with the idea of quitting for the last year and whilst a large part of me wishes I had, a long time ago, a tiny part of me recognises how much I have learnt in the time that I've stuck with it.

I had my recent 'I'm gonna quit' episode recently when, in a meeting with my supervisor, I was told that I wasn't good at writing, didn't work smart and didn't have enough to get a PhD. My concern was only that my funding ran out this month and I wanted to discuss a realistic time period in which I MIGHT get a PhD done. Apparently, unless I am prepared to generate another year of debt and work more than the 10-12 hours a day I do now, then what I have isn't good enough. Its amazing what a lot of supervisors dont seem to realise, is that a little support goes a loooooong way and that you by helped you out occasionally does not mean that they are 'spoon feeding' you! (Apologies to all those who have great and helpful supervisors out there!)

Like yourself, it is a gutting thought to throw away all that you've done till now, especially if you have a chance of carrying on for just a bit longer to finish. However, it bugs that crap out of me that everyone (apart, apparently from folks on here :-) seems to tell you what a mistake it is to quit and make you feel even more crap than you probably already do!

Ok, so its not like I have any great answers and certainly nothing that's not already been said in response to your post. But, as you gathered, you're not alone in your rubbish experience. There are lots of folk who are going through such similar pain and each will deal with it differently.

So here is what I have decided to do: like yourself, I had given myself 3.5 years max to get this done (i.e to finish lab work in 3 years and keep 6 months for write up) and now it seems like that will be nowhere near long enough. Although my supervisor thinks I should go on and on till the job is done, I have decided to stick it out for the remaining 6 months and also give myself a little extra on the end. Despite my lab work STILL not working (I know! After 3 years - still no concrete methods to use AND no results!), I have decided to go 3.25 years in the lab and keep 6 for write up. This way, I dont go much further into debt than I had already accounted for, but I also don't throw the towel in before I've tried everything. If its enough for a PhD, great! If not, then no amount of enthusiasm or work on my part is going to change that.

I hope you manage to work out what you WANT to do (rather than what you feel you should do) and have the strength to carry it through. Maybe if you only want to quit, knowing you've given it your best, you could try setting a few time steps by which to get things done (say you decide to stick it out until Xmas and in the next month you have to have had a good look through any data you already have and can see a way forward with the research. That way, by Xmas, you'll either have had a good chance to look at all you have done and consider whether its sufficient to write up as a masters or MPhil or you may find that by going through everything you have, you can see a way forward to completion. However, if by then you are feeling equally down about it, then call it a day). And if you don't manage it, at least you know you've tried your best.

If you want to chat some more just send me a PM. I might not be able to give you a solution, but sometimes its reassuring to be able to rant to someone knowing that you're not going to get the predictable replies you get from work folk, family and friends.

All the best and I hope it goes well (and when you find the solution to all of this, plea

Hey there,
Sorry to hear things are not great for you either. Like yourself, I am new to this forum, but judging by many of the other posts on here, these feelings are relatively common among PhD students. In fact, I can't quite believe I have only just found this site as I think it would have been really reassuring to have heard about other peoples experiences before now!

I guess we all have the tendancy to feel like ours is the worse PhD/supervisor/project/situation ever, and I guess there are always those worse off! But I think (in hindsight which is such a wonderful thing!), for me, its just frustrating that I know I have been flogging a dead horse for the last year or so and slowly it has worn me down to a completely miserable individual. I used to always count myself as relatively optimistic. Now I'm not sure I even know the meaning of the word!

As you say, the plan to quit is certainly NOT something to be taken lightly and something I wouldn't so without serious consideration. I think for me, the major downer is that I had reservations about the project fairly early on and these have all proved to be valid. Despite having talked repeatedly about these worries with my supervisor (and unfortunately I only have one), I was urged to keep at the question and methods in question despite all the failings. Sometimes I wonder if the powers that be just don't want to admit to having accepted a failing project!

I guess it doesnt help that I am stupidly tough on myself and never feel like I do enough work. Again, like others I've read on here, I've been through periods of complete depression and disinterest (which I interestingly get told to 'snap out of', like its a choice!) but what worries me is getting to the end of the time and having nothing but a red face and high blood pressure!

I wish I could say something constructive to you as well, but its kinda tough when by the sounds of it, its the same boat that rocks. Still, contact with others is good, if for nothing other than a good old moan!

I really hope you get the extra funding you've applied for. It would make life just that little bit easier to make a potential go-er of it! Best of luck and fingers crossed it all works out for you.

E

I guess my PhD moans are not so different to heaps of other folk out there given what I've read. But hell, I need to have a rant. Given I seem to have lost the ability to concisely say what I mean, bullet points on the 'wanting to quit' theme (and even these are long winded!):
1. Coming to the end of my third year, funding runs out and not looking like I'll get an extension.
2. Even if I do get an extension, no amount of work (well, maybe 10 more years!) is going to give me enough data to answer the questions I was trying to.
3. Recently found another student has completed (and recently published most of) a thesis more or less identical to my intended. Only this other student was working in a team well versed in the subject whereas there is little experience in the establishment I work in (especially with samples so problematic as mine appear to be!)
4. Since my first day, I have put in silly hours to try and achieve something but 2.75 years on, I have barely achieved anything in terms of data. My whole project has been fraught with problems in getting anything to work in the lab and so what should take a few months has taken a few years.
5. I am fortunate in having a very interested supervisor who likes to meet regularly and is eternally optimistic about the work. The only problem is that I never seem to work enough hours or employ the right tactics to achieve what they think I should have (or what I would have liked to), meaning I have had a constant 'I'm not cut out for this' feeling since pretty much day one.
6. I stupidly ignored the want to quit and plodded on regardless until now. And now I feel so far through my time, that I have no idea if I can quit (without having to pay back a stupid amount of money, face endless 'disappointed in you' from all I know and besides, what the hell else would I do?!)
7. I am a mature student who has already made one massive career change to follow the field I am now in. I wrote the proposal and got the funding as I genuinely felt it was a good project with heaps of potential. In hind-sight (like many others I know), it was hugely ambitious and had it worked, would have been really neat stuff. But there was always a large chance it wasn't going to work in the time I have. And here I am.
8. I have approached the subject of quitting with my supervisor a few times and discussed with a a few colleagues, all of whom just seem to dismiss my general doubt that I can do this and urge me to carry on. But again, like many on here, I am now not only starting to dislike research but I hate my project and can only see all the negativity surrounding it.
9. I have tried taking a holiday but it just makes me hate coming back to the work even more.
10. So, I have about 3 months left to try and get something to work and that's without knowing what the hell to make a thesis around.

If anyone has anything helpful to say or has felt quite so hopeless, it would be great to know.