We've seen the worst a PhD has to offer, does anyone have any amusing and inspirational snippets to add to acyually encourage people to do a PhD..?!

Actually I am going to be doing a session like this for MA students soon - so this thread will actually be rearch....the truths I shall tell them

Hell. Total Hell

Chris is correct. There is nothing else to say. It's hell. Please shut down the forum, everything has been said about this fantastic degree.

You lot are miserable. I'm going to sulk.

When I tell people what my thesis is about, and they go all quiet and then say "ooooh - that sounds amazing". That's definitely a high But it took me two years to get to the point where I didn't run for cover whenever somebody said, "So - what's your thesis about". But I am a humanities student ...

Hell, torture, overwork, stress, left me with addiction to sleeping tablets, never would have imagined it's going to be this hard, also feelings of wortlesness and low confidence.

Having said all that, someting makes me keep going. I have been on the verge of quiting number of times and at some point I might actually do it. Not yet though.

Doing a PhD beats being a goat herder in Basra!

On a serious note though ...

Although education should be a right ... it isn't! So, if you are ever lucky enough to be in a position where someone is actually offering you some money to study - give it serious consideration (although I grabbed it with both hands). Of course, if it makes you that miserable ... leave (worse things have happened at sea!).

I have on very rare occasion been told that my ideas are not completely pointless, and that my chapters sometimes have "some" good stuff in there. That has been the highlight of my PhD. Not being laughed out of the building. Whoopeedo

I know of several "Happy endings".

I have a close friend who had a fairly rough time growing up and pretty much didn't have a pot to piss in. Most of his life people had written him off as a no hoper.

However, was able to go to uni (we studied back in the grant days) then secure a well paid studentship to do his PhD, and then went on to the notoriously competitive clinical psychology program (which he again got paid for) and seems to be doing quite well ever since. He helps kids with difficulties who are having a tough time and written off by most so I guess for him the circle is complete.

Makes you think doesn't it?

Ok then, general consensus is it sucks to do a PhD

It sucks big time to be doing a PhD. This doesn't mean a PhD sucks. Just the act of doing one sucks, IMO. The happiest day in my life was when it was awarded and I left the university building for the last time, saying to myself: F*** off, you bunch of weirdos. It was like being released from prison. No joke. But that's just my experience, I'm sure there are the odd ones out there who love the act of doing a PhD as it suits their lifestyle.

Hmmm can't say I love the actually process of writing the PhD BUT the stuff that goes with it is great!! Every conference inevitably comes with drinks receptions attached. I have traveled more this last year than I have in my entire life! I get to talk with some of the weirdest, oddest individuals who make me feel reassuringly normal.
Highlight 1 - Telling my supervisors that there last session had left me so low I had gone on an alcoholic bender for two weeks...all true...their faces were a picture!
Highlight 2 - Winning an essay competition despite my supervisor constantly telling me that I write like a journalist!
Overall would I rather be doing something else....yes...but opportunity only knocks once so I am sticking with it!

I'm in my second year and finding it really tough, but when an experiment works its wicked. Good excuse to go out drinking. Another good excuse - 'networking' at conferences. Being in charge of my hours is great too. I do a lot outside me PhD and can only fit it in because of the flexible nature, if I need to start late then I can work late to make up for it

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg18124356.500-anoraks-need-not-apply.html

"YOU have sat through the lectures, slaved over the essays, slogged through the lab work and swotted for the exams. Now you are within sight of graduation and your escape into the "real" world. Why would you want to stay a student for another three years?

The answer is simple. Doing a PhD is a million miles from the constraints of a first degree, and it's a guaranteed way of getting stuck into some real science. You will be in charge of your own research project on a topic of your choice, perhaps gaining valuable experience by working with industry, and you will manage your own time..." see link for more