======= Date Modified 10 Feb 2011 19:57:29 =======


Hi everyone, i'm in my 1st year of the phd and so far i've been making a lot of progress (which is what my supervisor acknowledges too). however my supervisor seems to now prefer that i slow down and expand on certain things i've already worked upon, although personally i'd prefer to move on first and expand later. just wondering, is my fast progress not a very good thing--for my university, do they always prefer phd students who finish around 3 years' time and neither drag on endlessly nor finish too early? i've heard of some cases when people finish a phd in a bit more than 2 years, i wonder how they did that--does anyone know any details about finishing early? (a friend who did her phd said if a phd student gets the work done far in advance, the supervisor may invent more work to be done--not being cynical about it though)
thanks very much!!

I suppose if you are funded, it make complicate things if you finish too early. However, it is certainly good news, at least you know you are on the right track! Congrats! :)

Fast progress can be a good thing, but I think your supervisor's advice to slow down and expand on what you have now is good too. It's easy to leave things to later, but things don't always get done that way. Also if you do the expansion now while the ideas are fresh in your mind you are likely to make a better job of it than you would do later. And it's more important to have depth than breadth, another advantage of slowing down a little bit and expanding on things now.

Could it be that if you expanded on the work you have already done it would be publishable, whereas if you move on to different areas then you could "lose" the work you have already done if somebody else gets it out first?

If that could be what your supervisor is concerned about then maybe their advice is good, you should discuss it with them and make it clear what you would prefer to do, and ask them to explain why they think you should do it differently.