This is a great site - if only I had come across it several years ago. I'd really appreciate some advice from you guys. After three years F.T. PhD, I moved to P.T. PhD so I could get a job. This happened over 2 years ago now, and I still haven't completed! It really peeved off my supervisor when I took a job. Since then, I have been promoted rapidly and now hold a very stressful position - but, it's the job of my dreams. All the way through my PhD, I aspired for this job and have to nip myself occasionally to remind myself that it's all real!

While it's good that I have my dream career, my PhD is still looming. Feedback from my supervisor seems to be getting more and more random. One minute he says that I am a month away from a hand in, the next minute he says that it's a fail and that I basically have to start again. I am at a stage where I have drafted and re-drafted every chapter at least 5 times (some hitting on 15-20 times) and I feel I am no further forward. Intentions to submit have come and gone and I now have no realistic idea any more how good / bad my work is or how close to completion I really am. Other colleagues have had similar experiences with the same supervisor, but my paranoia is creeping in - maybe it's me? Maybe my work really is crap??

Ideally, I'd give it to someone else to read. BUT, good old politics is at play. Everyone who is anyone is in my supervisor's back pocket. As for the others, it would be suicide for me to approach them. If my supervisor found out, he would do everything in his power to make the PhD experience even worse than it is. Even the HoD is best buddies with him.

I don't know what to do. I am trying hard to write and redraft again and I really want to complete by the end of this year. As I already have the 'dream job', it is only pride that is keeping me ticking. I'm tired and struggling, though I still get the occasional burst of motivation.

Oh, and did I mention that I'm getting married in a few months?!

Sorry for the moan, but all advice / similar experiences would be so, so welcome right now. Thanks everyone.

Hello! Perhaps we have the same supervisor! Well, I know what you mean. I am in a similar position, although circumstances are different. You must have trust in what you are doing. Did you present papers? Did you publish anything? Have you had any teaching experience where you could use part of your research experience? If so, what kind of feedback did you have? Also, your sup wouldn't want you to fail - even only because it would reflect badly on his reputation - so keep a positive frame of mind. I had the same sup during my Masters, and it was a nightmare. In the end I used my formula, let things go and work by myself. I ended with a first class. I don't know how that person managed to lure me into doing a PhD under his supervision, but here I am experiencing the same problems again. I am applying the same method and hopefully, it will work this time too. Certainly having to prepare for a wedding does not make things easier. I would suggest you to try and have a thorough talk with your sup about the basics: thesis structure, research questions, methods, etc and see what comes out of it. I am sure that you will make it, but I know for personal experience how difficult it is. Good Luck! :p

Number one I would try to get as much done before you get married. I got married near the end of my fellowship exam preparations and it was really difficult to concentrate on it, even though I had already done most of the work. Secondly, you could first of all give a chapter to someone else outside your field or any field, even someone at work, just to check it reads right, they don't have to know what it is about,  one person per chapter, or two chapters if you can bribe them! then go to your supervisor with specific questions about certain areas, say that you know he thinks it is almost there overall because if he has said so before (once is enough :-)) and you think that the areas you highlight are the ones that need work on. Ask if there is anything else you haven't included. Work on those bits, send them to him, ask again if there is anything else, just to check. Then send the whole thing to him for a final check, and tell him that is what it is. If none of that works, go to the person in charge of postgraduate students and explain your problem. They may be able to exert the right kind of pressure to get the result you want.