the completion phase of my phd is nearing and my supervisor has suggested that i have not done enough work and i need to extend my time as a full time student and renrol. I cannot really do that as my funding will be over and i cant stay here longer due to personal reasons. could anybody give me some advice on what my options are?

Hi Scared. Firstly, you need to clarify exactly why your supervisor is saying this. Do you not have enough results? Have you made an "original contribution to knowledge" or not? How long is your write up period, is it a year or longer? Do you still have time to finish the results before you go into write up phase?

Is it a case that your supervisor genuinely thinks you don't have enough or is just being demanding and wants you to have some super results? DOn't forget a PhD isn't about being a groundbreaking genius!

i think its a bit of both to be honest with u. now what do i do?

Scared, are you able to explain to supervisor why it is difficult for you to do this- no income stream and need to leave for personal reasons and then see if they have any compromise suggestions? I'm thinking that they may have some ideas about how you could do this? But it is difficult to know given the very brief info you have provided (which is fine btw, I'm not fishing for details!)- whether you have lots of options or really none at all.

Can you reenrol but go home anyway and sort of finish the last bit while you either live at home, go on some form of benefit (unemployment or whatever) or just work part-time while you finish up whatever is left? Are you eligible for an extension that includes some form of extension to your grant? Does your supervisor know what your circumstances are? If they knew a little more then they would know what options you have and possibly could lay them out logically for you so you have some form of realistic choice. I find it hard to imagine that they would just expect you to extend and live off thin air?

(But then back in time many years ago when I was much much younger and could not get any student income due to parents who earned too much but would not support me-some lecturers did expect me as a very young person barely out of teens -they did expect me to deal with this and just struggle on somehow, so this is why I'm saying it is hard to know).

If you submitted in time anyway, so you could then look for work and see what happens-i:e it might pass or it might get MPhil? or they may pass just with some adjustments and you could do these while looking for work?

I guess you really need to lay out or talk out or write out what your options are (given all the information you can get on your realistic choices) and then make the best decision for you at this particular time. Sorry not to be of more help and I hope whatever the decision you ultimately make for yourself-it goes well and you feel a little more comfortable with it. Good luck Scared....:-)

======= Date Modified 06 Jun 2010 00:58:25 =======
****************Moderated Sorry************************

what bold decision are you referring to?