Hi,
I am in the 8th month of my PhD and i am thinking to quit and apply for a job or for a studentship at other university. However both cases require a CV and reference letters.
Does anyone know how to bypass the supervisor and get a reference letter from a previous tutor (same department) and skip mentioning the PhD in the CV?

this is not really an answer to your question, but I am wondering why you want to bypass your supervisor/not mention your PhD. Is it because you don't want him/her to know you are looking for something else or is it because you think he/she wouldn't write a good reference for you? In the latter case, you can easily ask someone else, letting him/her know. Are you worried that quitting a previous PhD will reflect badly on your chances for the new one? I suppose it is worse if they employ you and find out later that you 'lied' to them. Is it because you feel if you do mention your current PhD you would be obliged to give them a reference by your current supervisor? I suppose you could just explain. I am assuming that you have good, well reflected reasons for your plans and if you lay these out to prospective employers there shouldn't be any problems. But that's just my opinion.

If you're applying for another studentship I think you have to mention your current PhD, and think seriously about whether you really want another one. If you're applying for a job there's probably no need to mention the PhD. In either case it should be fine not to have a reference from your PhD supervisor - surely the application won't specify this? But if your current PhD supervisor will write a good reference for your new studentship application, then why not take it? I'm guessing this isn't likely...

I just don't want my supervisor to know that i want to quit.However it seems that he "holds" the key for my future. I have tried to ask reference from someone else in the department but he wants to know the reason for wanting to quit my current PhD and applying for another. Everything stucks on this issue WHY? The reason is that i don't like the subject , i don't want to end up with MPhil and the supervisor is not helping...so i want to change but i can't say that...
And i don't think he will give me a reference letter for research to another university...

are you willing to reveal at an interview, say, if you were asked what you have been doing the last 8 months and state reasons for leaving? i would talk to your supervisor if possible he may be able to help with your reasons for wanting to leave.

Hi MichaelA. If you are so sure you don't want to continue your PhD and you don't want an MPhil, then I don't see why you need to hide the fact you want to (and surely are going to) leave from your supervisor. As for giving reasons why you want to quit, it might help if you consider the reasons why you want to do a PhD in a particular subject at the other institution (and why you won't consider changing your supervisor or subject at your current institution). As it stands though, it appears that you want to be doing anything except what you are currently doing, which is not a good reason for beginning a new PhD. As for jobs, I agree with Sue.

shelleyanne, the supervisor might not like that idea. I mean no supervisor would want to loose a student (well, maybe in some cases ) but MichaelA, you might just have to come clean as shelleyanne has pointed out. Its better that you are true to yourself and express this to your supervisor and those involed. If they ar human enough, they would understand.

Best wishes

are you willing to reveal at an interview, say, if you were asked what you have been doing the last 8 months and state reasons for leaving? i would talk to your supervisor if possible he may be able to help with your reasons for wanting to leave.

To be honest no. Id rather say i spend the last 8 months traveling..
...reveal that me and my supervisor talk for the same thinks but most of the time at different frequencies? I am trying to tune in but his frequency is changing every time we have a meeting.
It is the case that i drive my PhD car with my supervisor sitting next to me BUT we stuck in roundabout for 6 months not to mention that at some point we even had wrong fuel!
Now after all those months he came up with a new idea that it might work..but after so many failures = im burnout

If they require a reference from the supervisor prior to making an offer on a studentship/PhD then just don't list them as a referee. Perhaps you can use an undergraduate lecturer?

For most applications (at least for jobs) you can specify that you do not want the references taken up prior to an offer.

It is exactly what i did. In my CV i listed my undegrad supervisor (same uni as my current supervisor) but since he knows what i do know he asked me WHY i want to quit my PhD in this university so he can write it down in his reference for me!

and why can't you tell your undergrad tutor the real reason?

if you really cant see a way around sorting things with your supervisor is there no way you could explain this to potential future supervisors in a way that sounds positive i.e you have learned from this experience etc..

from the field i work in anyway ive found ita a small world and would look bad if at a conference or meeting you encountered your present supervisor or you new one found out you had left a phd and not told them

MichaelA I am in exactly the same situtaion. The thing is I did my undergrad course at a different institution and moved to a top institute to do a PhD (it was the only one I was accepted on, and I had doubts before starting). I am sure my current supervisor will not give me a reference. I am woried that it will look as if I can't hack with the 'big guns'.

MichaelA, I have the same apprehension as you. It is pretty bad that both your undergrad and PhD supervisors are within the same uni, otherwise you don't have to mention the 8-month experience at all and put in some part-time work experience on your CV for this period. It is also not possible to request your undergrad tutor not to mention why you've decided to quit. Well, you could just explain that the funding opportunities/prospects in your old uni are not good without mentioning your supervisor. You really can't hide it, so speak about it in an objective way. Even if you got accepted by another uni, that is just a start of another torment--the academic world is small, and you'll have to face your old supervisor on some occasions and probably he's the referee of an academic journal or a selector of a funding trust/association/council, then the real vexing problem will occur. I totally understand this coz this is just my big big apprehension. Sigh....

Has anyone who decided to leave a PhD been accepted on another one at a different institution???

Everything is going from bad to worse. I am just not motivated and as a result I am not putting in the work. What do I do if I am asked to leave. Surley I may as well kiss my chances of doinga PhD goodbye. The prospect of going back to a s**t job is depressing.