Hi all,

After never particularly wanting to do a phd, i eventually ended up doing one as I was offered it in a subject that i was already working in and find fascinating. A year in i am totally fed up and wondering what to do! My boss is a nightmare, totally demanding, and not making my working day enjoyable at all, and although i still find the subject interesting, I find the amount expected of me tough to live up to, and get incredibly frustrated when things dont work (as they generally dont!) So i am considering cutting my losses and converting to MPhil. Has anyone else done this? Are you happy with your decision, or wish you'd stuck it out? I dont want an academic career at all, so wondering if it is worth all the pain?!

Any advice much appreciated!

Before you consider doing anything as radical as re-registering for an MPhil, stop and consider the following:

You like your research topic, you already have experience in your topic. You sound like someone who is enthusuastic and competent. Downgrading to MPhil usually happens for someone who feels they canot manage the pressures/demands of a PhD. What you describe is the pressure *placed on you by your supervisor*, which is a different thing.

Generally, before you consider changing YOUR circumstances, think about whether the supervisor is placing unreasonable demands on you. If this is the case, there are steps you can take to address this, way before changing your course. Please consider this, as from your post it seems that going along the MPhil route would merely be cutting off your nose to spite your face at this stage.

Thankyou for your reply. Yeah i do agree with you that i could be cutting of my nose to spite my face, that is partly what i was worried about! But as you correctly mentioned, I do feel a large chunk of the problem is the high demands placed on me by my supervisor. But what can i do about this? A student has to work to the requirements of their supervisor, right? And if i feel like i cannot reach the high expectations, the only way i can see is to jump ship?! He has passed all his students in the past, so i have no doubt that his pushing will result in a good phd, but im not quite sure if i can handle it for the next 2 years!!

Please take my advice: you can be really lucky that your supervisor is so demanding, not many students are in this fortunate position. It may feel like hell right now, but it will at least help you to get through it (rather than the opposite laisser-faire attitude which rarely is successful).

Stick with it, two years is less than it sounds, considering a lifetime of feeling that you have achieved something remarkable.

If you don't want an acdemic career, it depends whether a PhD would help you or not, e.g. in industry it could, or in something you have the skills for, if you go for something that needs any degree then you would lose salary by taking time out to do a PhD. You're supposed to be earning more on average after about 5 years though.

I know someone who did MPhil, but he left after a year so we're no longer in touch!
I've struggled out a PhD feeling miserable and it is not easy. It's dragged into a full 4 years.

O Stoll is right, a demanding supervisor can be a good thing in terms of productivity and pass rates. It's if the demands are unreasonable - which you have to weigh up and pssibly compare with other students.

** A student has to work to the requirements of their supervisor, right? ** No, not necessarily. If you are a full time PhD student, the supervisor is there to advise and recommend. In theory, they cannot dictate what hours you work, etc. A 100% student is a free agent and (while this is highly inadvisable!) can work from 11am til 12 noon if they so wish. If you are a contracted member of research staff, and happen to be registered for a PhD on the side, that is an enturely different matter, and then yes, the supervisor can enforce conditions.

Just to clarify, the reason I know this is because I was a research student academic course rep. A student came to me saying that her supervisor was intolerable, expecting her to do unreasonable hours, etc. She had no time to engage in other research related activities relevant to her work, which essential to students' academic and professional development.

We investigated, and it turned out that she was the only 100% research student in her lab. The others were RAs on higher salaries under different contractual conditions. They were required to work according to the demands of the research, but as a research student, she was not. The supervisor, however, was treating her as a contracted staff member. It went to the university research committee, and he was officially warned that his behaviour was unacceptable.

I must also re-iterate, that that in this particular case I am not talking about someone who was lazy or uncommitted to the research. She was a top rank student in the department, but was thinking along the same lines as you are - re. downgrading to MPhil or quitting altogether.

Don't fall into that trap. Assess if you think your supervisors demands are reasonable or or unrealistic. If the latter, talk to your departmental director research (you should have one). You are clearly an enthisiastic and committed student, and should not be forced into this way of thinking if it's your supervisor who's got a problem.