Hello everyone,

I wanted to write this to just see how everyone feels about quitting a phd program.
I am towards my 1st year doing a phd in chemistry.
Lets say I have always wanted to do a phd, I even stopped my job to pursue it.
However it has turned out to be something that I dislike right from the start and this feelings has gotten worse over time and made even worse with my supervisor who always tells me I am stupid and doesnt support me at all.
I have come to the conclusion of accepting that for me to pursue my happiness I need to leave this phd and go back to my job which I did before.
On top of it I hate the topic of my phd, some how before accepting this phd I read that you can go any how with your phd topic as you please as long you have a scholarship however that's not true, when the supervisor is set on a specific thing they is no flexibility in branching out. I honestly dont want to stay in academia when I finish my phd, it does not interest me at all.
So I have started applying for jobs and have a few interviews lined up, however I thought I should right this to see what everyone thinks.

I just feel trapped living here farway from my family, I feel like I left my six year relationship which was a very unhappy one before I started my phd to replace that with unhappiness from this phd.
I want to live my life to the fullest and not do it because everyone thinks its an amazing thing to do when they aint doing it.
I really enjoyed my masters and undergraduate, even when I was feeling down I always pushed through however that is not how I feel about my PhD at all. My heart has given up on this. I dont even want to go to the lab anymore.
I feel like am destined to be doing something else.

It sounds like you've made your mind up - if you want to quit then you definitely should, as long as you've thought about it. I would also recommend making sure you have a job to go to before you quit! Good luck!

I've been thinking of giving up to but mostly due to me doubting my own abilities to do the PhD and how frustrated I feel spending my whole time working and not having enough time to do anything else rather than due to a complete lack of enjoyment. I'm sorry you don't get on well with your supervisor, reading through your post I agree that it sounds like you've made up your mind on this to give up (whereas with me, I've decided to carry on with it). I think if you are desperately unhappy doing the PhD and feel you'd be a lot happier elsewhere maybe you should give it up. Have you always felt like this or are there certain times when you're happier than others with what you're doing?

Hi, I done about 1 year of my phd and then left and returned to work. I didn't find the phd very interesting, and I preferred knowing I had finished work when I went home.

I know people who did it for the titl, but in reality no one cares and family support whatever you do.

Life is short and don't persist with things you hate - We only live once.

Though stay n the course for a while while job searching if you are funded as at east then you have are revenue stream for while. Keep me up to date with developments.

You've obviously decided and fair enough. If you're not happy, then move on and put the whole sorry experience behind you. However, to echo others, ensure you have a job before leaving.

That said, in the future don't write off the possibility of returning to do a PhD if it was truely your dream. It's amazing the difference a good supervisor and an interesting topic can make to the PhD experience. It sounds to me you've hit unlucky. I had a generally good PhD experience with good supervision, plus a good first post-doc at my PhD university.

However, I saw the other side of the coin during a second post-doc at a different University and a supervisor plus mentor with zero man mangement abilities, which made my year with them really miserable. Such a situation can knock the stuffing out of even the most motivated of PhD candidates.

Don't discount the possibility of coming back in a few years, however, make sure the project and supervisor are right for you if you do.

Ian (Mackem_Beefy)