Hello All,

From reading my other posts, you will see that I have not had an easy ride(who does says you,-)) -have previously been told by my supervisor to leave my PhD twice. With much argument, he agreed that I could stay and finish my PhD and this was only because I went to talk to another supervisor who felt my current supervisor was mad to make me leave and that I did have what it takes to do a PhD.

I only see my sup once every three months if lucky and for the last three years, I can honestly say that our meetings have been mostly negative with him commenting on my lack of results and lack of understanding etc. He does acknowledge that I work my ass off but I always leave our meetings feeling like I am back in square one. I regret the fact that I never spoke up and said that I needed more supervision.

Anyways, had a meeting with him last week and now he wants me to wrap up things and finish up in the lab in the next two months. I talked to my supervisor about not having enough results and also about him wanting me to leave in the past but his reply was don't worry, you will be fine. I am normally a positive person but for the last two months or so I have this huge niggling doubt that I do not have enough to submit and will eventually go into my viva and fail.

My supervisor is very high up in my university and the only thing that keeps me sane is the fact that if I did fail, it would reflect hugely on his career. But I am worried that he doesn't care anymore and just wants me out of the lab. I can honestly say now that if I was told to leave, I would. Have taken so much BULL the last three years that I just feel like walking out and saving myself the humiliation of the inevitable failing. Has anyone experience a similar problem. Any advice-thanks in advance :-)

Thank you for your reply. I do agree but when I ask for his help, all I get is "its not working out,is it.....I think it would be best to leave with a masters". I would love to know am I the only one whose experiments are not working out. I cant ask the other people in my lab as they are not the most approachable

Hi all, I am in my 2nd year of a biology PhD. I love the theory side i.e. the research I am doing but I am struggling with the experiments. So much so that I have spent the last six months coming in at weekends to try+get the experiments to work. My supervisor feels I should leave as he does not think I am suitable for a PhD. I don't want to leave as I have worked in industry before and found it boring (main reason for starting a PhD). Also I feel that given time,the experiments will work out(thou my supervisor just feels I am wasting mine and his time). Although experiments are not working out, I do not think I will fail as I have presented at lots of conferences and have received good feedback.
I am just lost as to what to do. I am afraid that I might fail my PhD if the experiments do not keep working out and that I will have wasted 3-4 years. I am afraid to talk to my supervisor about how I feel as he just keeps saying its best to leave. Has anyone else ever been in this suitaion.Thanks

Thank you for your advice. I do feel that I should talk to my supervisor but having got a degree that is a little different to my PhD, I am always afraid of asking stupid questions-believe me I have asked many already. Also I am afraid too that my supervisor feels they made the wrong decision in taking myself on. Can they fire me

Hi all,
I started a biology PhD over 3 months ago and since then I have started no cell work and have only seen my supervisor say 4 times. My supervisor arranged for postdocs to help me with the cell work but in the last month, I have only seen the person once as they are very busy.
I have no problem reading papers on my own and conducting my own literature research but I feel that as I have not started any cell work which is an integral part of any biology PhD-I am just wasting my time. With a biology PhD-does one spend a lot of time reading-how much time??Should I get more support from my supervisor or is this the norm with PhD supervisors, that you are on your own!!!

Thank you in advance