Hey, I'm in the process of deciding whether to accept a PhD offer in biological science or not and it seems to be an agonising decision! In reality people around me including my dad who did a PhD have given me the impression that although it will be hard it won't be a ridiculous and tormenting experience for 4 yrs. However, after a bit of googling and reading through threads on this website I am absolutely petrified! i know there will be ups and downs bt i dnt wanna become mentally ill and sum of the stories on here are horrific! I want to work hard bt i don't want to be working 12 hrs a day 7 days a wk and be on the verge of killing myself.

As far as the PhD that I have been offered goes-its fully-funded and seems well organised, I have met my would be main supervisor a few times and she seems nice, quite realistic etc. Shes also only ~30 and has a young kid (does this mean she is likely to be more personable, have better idea of work/life balance etc?!!). The interview i went to also seemed fair & good questions so there was no ego tripping or anything. Despite my first impressions of the phd i guess you can never tell until you start.

I guess what i would like to know is do all phd students have this seemingly awful depressive tormenting experience or is this somnething that is just suffered by a minority who may have exceptionally bad supervisors/project etc? I guess happy phd students would likely nt be posting on here mayb? I would rly appreciate any advice regarding this or how bad it rly is/how endemic this depression is etc as phd students in the department i've been doing my final yr project in all seem relatively content!

thanks!!!

Hey, i'm in the final year of a biology degree and i've recently applied to some PhDs in the biological science area (quite late in the year i know but i didn't make my mind up that i def wanted to do it until recently!) Anyway I haven't had much success at all-not even interviews and 2 be honest i dnt know what i'm doing wrong! I am at a top uni, my referees seem 2 rly like me so i cnt see them nt giving me a great reference and my average is over 80%. I also did a sandwich year working in lab research-the research area wasn't the area i'm applying for but the techniques etc are still relevant plus my final year lab project is relevant so i have experience. So i am quite frustrated 2 nt get any interviews as I dnt know where i'm going wrong? My GCSE and A-level results are not amazing (mixture of A's and B's)-I know lots of ppl who got straight A's-so I was wondering whether this may be a factor? Also I worked full-time after a-levels instead of going to uni straight away and have had several jobs so my cv doesn't read like the average bright student who goes straight from school to college to uni etc-would this be considered a negative or somehow give the impression i'm nt an academic person?

I was planning on applying properly 2 loads come sept when i have the time to look at lots of diff projects and apply for them and am not bogged down with uni work and finals but if i can't even get to interviews now i dnt know whether theres any point?!

Can any1 give me some pointers where I may be going wrong? Your help would be much appreciated, thanks!! x