PhD Students

Voyager2002

Ziggy_Stardust wrote: »

I went to see my supervisor yesterday and as always she was lovely, I really lucking having her. We agreed that I will follow the MPhil route and see how things are in January and how I feel then. At least I feel less pressured with the MPhil and as I really want to work in research and not lecture it may be a better route for me.

A PhD is every bit as important for a research career as for lecturing. In fact, since most lecturers get appointed and promoted on the basis of their research, a job with a title like 'research fellow' is generally a stepping-stone on the way to being a lecturer, which in turn is mainly a research job. The key difference is that lecturers often have permanent jobs, while most research fellows are on fixed-term contracts.

AuntieH

Doing a PhD is definately no walk in the park. I completed a part time PhD earlier this year. I was working full time and fitting in a 4-7 year course. I found it completely overwelming in the first year but it started to get better. In the end I just got my head down and actually completed it in 4 years. I would say dont do it unless you are considering continuing in research, you do become very specialised and unless you take the lecturer route the money isn't that great compared to the stress and study time put in. If you are struggling now think of later on when you are into post doc territory, its often a one way road of short contracts. I just did it for my own personal quest and hence was very self motivated and this carried me though. You need commitment thats for sure, really think this through.

jojo2004

Hey Ziggy,
Sorry to hear you're struggling with your PhD. I'm at Liverpool, in my writing up year, in SACE, which dept are you in?
I can totally sympathise with your frustrations with the PDR/RTM stuff - it has to be done, and the only way to get through it is to find likeminded people, and laugh your way through it - i gathered some genius quotes from the Careers Skills Workshop: "In interviews, small talk is never small. Guard your Brand"...:p
Can I offer one thing that really helped me? A fellow academic, friend, and junior lecturer said to me that it's essential to remember that your PhD is not the best think you'll ever write. It's just the first thing you write, which is why it feels so momentous. You're not trying to prove that you know everything (unless you intend to skip gaily from PhD to professorship without pausing), just that you have the intelligence, determination and research skills to start on your chosen path.
If you're honestly unhappy, of course you should do something to change that, but if you're just doubting that you will complete your PhD, don't panic - EVERYONE feels that way!! Promise. It's meant to be hard, so that you show more determination and dedication to research than others - it's a way to stand out from the crowd, and that's never easy.
Best of luck, and if I can help, feel free to shout help!
xx