My PhD interview
I somehow really impressed my future supervisor. I acted interested in his project even when dull as dishwater and the field (also dull), gave all the contrived reasons were perfect, was friendly and enthusiastic. Completely nailed it, got the position at a remarkably prestigious institute for my average 2:1 and even started early.

Turns out the right answer was "no, that sounds shit, please never let me near it".

3 years of hell began, a project I was completely unable to do, a management style of bashing my head against a brick wall rather than trying to work out what was wrong at fix it, a placement in a hell-hole that left me drinking every night to stop the tears with another supervisor who was like a perfectly designed personality clash, after 3 years I finally handed in a very thin MSc thesis with a conclusion of "further work needed". Oh, also to get out of the hell-hole I had to finish the project completely unpaid, if you quit a PhD there is IMMENSE pressure to finish it as an MSc no matter how insane and in debt this will make you.

So, in future, if I can see something is going to fuck me over professionally and personally to a very large extent, I'm not going to try very hard at the interview. Possibly I'll break that rule if really desperate for money, but in this case I had to work unpaid (not even student loan, you thought Workfare was bad) for several months.

There are a bunch of jobs I didn't get because I didn't do well at interview but since I didn't fuck up the one for my quite satisfactory job I don't count them as nearly as big a fuckup of getting stuck with the worst PhD position ever.
(GothicTechie, Thu 21 Nov 2013, 18:29, 8 replies)

lol failure

( Dr. Shambolic je suis charlie, Thu 21 Nov 2013, 18:39, closed)

Wouldn't you get an MPhil rather than an MSc?

( Ghoti Fingers, Thu 21 Nov 2013, 19:07, closed)

In most places, probably yes. Not this one. Or possibly that's an indication of quite how badly things went. But while we're on that sort of pedantry I have just realised I forgot another anachronism of this university, that it was actually a DPhil I was studying not a PhD.
(GothicTechie, Thu 21 Nov 2013, 19:13, closed)

good to see there's someone out there who finds working in a call centre "satisfactory"

( The Mock TurtIe ™ --- Thinks you are a cunt, on, Thu 21 Nov 2013, 19:26, closed)

Imagine being bright enough to understand that we only get one life and a relatively short one at that
and settling for 'satisfactory'.

Sad times.
( Dr. Shambolic je suis charlie, Thu 21 Nov 2013, 19:32, closed)

Who?

(GothicTechie, Thu 21 Nov 2013, 19:37, closed)

isn't that what you graduates usually wind up doing?
insurance, call centres or riding the fast track into a lifetime of middle management
( The Mock TurtIe ™ --- Thinks you are a cunt, on, Sat 23 Nov 2013, 0:16, closed)

Perhaps you should have tried harder.

( BraynDedd Natasha Kaplinsky's labia majora, Thu 21 Nov 2013, 19:51, closed)