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>> 18.01.05

Same old place
After discussing the issues of not wanting to pursue a career in academe and time informing my decision to leave the PhD, this post is concerned with environment. It is a fairly simple point I wish to make: I have been at the University of Surrey, in one form or another, since September 1998, when I joined as an undergraduate student. Six and a half years in the same place, during perhaps the most turbulent period of a young man's life, is a long time and I feel that my... {>>}

>> 16.01.05

Too much time?
Another major factor contributing to leaving the PhD is the issue of time. If I were to be honest, I have been thinking about leaving since I completed my annual review last October. At that point, I began wondering whether I would be able to complete another two year of study. There were two aspects associated with this: my mathematical ability and any possible career I choose to pursue. The question of ability was this: do I have the mathematical creativity for the project I am working on? is the... {>>}

>> 13.01.05

A career in academe?
In the previous post, I finally revealed that I am to discontinue my PhD studies. This is the first in a series of posts detailing some of the reasons why I am not continuing, which will precede further posts based on the practicalities of what happens next. The first rule of getting a PhD is to want one. An essentially simple statement, but one that can easily catch people out: why would someone start a PhD if they didn't want one? how do they expect to stay motivated if they... {>>}

>> 07.01.05

Terminal decision
The new year provides me with the ideal opportunity to divulge some of the details of the last month concerning my progress and the PhD diary. Given that there has been very little activity here for some weeks now — and given the tone of some of the posts when there was some activity — it will be of little surprise that progress has not been terrific. Whilst the nature of postgraduate research is such that good times will follow bad and vice versa, it became increasingly apparent to me... {>>}