Progress Review, feeling a little disappointed

I have been registered on my research degree for a year now (though the college haven’t sent me a bill yet!). I originally registered with a view and a desire to complete a Phd. The college registered me on an MPhil with the possibility of upgrading.

I kept in mind that I would like to do a Phd and decided to keep working towards it as though it was a Phd. In my review today, we agreed that there wasn’t a convincing potential to turn it into a Phd. The original idea (here) didn’t work and I need to submit a revised proposal with an explanation as to why it didn’t work. I have now two years to complete which fits in quite nicely with my upcoming sabbatical in 2010.

I confess to being a bit disappointed, but not much. I would have liked to reach a Phd without having to have done a second degree, but I am quite happy to accept that you can’t always take short cuts in life! The good news is that I should have completed by the end of 2010 instead of the end of 2013 and that it is the research that interests me more than the degree.

I have come up with a fairly tight schedule running up until the end of the year:

6th November : the research Comittee will review my revised proposal.
6th December : to have completed a pilot of data gathering, concentrating on the North West of England.
6th January : need a 5000 word paper describing and beginning to analyse my initial pilot research gathering.

One Response to “Progress Review, feeling a little disappointed”

1. Catriona Says:
   October 21st, 2008 at 10:12 pm

   Hmm, not sure what to say…sorry that you are not able to proceed to the PhD, but impressed that you haven’t paid anything yet! With the university you end up paying before they tell you that you can proceed to the year you’ve just paid for - cunning! Maybe you’ll get an MPhil for free?

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