Hey all smart peeps here, hope your studies are going well. I got accepted recently by a supervisor doing a project that I think suits my interest. I started as a RA doing side projects for my supervisor and haven't actually started my main project, during then, I heard some unsavory news regarding my supervisor from my friend, who is an ex-student of this supervisor, since then, my perception of the supervisor had changed some what and I started to notice some bad things about this supervisor as well, such as the delay of giving me my project's proposal, until now, I have no idea what I am supposed to do and the project is still in the early stages of preparing paperwork (why find potential student at this point of time?)

I do have another potential offer from another supervisor in my old uni, but I rejected it due to monetary concerns, the fees at my old uni (IPTS) is quite expensive. But from what I heard and feel during the interview, this supervisor is a very dedicated one, willing to help students and doesn't mind helping out in the lab when necessary, plus the money offered is quite high, however after deduction of fees (assuming I didn't get any scholarship) is much less than the IPTA RA ship. Other than that, the project field is not what I intended to pursue plus it does have a risk of failure.

Right now, I wanted to change supervisor, but considering the project I am supposed to take on in the IPTA which 1. suits my interest and 2. low risk of failure (from what I deduced) plus monetary reasons. I am quite hesitating. So, I would like to hear feedback from you guys.

Thanks for reading!

Actually, it maybe due to a chicken and egg situation. Sometimes, the grant comes in but there are no students willing to join, and sometimes, students are waiting but the grant has not been approved. I think the past 1-2 years has been really bad for funding by the government.Normally, professors will try to time the students and grants within a couple of months of each other, but the proverbial shit happens.

Depends on your character, but if you aren't really interested, I would advise you to not take it up. Otherwise, you'll suffer for a few years and may not be able to complete it.

I always tell my students to choose projects by placing priority on supervisors rather than their interest in the topic. (Of course, don't take topics that you hate )

Too many have suffered when they end up being supervised by lazy and incompetent supervisors. It doesn't mean anything if you have to take up to 10 years to finish a project (that you may have liked) Graduate fast, then only you work on projects that you really like

Its still not too late to apply for scholarship right?

This post has been edited by [PF] T.J.: Aug 11 2015, 11:09 AM

The grant is actually here, but necessary documents such as ethical approvals has yet to be submitted. But as usual, I am kept in the dark on the overall progress, I postulated it will be until early next year before the project can be officially started.

Thank you Dr. Its true on what you have said, however the field I am going to venture in is vastly different than what I intended, pharmaceutical chemistry. Plus, isn't that your doctorate project/field will largely shaped your career in the future already?

As for scholarship, I don't think I can make it before the deadline (before 2015) to apply for MyPHD as the IPTA only has two intakes, September and February, and with the rate I am going, I highly doubt I can make it to the September intake, as for my other choice, I'll be working as a RA first before registering, so both options does not allow me to take MyPhD unless it is extended in 2016. To add salt to the wound, I have applied for MyMasters previously, and they required me to deactivate the registration before applying for MyPhd. So basically, I need to register, take offer letter, request for MyMasters deactivation, register for MyPhD.

As long as you can cover the tuition fees from the ipts, I think should be fine. Apply myphd, as long as your ipts and program are under the myphd offer, I'm sure you can succesfully get it. That would ease your stress about monetary problem.

Thanks for replying. It is, but hopefully it will be extended to next year as I highly doubt I am able to register by this year