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[autumn11]

Hi all, thanks for the replies. I'm actually from the UK. I've already been accepted to a program, but without funding, the funding is coming directly from the professor with a grant she got relating to corporate social responsibility. In the UK we go directly into research rather than like the US where you do a few years of coursework.

[lightningstrike]

I have an opportunity to do a PhD, fully funded through a grant from my professor, with a topic that really interests me. The problems are, I don't really know if I can handle the isolation, the self-motivation, and frankly, I'm not even sure if I want to become an academic or what I would actually do with the PhD afterward. The problem is, if I start, it will be difficult to back out as it is to be done in conjunction with other research. It's in the humanities.
The other problem is, that I've never really been amazing at writing essays. I've only gotten a few high distinctions in my life. I would feel like a fraud doing a PhD and not being able to even get A's. How could I possibly become a professor and have to grade papers that were better than I achieved?

As I mentioned, I really like the topic, in fact I wouldn't have considered doing a PhD if this specific scholarship had not been offered to me. Any advice?

There is enough uncertainty just in your own mind for me to say that it is not a good idea for you to pursue a PhD.  Now, if you have nothing else going for you right now, then I guess you really don't have much of a choice.

[fortepiano]

Crazy? No. But perhaps a bit misinformed. (I don't mean any disrespect by this comment---I myself was ridiculously misinformed when I applied to grad school and although somehow it worked out well for me, I think it was largely due to dumb luck.)

Unless you are burning with desire to begin and *complete* a PhD, and have been for a long time, and have considered many other options and educated yourself about the job market in humanities (even in a subfield with some real world applications), and cannot after all of that imagine yourself doing anything else in your life (I'm serious), then go ahead.