Acceptance criteria in the CS department of my alma mater is on a scale of 3-4 peer peer-reviewed papers, accepted in some journals. I would also be careful ab

Acceptance criteria in the CS department of my alma mater is on a scale of 3-4 peer peer-reviewed papers, accepted in some journals. I would also be careful about what the point of research might be. The most important purpose of a PhD student is to produce a thesis in a foreseeable future, to qualify himself for scientific work. The success of the thesis depends on the advisor(s), and later the department and the reviewers. Thus, it's important to choose a topic, which is NOT an ultimate dead end. Even if your topic leads to a successful thesis, it might be a dead end later on. Because your advisor has no network, or because nobody is interested in your results etc. And even if you can continue with research, you are rather occupied with fund raising, networking and marketing. If I had to do a PhD again, I would try to figure out as fast as possible what is expected to do in the specific configuration I'm in, and then try to minimize all obstacles and distractions which might be in the way (teaching, assistance for the prof, fund raising, conferences etc). After that, if your're are lucky, you have 1-2 years left to write down your stuff.