Hi guys thanks for the response.

thank you especially to Ann - I did call and it was fine. Thanks again!

xBx

My supervisor has ask me to meet her this afternoon, as she has been away all week ill. However, I have gone home for the weekend as I didn't think she'd be in.

I don't know what to do now, I can't just tell her I decided to go home, I feel like I should be at her beck and call, what do you guys think?

I am working at home, so nor completely skiving, but we are in different cities!

Aargh! Help!

Hey, nmy first degree is in psychology and i'm doing my PhD in cognitve neuroscience. I'm going to be honest - the comptetition is tough. If you seriously can't understand the papers, then you are not at the stage to be contacting potential supervisors, as you will jst be wasting their time. At the better universities I think you would struggle, so go for something you are actually good at. What area are you interested in, and where were you thinking of applying?

We have basic hours of about 10-5pm, you don't have to be there, but I think its just to help give us some structure. At the end of the day, it doesn't matter when you do your hours, but I don't think you're going to get much done if you're not putting in an average of about 40 hours a week! Or that's how it seems to me!

I don't think a few more months is going to make a real diference. The issue here isn't about having a baby - I think he sounds rather controlling.

aww, coastman, you're a cutie! I think my BM1 goes between about 20. something and 21. something, so I guess I'm in the middle! I normally have to buy and 8-10 on the top half but a 10-12 on the bottom. Goddamn my stuids hips1

Awww, bless! Your friend is conpletely wrong. Having a PhD is the same as having a job. Universities are indeed open all summer. My PostDoc boyfriend will back me up here. We're entitled to holidays, but err, not 3 or 4 months!

See, my weight seems to go between 9 and a half stone to 10 stone 4lbs without me seeming to change much about diet or lifestyle. Does this happen to anyone else? (I'm not overweight, thankfully as am 5ft 9).

Do you know, this forum never fails to cheer me up! Cheers guys, you're all nutters!

I just got back to uni today, and have basically done nothing over the holidays. I have tonnes to do as it is, and my supervisor has emailed me wanting to meet up and has more things for me to do. As I haven't even made a dent in the stuff she wanted me to read from last time, I'm tempted to just ignore the email until I can catch up a bit - is this really dumb?

Does anyone else hate this time of year? Back to work today and I just feel depressed - I actually want to cry! I have tonnes to do and my supervisor is already emailing me. Its cold and miserable and I feel like there's nothing to look forward to. I'm tired already! Anyone else feeling a lil' bit blue?

Ok, I think the important thing to note here is that in the UK students are generally working at a higher level than their counterparts in other countries i.e., students doing their BScs will take 3 years and it will be very specialised. I have an American friend who did her first 'general' degree in which she took many very different courses - it wasn't until se did her masters that she actually specalised. Also, I think at aged 17 when we do A-Levels, we are doing work at a higher level that those in the Canadian system. I have another friend who moved out there and they were studying things she'd learned at GCSE (aged 15-16) level!

But all you guys who got married during PhDs etc, are you a bit older, i.e. did you not go straight from school to BSc etc etc, do you think it makes a difference being older? What about your husbands, are they the same age as you?

Cognitive neuroscience...fMRI and genetic imaging, probably not any help, huh?

Grrr, now ESRC have moved to giving universities control of payments I am left very poor over Xmas...UCL didn't sort out the payments in time so we were supposed to get cheques instead of it going into banks accounts. However, someone has screwed up royally, spelling my name wrong, meaning that when I went to collect my cheque- there was none! And as its the last day, there's nothing they can do, they have no money to give me. They say the final cheque wont be ready til the end of Jan! I actually cried in the finance office.

What should I do? Who should I speak to, my rent alone (due on Jan the 1st!) is £500 alone. I have been given £300 from petty cash from my dept, but that's going not going to last long.

Merry Bloody christmas