Hi Ash! These threads are only for students to talk to each other really, I think you'd have to contact potential supervisors directly by email by looking up contact details on University Websites.

I also didn't have a presentation to do, and got asked a lot of the same type of questions as Caterpillar so they must be popular questions! I would read up on your area, recent publications etc as one of the questions I got asked was to describe a journal article I had read recently that would be useful for the project. Also read up about the university and funding body as I was asked specific questions about how they worked. Make sure you seem keen to do conferences and publish your work.

And also try to relax and be friendly as these people will have to work with your for three years if you get it so I think if you seem friendly and to have a sense of humour etc they might want to work with you more!

Well done on getting the interview and I wish you the best of luck :-)

Just to say that having been recently unemployed I had read the stuff recently about voluteering, you can still claim jobseekers and volunteer and often who you're volunteering for pay your travel, obviously if you were volunteering in industry you would have to ask them directly for travel expenses rather than volunteering for charities etc who automatically give you travel.

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/HomeAndCommunity/Gettinginvolvedinyourcommunity/Volunteering/DG_064299

But I hope that you find a paid job soon so that you don't have to volunteer! Just don't give up, I think I had to apply for about 300+ jobs just to get a job in a supermarket last year, it's so heart-breaking and soul destroying at times I know, but just keep trying!

I haven't yet started my PhD but when reading through my research council's (NERC) studentship handbook I came accross this:

70. Students can take up to a three-month abeyance of their award to enable them to undertake a work placement (directly related to the students’ training), provided this is well justified and approved in advance by their supervisor and research organisation. The studentship end dates and expected submission dates should be amended on the Je-S SDP to reflect periods of abeyance.

So I think it's possible with some funding bodies, best to check with whoever your own as I'm sure rules differ between them.

I think most universities ask for softbound theses for the examiners for that reason, I don't think it would be a personal comment to yourself! I'm sure your supervisor was just thinking of the expense of getting hardbound copies when you could easily have the odd spelling mistake etc which you wouldn't want in a permanent copy, you can get a hardcopy for yourself once it's been marked! It's easy to get very worried and take things out of proportions when under such stress but I'm sure everything is fine!

It worked this time! :)

Complete, :)

I too tried to fill out this survey last night, it came up with 'use numbers only' (or something to that effect) so I went back and deleted all the 'hours, mins' etc that the survey told me to write but it wouldn't let me resubmit at all. Sorry!

I don't know anything about your subject area but at my interview there was a panel of 5 people (it was a research council funded post) which included two supervisors one head of department, the education officer for the institute and someone from the research council. They each asked a different set of questions, the two sups questions were based on the subject itself so do some research and reading into your subject (which you probably have already done if it is your own proposal). The other questions were things such as 'why do you want to do a PhD?' 'What do you know about the university/organisation/research council', 'How do you cope when things go wrong?' 'How do you get your work known?' etc etc so just be prepared for questions such as those too!

hope that helps a little!

Sorry to hear you didn't get it, but keep trying! It may just be that the person who got it had experience more closely related to that particular topic, or even that they had already worked with the supervisors or something! I know that in job interviews I've often lost out because of an internal applicant not sure if it is the same in PhD land though! I hope you find something else soon don't give up!

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I think I did send an email, a few days after the interview just to say thank you for the opportunity to interview and that I looked forward to the outcome.  I had however been emailing the supervisor for a couple of months before that to ask questions about the studentship, background reading etc and he had invited me to email at any time, so the relationship was already less formal so I guess it depends on the individual situation! I then had to interview for the same project a year later (having gotten the PhD the first time but it not getting the competitive funding) and did the same again with the emailing that time.  In a more formal situation I doubt I would have followed up so quickly!

I mostly use google scholar too as my subject is a bit obscure and so is usually in small independant journals, but when I'm just thinking about the general subject SCOPUS is good as you can easily link to similar subjects and click on the references one paper to go straight to the papers, although not all Uni's have subscription to this (mine didn't until very recently and I was lost without it), I really dislike web of science and tend not to use it!

Hi bibliophilus - The title of the book is 'Succeeding with your Master's dissertation - A step by step handbook' by John Biggam

I got the new version just out this year. It's good, has good examples of what chapters should look like and gives you a good insight into the markers world.

Caro

I'm having similar problems with my MSc dissertation!  I was studying my MSc part-time whilst working full time, and managed to complete all the taught parts easily, however when it came to my dissertation I just ran out of steam, I had to change jobs a few times due to short contracts and was struggling financially and the dissertation just seemed less important then. As it was part time I had two years to do it, and put it off.  Now it's due in July and I have next to nothing done and next to no time to do it and am in a panic! The panic and stress makes it worse as I end up wasting time worrying and not actually doing the work! 

But I'm determined to get this thing done! I'm staring a PhD in October so literally NEED to finish it! Just hope my motivation stays with me!  I think the advice below is great, just do the planning first and the rest will come together easier. I read a masters thesis guide and it really helped me understand what markers look for in a thesis. I can't remember the title but if you want it I'll look for it once i'm home for the day.

Hope this rambling helps a little!

Wow that's a huge difference in fees! I wouldn't have thought RGU would be that expensive if you were from the EU! I'm from Aberdeen and RGU has a good reputation in that it has a high percentage of it's graduates being employed. It does this by doing a lot of placements for many degrees with etc, plus it only offers subjects that are employable, but I don't know anything more about the business degrees. Although being an Aberdeen University Graduate we joke that RGU isn't a 'real' university as it used to be a college until relatively recently, but that's just a bit of friendly rivalry between the unis!

I don't have detailed knowledge of Dundee Uni but I know that it certainly doesn't have a bad reputation! I'd look up Dundee more and find out it's rep for business, but for less than half the price it seems like the best option!