Yay! Congratulations, LilDrScareAll ;-)

Same here, Bilbo :-)

My only upgrade was after 12 months (ie. from MPhil to PhD) so I can't help I'm afraid. Good Luck though :-)

hiya... i'vw done my materials and methods - one of my co-sups has seen it but not my main. they still need to see everything else - :-( results, intro, everything else. You get the idea... :-(

So... I'm 3 years and nearly 3 months in. I need to finish my thesis etc. I have no confidence whatsoever. Everything I write feels like it's total rubbish. I want to submit and get a job... :'( I'm drunk right now :'(

Congratulations!!! But surely you deserve your own thread for that? :p;-)

You'll be fine :-) Good Luck!!! (up)

Uni regulations said I could take 5 weeks a year. I took 3 weeks in 3 years, and some days here and there, plus time over Xmas as uni was closed anyway!

Yep. Would you like it? :-)

Is there a minimum? I started in 2006 on £12000 (and stayed on it for 3 years). £1000 seems perfectly normal to me :-)

Hiya Harry,

Seeing as you're in Biomed sciences, I think you could very well have a chance of securing a PhD even without a masters. A masters would increase your chances though, I assume. If I were you, I wouldn't give up and would keep applying for PhDs - some labs have positions available all year round so you could well find something you want to do at this time of year! However, if you have the funds for a masters you might as well apply for them too - what have you got to lose? Doing a masters will probably increase your chances, increase your lab experience and confidence as well as maybe giving you a better idea of what you want to research for your PhD. Don't worry about this being "an important year" because it probably isn't - I started my PhD straight after undergrad, but plenty of people here didn't.
Anywyays, I think you should just keep applying for PhDs, but applying for some masters prgrammes as a backup probably isn't a bad idea :-) Don't give up! :-)

You're not necessarily exempt. At my uni, there was an agreement with the local council that overtime students (i.e. 4th year writing up students) were exempt. This changed in August 2009, and overtime students are no longer exempt. Which is nice of them :-(

My first few weeks consisted of doing lots and lots of reading and being shown experimental techniques. I guess it depends on what field you're in though! :-)

I can't help, but just wanted to say hello as I am in the same position, and in the same sort of area (my undergrad was in neuroscience, PhD is more cell biology). I seem to find several positions however never fit many of the criteria! :(

I'm not applying for jobs yet as I've barely started writing up (oops). Just thought I'd say hello though! All the best for the job search :)