Hmmm, my personal favourites are a bit more subject specific...when I say I study psychology/clinical psychology I usually get a response along the signs of 'ooooh, can you tell what I'm thinking?' or 'oh, we need a counsellor in my family' or 'oh, so you understand body language then?'. That used to infuriate me given that I was spending all of my time studying the biology of mental illness or examining brain scans or doing horribly complicated statistics or something. In fact, after a particularly patronising comment from my flatmate I once went through an episode of leaving my textbooks lying open on the most complicated looking pages as if to 'prove' that I wasn't doing a 'soft' subject! Sad, I know, but most people really don't know what psychology involves and it infuriates me at times when they assume it's something really bullshitty! Anyway, rant over lol! Best, KB

It really is difficult to say- a lot of the research councils are having to tighten their belts and I know the ESRC have gone from approx a 25% success rate to about 11% in just 2 years or so for major projects just because of the financial situation. Personally I put in the same PhD proposal to three different funding sources- One never received my application as it got lost in the post (my own fault, I should have sent it by recorded delivery!) but both of the other sources offered to fund my first choice PhD, so I was really lucky. I agree that your best chance is probably departmental funding-a lot of people in my department are funded by the school itself, and these are mainly people who did their MSc here so the uni know that thhey have a good track record etc and they have had a chance to form a relationship with their supervisor too. Good luck with it, KB

Hi Eska! I always struggle with this one. I googled it a while ago and got hold of some document that says you use 'which' if it is simply giving more detail, but 'that' if it actually narrows down or restricts what the object or point of the sentence is. I don't think it's to do with singular or plural, just to do with whether it's an additional detail, or one that actually narrows down what you are saying by giving more essential information. To be honest, I just tend to use the one that 'sounds right' and my supervisor rarely corrects me! Best, KB

Hey Nevyn, I don't see why not- I'm in a psychology department and we have plenty of research assistants and PhD students here who are international students. Do you have a psychology background, i.e. BSc, MSc etc? For psychology most places will ask for an MSc with a significant research component to be considered for a PhD, or alternatively a BSc and research assistant post but then a lot of research assistant posts also go to people with MScs. So if you don't have an MSc, that might be the way to go. If you do one that is officially registered as a research degree then that might help, and then if you still can't get a PhD then a year or two as a research assistant can often lead to a fully funded PhD- I've seen that happen plenty of times in our department! Good luck with it! KB

Hey Guy, I really feel for you...it must be soul-destroying to get do far, want to get it over with and then still have uncertainty hanging over you. I was always told that major revisions was still a pass, and it was the dreaded revise and resubmit that could still end in a fail/MPhil. Perhaps it is different at different unis. I think the fact that you don't need another viva is encouraging. I had a friend get a revise and resubmit a year or so ago (completely unexpected by him and his supervisors) and he resubmitted and had graduated just last month, so it can certainly be done! And four hours sounds horrific. I did hear a rumour in our department that vivas were going to be limited to two hours in the future, but I don't know how much truth there is in that! Either way, you haven't failed or been given an M-Phil, which must mean that the content and potential for a PhD is there, so do your best to keep going and I'm sure you will get there. Best wishes, KB

Hey there! It is very tough to get funding for psychology and the social sciences. There are about 70 PhD students in our department (psychology) and I don't know any with less than a 2.1 and an MSc, and there are a lot with 1sts and distinctions. I think with a 2.2 your best way in might be to get a research assistant position first, then when you have impressed your colleagues they might agree to help you apply for a PhD. One of my pals has a 2.2 and a pass at MSc and she couldn't get onto a psychology PhD, but after two years as an RA, her supervisor (very big name in the field) has agreed to apply for funding for her. So that might be the way to go- I doubt it is anythig to do with your nationality etc- it just really is tough to get the funding right now! Best of luck with it! KB

I would go with the best supervisor/research group over the university every time! I left a top university with an average department to an average uni that are top in the country for my subject and world-renowned! I have never had regrets! My supervisor is fantastic (the (95% of the time she isn't being a psycho!) and has hundreds of publications and the group I work with are great, and producing really great work. I think the most important things are that your supervisor is well known and has a good reputation and that you get some good publications out of your PhD, if you want to make progress in academia! And of course you want to be in a place where you will be able to live happily- it's definitely worth bearing your happiness in mind! Best, KB

Awww, that's awesome, there are loads of folk off here I'd love to meet! I'm in the North-West though, so a good bit away from London! But if anyone fancies a trip, let me know! KB

Hey there! I don't know anyone doing a maths PhD, but I do have two friends in different subjects doing fully-funded PhDs with 2.2s and a pass at MSc level, and they're doing fine! I'm not saying it's easy, but if you are self-funded then you are less likely to have a problem with finding a supervisor etc. Good luck with it! KB

Hey! Personally I would just cite whatever is most relevant, I certainly don't worry about impact factors when I cite work, although obviously if it's a journal article I prefer it to be peer-reviewed. Even if a journal has a low impact factor, that's based on every article in the journal- you can have a journal with a really low impact factor but with an article that has been cited 100s of times! So I wouldn't worry about it- sometimes people publish really good pieces of work in journals with lower impact factors just because they are in a rush to get it accepted and in print and some of the really top journals actually take longer! Or they might want it to reach a really specific readership or something. There are all sorts of reasons people might apply to lower impact journals- it doesn't mean their article is rubbish! Best, KB

Hey Orgiv! If it works for you then stick with it! I never really knew much about meditation and mindfulness techniques, but there are quite a lot of mindfulness practitioners and researchers at my university, so I went on a 12- week mindfulness course last year, just to see what all the hype was about. Personally, it didn't do a lot for me- I tried really hard and did my hour of practice every day, but it actually caused my well-being to deteriorate for a while, just down to a long standing trauma issue I have which was excacerbated by the meditation. But there were about 20 people on the course and the vast majority really felt that they had benefited from it, whether it was stress levels, depression, chronic pain, or just getting a different perspective on life. And I myself did gain some benefits from it, even though it was recommended that I didn't continue, which I didn't. For me an hour's hard exercise works wonders! But more and more people are trying it and finding it really useful- one thing I would say is it's probably best to go on a course to get you started if you haven't already- I think it would be pretty difficult to learn from a book or a CD, and belonging to a group in itself has benefits! So if it helps, stick with it! Good luck, KB

I would aim high! If it doesn't get accepted, you can just send it elsewhere. For my first paper my sup suggested the best journal in the field, which had an impact factor of 7. I didn't think it had a chance in hell of getting accepted, but after a revise and resubmit, it did! But aside from that journal, many of the journals in my field (aging/dementia) only have an impact factor of 1 or 2, a few in the 3-4 range. I think the more specific you get, the lower the impact factor. My papers following the first were submitted to journals with much lower impact factors, i.e. 1-3, but all the top people in the field (including my sup) publish in them, so if it's good enough for them it's more than good enough for me! I wouldn't worry too much about the impact factor- any publication looks good on the CV, so I would just go for it! My first publication will probably end up being the highlight of my career lol, but I wouldn't get too caught up on the impact factor thing! Best, KB

Oooooh yeah, I get this really badly and have been known to fall asleep at my desk over a paper several times! Like you, I'm fine if I'm doing other things like testing participants and writing papers etc, but reading sends me straight to sleep! I just try to save it for the time of day i'm less sleepy, and occasionally swallow a couple of caffeine pills (Pro-plus) to keep me going! I'm not saying this is the best solution, but I don't drink tea or coffee so Pro-plus does help me out with the caffeine boost now and again, but I don't make a habit of it! Best, KB

Well, only one of them does Slizor! Seriously guys, thanks for making me laugh! Even though I know she is the one being crazy here I still have a tendency to take these things to heart and worry about upsetting people, so it's reassuring to read your comments. I did almost send a hoax email to her at midnight tonight but thought better of it after some deliberation! Honestly, and I'm the one with the psychiatric diagnosis?!!!! Best, KB