Hey! I don't think choosing to live by yourself will necessarily result in you being lonely. I stayed in the same city for my PhD but my mates all left at the end of our MSc so I had to start making new pals. I live with another girl (we met when we were looking round the flat we are now renting, and she had just moved here so didn't know anyone). To start with we hung out together quite a lot but after a few months we had our own gangs of friends and whilst we get on with each other quite well, we don't really hang out together much now aside from watching DVDs together! And to be honest, whilst at first I used to miss her company when she's away (she goes on quite a lot of trips abroad), I kinda like having the space now and would quite like a place to myself. So personally I wouldn't be put off having your own place- you will have to make a bit of an effort to get to know people in the department and through other avenues, but give it a bit of time and you will soon build up a network of friends. There will be other students in the same boat as you so maybe take the initiative and organise a night out for new students or something. Some people on the forum will say that work and pleasure don't mix, but my two best buddies are on the same team as me at work and it doesn't cause any problems at all- it just means I have a good work life and a good social life as well! And to be honest, I took the gamble of living with someone I didn't know and it has worked out okay- but it is a gamble. The last thing you need when starting off is living with someone you really can't stand! Good luck with it! KB

Hey there! I'm not sure I can give you any specific advice, but I am in a large department with about 80 PhD students, and at a guess I'd say between a third and a half are international students, so whilst it is competitive, it isn't impossible. What subject are you in? For some subjects I believe it is difficult to get funding even if you are British, whilst for other subjects it's a lot less competitive. A lot of international students in our department are funded by the department itself, so it might be worth seeing whether there is any funding going there. And then the usual commonwealth scholarships etc. I am funded by a scholarship which was open to anyone who had previously studied any subject at any university in the country, and although it was a rather random scholarship I just stumbled upon, I got lucky with it, so it's worth persevering. There should be someone in the department you will be joining who can advise you on possible sources of funding (at least there is in our department) so perhaps you can find out who that is and drop them an email? Good luck with it, KB

Hey Zipidee! I think on the forum most people tend to post when they need support or have a problem, but I think a lot of people also find upsides to their PhDs too! Personally, I'm nearly at the end of second year and I love my PhD- choosing to do what I'm doing was the best decision I've ever made! Sure, I have had the odd stressful period and whinged about it on here, but this has been massively outweighed by the good experiences. I love my topic and really enjoy working with people with Alzheimer's. I really enjoy writing papers and my first publication in particular felt like a great achievement. I have a really supportive and helpful supervisor (although sometimes I feel she does expect a bit too much of me!), and am part of a fantastic team in a great department, where I hope to stay after my PhD. I also feel a lot more confident in my abilities now- a lot of people have commented on how much more confident I am in general so I think this has transferred to other aspects of my life as well. There is honestly very little I would change about my PhD experience- I think the key things are to choose a topic that you are passionate about and to have a good supervisor. I think there will always be some stresses, because it is a steep learning curve, but I know a lot of folk who are really enjoying their PhDs, so you should start off feeling positive and not worry too much about the potential downsides unless you come across them! Best of luck with it, KB

Hey CONGRATS! I had a friend who had to resubmit and he was so devastated at the time but he has also recently been awarded his PhD. So I guess perseverence is the key! Well done you- hope you now have time to put your feet up for a bit! KB

Hey there Prettypollicy! I think what you're feeling at the moment is quite common for people trying to balance work and study and aiming high in both. Although I have never been in the position of balancing both at the same time I do have bipolar and know how hard it can be to stay on an even keel with so much stress surrounding your daily activities. My meds also cause me problems (I don't think there are any side-effect-free meds for bipolar!) and I have had to develop a routine that allows me to cope with this and to be productive. Is it not possible to reduce your hours at work at all? The last thing you need is to end up getting ill- I have had to drop out of uni and re-start several times in the past before I got my condition under control- and it takes a lot of patience and perseverence to do it. On the plus side my insight into mental illness has been beneficial to me in terms of my PhD subject (in clinical psychology), so there is a silver lining around the dark cloud of bipolar. What are you hoping to study at PhD? And don't beat yourself up about about finding it difficult and feeling as though you should be coping better (or others would be coping better)- we all need to vent from time to time and this is partly what this forum's for! Best, KB

Hey Sneaks, my supervisor has recommended that I do my PhD by publication, although not all of her students are doing it this way. She reckons that I should get stuff published as I go along because she 'likes my writing style', is confident that we can get the papers published, and says there's no point in writing stuff up for my thesis and then writing it up again for publication at a later date (which I completely agree with). Apparently all that is required is 3 publications, but I already have three papers submitted (two accepted so far and one under review still) and am aiming for four results papers and a discussion paper on top of this (I'm currently working on the first 2 results papers). I will be first author on all of these, with my sup second. However, I did speak to my chairperson last week who was really happy about what I am doing, but did say that basically I am doing enough for 2 PhDs, so certainly this number of publications is not required. But basically I will write an introduction section and a discussion section and put all of the publications in between- or at least that's the plan. By the time I am writing up it is unlikely that all of the papers will be published or in press, but they should at least all be submitted. I think it's a really good way to do a PhD if you enjoy writing papers, and especially if you want to get a post-doc. My chairperson said based on what she has seen of my work I should have no problems getting a post-doc afterwards, which is encouraging but I am still well aware of how tough it is and am not banking on it being easy to find something. Still, the publications will help! Best, KB

Hey! Yeah, I have used KB (submitted) to reference a paper that is currently under review in a paper I am writing at the moment and will soon be submitting for publication- my sup says that's fine. I have also seen other people reference as KB (manuscript in preparation) to ref a paper that hasn't actually yet been submitted. Just be careful though when it comes to actually submitting papers for publication- I was browsing through some journal websites the other day trying to decide where to submit the next paper to and a couple of journals actually stated that they didn't accept references for work that was 'submitted'.But if it's just going on your CV then I think it's fine to do the (submitted) thing! Good luck! KB

Hey Natassia! I really don't think you have anything to worry about- if they wanted a merit or whatever then I'm pretty sure they would have told you. If it just says a masters then as long as you pass you should be fine. I suppose if you didn't pass they might want you to re-take the modules you failed or something, but given all you have had to deal with this year I imagine you would get special consideration at the exam board meeting anyway. If you were competing for funding or whatever then it would be more important to get the merit, but because you're self-funding you don't have to worry about the competition or anything like that, and they have already offered you the place anyway. If you really are worried then perhaps you could just ask about whether a pass would be acceptable, just to put your mind at rest. But I honestly don't think you have anything to worry about. So try to stop stressing and have some time to chill out before your PhD starts! Best, KB

Crikey, I wouldn't be too happy with this! I barely feel confident teaching undergrads as a second year PhD student, I certainly wouldn't have done when I was an undergrad. It doesn't sound right to me, I don't see how an average second year undergrad can have enough knowledge and experience to teach/mark someone in the year below, unless they have some other background that makes them more suitable. Some of our undergrads have even complained that they have PhD students running their seminars and want 'proper' members of staff! KB

Hey! This sounds like such an awful situation. I agree, you have nothing to lose by taking this further and putting in some sort of complaint. Do you have an appointed chairperson you can speak to about it, or a director of PhD studies or something? We were always told that our chairperson was there to deal with any situations that might crop up with supervisors. And as the others have said, keep a record of everything, it will be hard to argue with. And even 4 times per year seems inadequate to me- I'm in second year and see my primary sup every month or so for formal supervision but also have a lot of informal contact with her as well since we are in adjacent offices. I have noticed though, I have just had my forms through for my June review today and they come with a second confidential form for you to say how often you are receiving supervision and whether you feel it is enough- it seems like the universities are trying to tighten up on the inconsistencies in this sort of thing. I know qualifications aren't everything and don't always guarantee suitability for a PhD etc, but I'm sure with your grades to date you are perfectly capable of producing PhD-level work with the appropriate support etc, so you are right to put up a fight for your PhD. It sounds like it has been one mess-up after another on the part of your supervisors so I would act on it- the sooner the better. Good luck with it and let us know how you get on. Best, KB

It depends what it is. Sometimes I like to do paper plans by hand, I don't know why really. I used to make notes on all the papers I read by hand as well, but the problem is that I am left-handed and hold my pen in a really strange position, which makes me an incredibly slow writer, and of course I smudge everything I have just written! So I do pretty much everything on the computer now, it's just easier and much quicker for me than writing! KB

Hey guys, thanks soooo much for all of your ideas! I'm not so sure about the pole-dancing thing (a nightclub we went to not long ago had a free-for-all pole for dancing on/around and it was a fairly disastrous experience!) but aside from that I reckon there are lots of things I can try to get some more smiles out of her. Have done all the usual things like chocolate and wine and funny dvds and chats and stuff, so it's great to have some more imaginative things to do! Cheers all, Best, KB (up)

Hey all! I have a really good friend who's having a really rough time at the moment. Unfortunately there's nothing any of us can do about the situation she's in (I won't elaborate for the sake of anonymity!) but she needs a bit of cheering up. I've gone through all of the usuals and need new ideas! I know it's a kind of personal thing, but what cheers you up when you're a bit down? Cheers people, she's an awesome friend and needs as many smiles as possible right now! Best, KB

Hi Ms2010! For your PhD it is better to go to a department who specialise more closely in what you want to study and who have appropriate supervisors for you, rather than just shooting for one because you like the name of it. Of course it looks good if your PhD is from a good university, but it's very different than worrying about where to go for your undergrad degree, where you tend to be judged pretty much just on your degree classification and where it was from. For your PhD you will be judged on the work and publications you produce, and who you have worked alongside rather than the university you went to. I left a top uni in the UK to study at a uni with a fairly average reputation overall, but the specific department I am in is excellent, and is ranked alongside all of the top unis in the RAE assessments, including Oxbridge. If you want to do well, then you need to be working in a good department, with the leaders in the field and people who will supervise you well, so you should make your selection based on the department rather than the university. I have never regretted my decision to leave my old uni to come to this one- it is absolutely the perfect place for me to study what I'm doing, and I hope to stay on here after my PhD. So bear that in mind- the best place for you to do your PhD might not be at one of the best universities overall! KB

Hmmm, this is a tricky one and policies seem to very from uni to uni. On my first 3 papers I have gone on as first author and my primary sup as second author. On the first paper she did make a lot of suggestions etc, although it was all written by me. On the second and third papers she has read through several drafts and made comments, but again I did all the writing and put the ideas together. But I am more than happy to have her as second author- I appreciate her expertise and guidance and she has spent a lot of time giving me detailed feedback. And she is a really big name in the field, so it is actually rather nice to have her name next to mine and to be associated with her! My second sup hasn't gone on any of the papers- I did ask my primary sup if I should put my second sup down as third author, and her response was 'well, has he had any input whatsoever? No, so he doesn't go on'. She did say that he could go on the results papers I am working on as he has helped out with recruitment. Having said that, there is some strange rivalry thing going on between my sups, so my primary probably doesn't want to contribute to my second sup's list of publications anyway! To be honest, as long as you are first author, I wouldn't stress too much about having your sup's name down after yours. One of my pals wrote a paper and the sup insisted on being first author, which I did think was unfair, but there we go! Best, KB