I've always felt that THE most difficult skill to learn throughout the PhD process is how to handle criticism. I for one can't handle it at all. It always feels like a personal attack on me. it is, as you say, soul destroying. This means that i'm probably not the best person to give advice on this matter (sorry!) but i do know this: it takes a lot of bravery to face up to your fears, doubts and insecurities. By the sound of it, you do have a strategy for getting yourself back on track, even though it's not ideal. So for what it's worth, i think you're doing incredibly well. Chin-up hope you feel better.

This may not address your question specifically, but the institute of biology (IOB) website has a pretty good careers section, try http://www.iob.org/general.asp?section=education_careers/education_iob/careers Click the links on the left, there's plenty there. When i was a biology undergrad, i recall attending a biosciences careers conference organised by the BioSciences Federation (BSF). It was full of info on different careers in biology, and plenty of knowledgable people to answer questions.

I've started bringing in my lunch from home instead of buying food at the canteen/student union shop everyday. In a month, i have saved about 100 pounds.

Thanks for that commonsense. It's good to be reminded of the positives of academia every now and then.

When 'selling yourself' to potential PhD supervisors, focus on the so called 'transferable skills' that you aquired from your computer science degree (E.g. a keen eye for detail; analytical skills; no fear of statistics etc), and explain why this makes you BETTER than an average history graduate.

When my supervisor was doing his PhD (also on snails) he had to do the same thing, so i guess it's pretty normal. Other PhD students i know, who are working on things like Daphnia and fig wasps (also relatively easy to keep in the lab) have to do all their own zoo-keeping unless their supervisor has 'bought' some technician time. it's the same story for people working on plants in the greenhouses, but they have all sorts of automatic watering/feeding systems to help them out. I think the guys who work on mice and wild rodents for cardiovascular and cancer research have full-time animal welfare technicians to do all their ‘dirty’ work.

Hi Blueberry. I am working with snails for my PhD, and because my supervisor never 'bought' any technician time, i have to do all the zoo keeping (cleaning out their containers, replenishing food and so forth) myself. It does eat-up a lot of time (snails are easy to keep, but when you have 80+ of them, all being kept individually it's a real chore) and i can't go away for more than 2 days because there is no one else around to take care of them. I recently had hundreds of snail babies being born, so these days I am spending about 10+ hours a week caring for them.

You still alive, jola? I miss your blog entries.

You are right, it does vary between different unis/people. After my interview, i was told a decision would be made within a week. After a week, i hadn't heard anything, so i sent them an email asking if they had made a decision. They hadn't actually made a decision, but they told me what stage they were at. About a week later, they gave me a final decision.

If they told you they would make their decision over the weekend, you are entitiled to email them and ask (it won't be viewed as pushy or rude). if i were you, i would e-mail them first thing tomorrow morning. Good luck!

You are quite right masters, you don't get into research for the money. But as you get older, money, regretably, does become more of an issue. When you think about everything else that you want out of life (e.g. house, kids, car, regular holidays, becoming a James Bond-style villain etc) your earning power will have a profound affect on all these things.

I'll probably end-up doing a low-paid post-doc because i do love my field of research. I'll just have to keep renting in a houseshare; put-off having kids for the next 20 years; keep driving my Ford Fiesta; not holiday as much as i would like to and settle for being a small-fry mobster.

It's £24K BEFORE tax. I guess the tax is ~20%, I might be wrong (anyone?). I think this means it's a slight pay rise from being a PhD student. But when you consider all the crappy things you have to put up with as a PhD student are made even crappier as a post-doc, the slight pay rise hardly seems worth it.

I'm in biology too, and I have no experience/interest in doing any of the 'more important' research (e.g. medical or industrial) which is better funded. So I fear I will be limited to the post-docs at the lower-end of the pay scale. I'm still seriously considering doing a post-doc, but when i weigh up the advantages and disadvantages, the money is a disadvantage that really puts me off.

no.

That is great news, well done!

It's nothing personal LostinOz! i just don't think it's a good idea to take away the anonymity that makes this forum what it is.

I applied for two. Got turned down for one. Got offered the other (after interview etc). When i was searching for projects, i came across quite a few that interested me, but I decided it was only worth investing the time and effort into applying for projects I was likely to get, given my research interests and experience.