When you do so well at soemthing there is tremendous pressure and expectation to do as well again the next time. But ti doesn't always work like that. It can be very hard to live up to your own success!

Let yourself off the hook. You got a first and that's great. There are alsorts of reason why that might not be happening this time but put that compeletely aside. Your focus now is on passing and everything else is gravy. If you've got your data, 9 weeks is definitely enough time to write your dissertation. Make yourself a daily timetable for progress and just take it one day at a time.

Jouri - I feel very similar with a small change: 'What I found more challenging is the total ''lack of feedback'' and insecurity for such a prolonged period of time.'

Agree Olivia - the biggest test is in self-organisation and drive. I could never have been this disciplined in my 20s. I salute all those who are so much younger and have that kind of ability.

The fact is it varies a lot for many reasons. I worked much longer hours for my masters and I think a lot of people found the one year courses very intense. I certainly couldn't keep that up for 3 years. The PhD varies much more. You go into your topic in more depth so there maybe parts that are more challenging. And you have to sustain motivation and interst over a long time - and that can be very challenging. I've never worked all night. I did it the night before my masters was submitted. But I think if you really have to organise your time better you usually can - and with a young child, I really have to. I can't work all night then get up her up at 7 am and take her to the park the next morning. I don't know anyone who works through the night and believe me, my colleagues work pretty dam hard.
I think it really is different to a masters though. You can do just about anything for just a year.

Doing an unappealing PhD is not a good choice for the sake of an income (and a very poor income at that).

If your head of dept agrees with you then you are probably accurate in your assessment. In my experience, this kind of situation is not uncommon in a lab project, where it is difficult to maintain boundaries wrt what is yours alone. Unfortunately it is also common to be asked to do a lot of stuff for the lab or your sup that is not really part of your project. I have seen some really extreme cases of this and one friend complained to the university and is in the very tortuous proces of extracting enough data from her now ex-sup to complete her PhD. I'd like to tell you that you can improve her behaviour but unfortunately that is not my experience - it's either put up and shut up or move on.

That is tough. In my case we were all told our position on the list and updated as the list moved. I knew that I was at a position that meant I would be offered either very late or not at all.

Did the research office give you any answer at all? Would they take you off the other list if you accept this one or allow you to stay on it - surely they can at least tell you that? It's espeically rough when it's the same university - don't want to annoy people (I'm somewhat torn between two depts myself). But this must surely happen quite often.

I had the same thought as pamw. In my dept these things are usually a free for all and nobody thinks about inviting anyone. You just go along if you hear about it. Sometimes someone will think to mass email about drinks, many times they don't. When these things are not really organised by anyone in particular then they tend to be like this.

Can you approach the other dept, explain your situation and ask when you will hear their final answer and some idea of how likely you are to move up the list? Not exactly sure what kind of reserve list you are on (is everyone on the list in reserve - or are you waiting for people further up the list to go elsewhere/drop out?). I was on a reserve list for funding and unfortunately that can mean a final decision comes relatively late (it was mid-Sep for me ..eek!).

I assume you are not in science and applying for advertised positions. In which case, I don't think you need a detailed proposal but one or more potential research topics/questions would be good. These should be a good fit with your potential dept/supervisor and you probably won't need to talk about this until the interview.

This isn't always easy to judge. I had a few topics to suggest, but the one my supervisor wanted was not one I had planned to talk to him about as I had no idea it was an area he was interested in getting into.

You will need a more detailed proposal to apply for funding, but you should have a potential supervisor by that time, so that can wait.

I would take the one with most cash including extras like travel etc. But I thought you weren't technically allowed to hold two offers. I'm university funded and it's only given if you cannot get other funding having proved that you applied for it. So I'm surprised you actually have the choice - I would ahve thought your uni would insist you took council funding.

Of course, uni funding is superior

Yup tortellini - we're going with a bunch of families - there will be a trillion kids and not much rest! We just had my daughter's 3rd birthday party

I think it would be very wrong to imply that a self-funded PhD is in any way second-best. Some topics are rarely if ever funded and there be no alternative. But it is misleading to say that you have found the secret to success in finding a PhD place as this is not the real problem. The bigger problem is funding - and that is what most people who post about struggling to get a place are worried about.

I tend to agree with PC. It's not so much that the PhD is more intellectually challanging than the masters - but it's a much tougher slog, alone, through the mud, without a compass, on hard rations - get the picture?

Actually I thought my MPhil was pretty intense - the PhD has ebbed and flowed over the years (maybe more for me than most people). The MPhil was an a totally new field for me. I worked a lot more intensely for that than I have for this. I guess the last months (hmm aren't these the last months come to think of it?) will get prety intense (i.e. panic-stricken).

Yes, we're going to France for a week in August. Haven't told my supervisor. Haven't seen him in months and he won't notice.

Maybe because it ticks louder, earlier - and some men don't seem to have a clock...