Have you tried broadening your options in other ways? Like maybe going for a part time one with teaching /RA work involved to part fund?

I agree with ToL - have you looked into possible problems with your application/proposal/references/interview technique? How about feedback from interviews?

Please pm me if I don't reply to a post!

Haha! I googled to find out what "Awaiting recommendation" means, and this is what came up. I read it with interest and felt informed. Then scrolled back up to see who the original poster was who asked the question and it was me! Two years ago and I had completely forgotten the answer to my own question.

Thomus please ignore my recent response. That was actually referring to my SECOND paper (which I am still awaiting the outcome for). I don't think it took long for them to get back to me last time when it changed to awaiting recommendation. Maybe a few days.

I'm so sorry - I didn't see this till now. I still don't have a final decision, but I've just checked and it has now changed to "Awaiting recommendation", so I guess I find out their decision soon. I submitted it on 30th Nov if that's of any help.

I didn't do that much. My first year felt really aimless. Thankfully we had to write a continuation report - so I read papers for that. Not really any more than for any other assignment though.

Thanks Meep. I've looked at something like that and found it quite expensive. But maybe I will do better looking nearer the time.

Thanks ToL. I'm a bit fussy and really would prefer a studio to myself (which may be why I'm having difficulties). I may give it a month or so and then include rooms in my search, as well as asking the supervisor there to drop an email around.

So sorry to hear this. Agree with the others. Don't leave it much longer (once you've done it you'll wish you'd done it sooner). Another opportunity will open up.

It is good that you got that screenshot. I was on an appeals panel where the student claimed something had not been entered on the system and the two senior staff members claimed it had been and print screened it showing it was there. The student insisted it wasn't there before. The tech man explained that things could be added without an audit trail - so the student couldn't be proved right/wrong. The student didn't have evidence so they accepted the word of the two senior member of staff.

Hi there

Has anyone here travelled to the US for a short time (e.g., a month) on a study visit? I am having some difficulty securing accommodation, and wondered if maybe cause it just for a single month that I am after I should wait till nearer the time (it's not till May). But then I don't want to leave it so late that I can't find anywhere at all!

If you have a similar experience please let me know.

Thanks
Tudor.

I am not at this stage of my thesis yet. But I would treat it the same as I do any other piece of academic writing (e.g., undergrad dissertation, masters thesis, paper) and go through each reference section by section ticking it off to make sure it really was relevant/that I meant to include it. Often I remove the low quality ones when doing this too, as I prefer quality rather than quality (apart from in those cases where there isn't much done on a topic and you need to cite all you can that is out there). I agree that you need to do this yourself, as by going through the process you will actually be refreshing and reorganising things in your brain, and feel a lot more confident at the end of it than if there was someone else who could do it for you and say yep, they're all fine. You could use the activity as part of your viva prep.

Ps. I hope I finish writing in good time like you have!

Yes, that's a good thing to go on - if you've never had issues raised about your manner of greeting before then must be a pretty good sign that it's OK! : )

Yep, there's family, then there's the family you choose, and then there's the family your family choose... !

I've just reread and think I sound a bit aggressive (I've felt a bit like that lately!). Just carry on as you are would probably be the more assertive and grown up approach : )

He does seem to have some sort of chip on his shoulder then. I know someone like this too actually - a family member (by blood!). It is very challenging because he will often criticize and say "you should do x", "you shouldn't say it like that", "you should have done so and so", about things similar to this. And we have to put him right about it by saying "no, it is perfectly fine that so and so said X...". It is annoying.

I guess you could say Hello in an exaggerated manner and bow down to his feet saying "is everything ok your highness? Did I say it on time? Are you happy to respond to my greeting, was everything in order?". But then that would just cause trouble with your sister so probably better not to! It might be worth just not bothering to initiate much conversation with him beyond that initial hello though. Otherwise it will just always be the same - you doing all the hard work to initiate and maintain a conversation (and probably being criticized for what you say afterwards).

What does your sister think about the idea of who says hello first? She would be the ideal person to put him in his place on it!

That is so true - certainly a possibility. For some reason, when I was picturing it, I imagined that there was some sort of conflict between Tree of Life and this person, and that this person was therefore refusing to be the first one to say Hi. I guess it depends entirely on the circumstances. It was very jumping to conclusions for me to say they were "being a twit". Reminds me actually of a situation with someone I know. People thought he was cold and aloof and that he thought he was "cool". But actually he was very shy - they just didn't know this.