plus you can wear sandals and socks in academia, which are illegal in the courtroom

shani,

yes it was a shock at first being a few years older, but i enjoyed acting 25 again.

i did find it difficult being older than my supervisor though, and had to train them how to supervise me.

and it was a pain not having my work experience recognised at first, but in the world of research it's all about publications and i was a research baby.

how much is that dogg-y in the window...

...the one with the wagg-er-ly tail

what's the point of being a law academic when you can earn ten times more being a lawyer. what motivates them?

have you considered submitting 3 phds. this greatly increases your chance of success.

I fit that category. It was a good mid-career break for me. And now I've finished it's back to industry and a much better job.

At my uni, I would say the age distribution is Normal with a mean of 30 and a standard deviation of 3.

I found I fitted in very well offering worldly advice to the younger students and becoming good colleagues with the staff.

If you're under 40 when you start, don't let that be a reason for hesitation.

offer to buy them a pint, take them down the pub and interview them.

pretend you want to discuss you research proposal as a cover.

thanks rick, i always wondered what that rule was called.

writing theses, papers, etc is an exponential process:

the first 50% takes 10% of the time, and the second 50% takes 90% of the time. The final 10% takes 50% of the time. ie. to make it perfect takes infinite time!

also, no matter how much you re-re-re-read your work, it will have a mistake. i'm sure the psychologists out there have a theory for this? i think it's called the 'law of sod'.

you can try re-reading your work after 5 days, re-reading it after a pint, and asking your super/colleagues to read it.

the answer is a simple one:

do a part-time PhD and keep your RA job.

if you choose some overlap between the two, you'll be able to finish in under 4-5 years.

i would say the average age to start a PhD is around 28, so don't worry about your age.

PS. think carefully about doing a PhD - it is bloody hard and will drive you mad, will tie you up for 5 years, normal people will think you're weird, but you may get a few £K more salary.

with my looks, i'm much more likely to make money mathematically modelling than fashion modelling.

Far more important than our research, who's going to win BB and who's the most stupid?

I wonder what BB full of PhD students would be like !!

Year 1 is a walk in the park. It's years 2+3(+4) that give you permanent head damage. Prepare yourself for twice the workload.

Well done though. Passing the viva at the end is how you feel now x10, so worth working hard for. Keep it up. Keep smiling.

this sounds quite normal.....you need to earn their respect.

PS. are there shower facilities at honolulu airport?

Supervisors are some of the most giving human beings around I've found. And they work crazy hours under high pressure for low salary.

PhD supervisors, unlike undergrad tutors, mustn't be hand holders as they're encouraging their students to be independent.

By year 3, you should be able to publish and carry out research totally independently without any supervisory help.

My supervisor is now a great friend, and we laugh about those early PhD days