Thanks Olivia

I reckon they only hear a fraction of what you say anyway. This guy only really responds to bullet points, written or verbal...

to reply to the comment that supervisors don't feel as much for your PhD as you do. Yes, I concur, however (especially in the sciences) they have a lot riding on your success rate - their progression is linked to this - and, contrary to many posters belief's, a lot of supervisors do care about their pastoral duties and are affected by your life problems - it does impact on them as well!! A happy student is a good student. Unfortunately, the good experiences and good parctice of the MAJORITY

CONTD... of supervisors is not reported on this forum.... They are not all out to get you. But remember, a PhD is not a right. It is something that must be earned. Not just through hard work, but by intellectual vigour, stamina and the ability to defend your work in the context of the wider field. You are lucky to have this opportunity. It is up to you to maximise it!

It's not the MAJORITY of the grad students I've ever known, frankly.

This is why I do think people do need to investigate departments a bit before starting. In the social sciences if your department isn't fully accredited with the ESRC then it tends to mean a) the dept decided not to make the extensive efforts needed into creating an ESRC acceptable PhD programme including methods training etc. Nothing wrong with this - it might be a fantastic undergrad teaching place but it suggests that PhD students are not viewed as central to what they want to do.

Or b) they lost recognition, which means almost inevitably that there's large numbers of embittered PhD students who are way beyond the usual registration time, (some of whom should have been helped after year 1 to write up for an MPhil because the PhD wasn't for them but were allowed to continue), because the dept is rubbish at monitoring progress and sorting out supervision probs. This tends to lead to an institutionalised climate of PhD misery and low standards all round.

The reverse is also true in some places. Where I am, it is often taken for granted that grad students and junior academics will just soldier on and do whatever it takes, no matter what. There are a few casualties but the general culture is that if you're any good, you don't need supervision. It's not always like this - but it happens a lot - too much.

Hi
Re: Accreditation
Yes, it's interesting that my department hasn't got 1+3 accreditation, but just +3.
That means they haven't yet felt they've got a Masters worth much, but that the PhD programme is good, I presume.
So it seems that the PhD students occasionally have an ESRC Masters, but just as often have an unrecognised one, or none at all. I wonder if my dept will go for the full shebang, given time? I must snoop.

My potential supervisor's a good enough bloke. Doesn't suffer fools gladly and pretty busy, so only seems to respond to e-mails when he can tell he's REALLY needed. But I've got used to him...

???? How can you find out if your department/faculty has ESRC ratings and if so what they are? I know this sounds like a daft question, but I haven't any idea how to find out--and this after trying to search around on the ESRC homepage.

http://www.esrc.ac.uk/ESRCInfoCentre/opportunities/postgraduate/eligibleoutlets/index.aspx?ComponentId=297&SourcePageId=1312

This is where I went. Put in either institution or subject. I think the top rating is 5*.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

Note - ESRC have very stringent criteria regarding topic areas - some depts (like mine) are not accredited because of this - and not because of problems with research ranking etc.

Well that must be true because although we have +3 recognition, we only got 3a in the last RAE.
Maybe try multiplying the scores on each dimension to get a single score for your department....

Not to be a total idiot on this, but how do I find out what the ranking of a department is? Like the RAE 5 or 5*...is this awarded by the ESRC or some other body, and is this ranking in any way linked to the ESRC +3 or 1+3 awards? Sooooo confusing.....not that this has a lot of relevance to me at this stage in the game, but just curious. And a good diversion from the Chapter Structure Irritation Syndrome.

The ranking is awarded by an independent gov review. You know when your dept is being reviewed because everyone runs about digging out paperwork and demanding to know every footnote and comment that anyone connected with the dept has ever published anywhere.

Wow--I just found the RAE website, looking at the new stuff for RAE 2008. It looks like brand new rankings are due out on 18 December for all universities, and that the rankings scores and etc have all been changed.

This is all doing my head in.