I agree 100% with you stressed. I got mine out of the way last year and done very well but a friend of mine who was waiting for AHRC news got a really poor mark (by his standards). Luckily he got the funding but if he'd have been unlucky and had to have applied this year failure in his dissertation would have hindered his chances of funding! Its all a little ironic really how the AHRC is a barrier to academic achievement in so many ways.

At least the postal vigil can resume in the morning... hurrah!

For everyone still waiting it might be helpful to consider the following:
The last day that post would have been sent from the AHRC is Friday. Due to the bank holiday these will arrive on Tuesday as everything is sent second class, saving the AHRC a grand total of £300! Nothing sent from Saturday - Monday = next post sent (theoretically) on Tuesday, not arriving until Thursday. So this week you can expect results on Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday.

Brilliant! Thanks Pamplemousse I can arrange cognitive therapy sessions for Wednesday's now!
Been thinking about the AHRC's economy drive on postage - they're actually saving more than £300 because the fat A4 'happy' packs are now extinct. Mmmm maybe a saving of £600??? That makes a difference... NOT!!!!

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I think you'll find its more than that GoingNuts - the pretty shiny blue books are not longer produced either - hmmmmm saving of maybe 2-3K??? nice little mini-scholarship there..... giz a scholarship AHRC... lol lol

Will think of you in your therapy session on Wed - is your therapist good? I could do with one to convince me that I'm not a worthless loser and just not good enough.... lol. Sigh, my poor ickle brain is completely mashed - destroyed and trampled upon by the AHRC - bless their cottons!

He! He! We should work for Royal Mail Stressed! We could finish work by midday (as a postie) then do our PhD work in the afternoon! We'd be bloody knackered after 3 years and probably drop dead with exhaustion, but hey you'd get a Dr.on our headstone! Oh and AHRC applicants would get their post early because WE CARE!!!

The cognitive therapy is definetely something I'm considering, think I might need it as I suffer from shaky confidence syndrome. Ironically everyone thinks I'm a confident person - over compensating for the lack of self-belief I suppose???. You suffer in silence though, and I don't think this is a good thing - not with 3 years of PhD graft ahead of you!

Hey maybe we could become Olmypians???? I see funding opportunities ahead with 2012 coming. I'm going for gold in procrastination and postman stalking. On the last one however I see fierce competition!!!

PS. Stressed - you're not a loser, the AHRC are the losers because they will never be able to take credit for the brilliant work you are going to produce!

Thanks walminskipeas that's really kind of you. I will more than consider it, after all a nervous breakdown is hardly condusive to producing a great PhD!

Awww thanks GoingNuts :-) Hmmmm yes, a life as a postie is calling - agree about the exhaustion though! I know exactly what you mean about shaky confidence - the one thing my sup is always ticking me off for is that - I just don't have any. You'd have thought with a first class BA, dist level so far on the MA, that I'd begin to trust myself, but i'm still convinced I just don't have what it takes and that I'm cr*p - not helped by the AHRC lol!;-) He keeps telling me that I am THE expert in my field and I just look at him like he's totally nuts! Ok, so maybe I am - but only cos nobody else has researched it lol lol lol lol.
Hmmm, maybe there is something in this cognitive behaviour stuff, I'll have a look at the link. As you say, a nervous breakdown is simply not conducive to ending up with the headstone with Dr on it! I'm more likely to end up with - oh so close but no cigar lol lol lol. Damn that, I want to be able to stick my hand up when the questino goes out as to whether there is a doctor on board!

STILL nothing my end. Really very bored by the whole circus now. Still, where there's life there's hope.

Oh heck, this wait is just crazy!! You must be going nuts now :-(

Hey guys, thanks for the congratulations. I'm so sorry for you people still waiting. It makes me really angry that we're being put through this time and time again. I really have my fingers crossed for you all that you'll hear soon (not that that's any comfort). Despite having heard, I still can't leave this forum alone. Rooting for you all!

Pallas, I forgot to congratulate you! I am so pleased for you! :-)

Stressed, it's awful isn't it? Especially when in all likelihood it will be a rejection - so to wait this long for bad news is so draining. Mentally and now physically as I am exhausted! But still - it's got to come at some point.

Miss Hopeful, stay hopeful!! You may well be one of the lucky ones - there's been so many damned rejections that there simply HAVE to be some more awards out there somewhere ;-) It ain't over til the fat monkey sings hon, and he isn't singing yet 8-)

I got it!!!! I'm over the moon as you would expect.

Despite surviving the massacre of 2008 I still think we deserved better treatment than we've had. Not every one is lucky (there is a fair element of this involved!!!) but the process of informing people of the outcome of their application is shabby at best! I will continue to be around to share in everyone's good/bad news and offer support and congratulations where appropriate.

All the best to everyone - I don't know what I'd have done without you all. xxxx