I start my PhD on the 3rd of October too! I'm moving 500 miles to get there too, still doesn't feel real yet though even though my supervisor has sent me a programme of my first day!

Good luck for your first day too =)

I think the stipends are staying the same for the foreseeable future, I'm just about to start my research council funded PhD and my letter clearly says that I'll be getting £13,590 for all three years.  But I guess pretty much all people working are having the same so it's not just PhD students that will be starving!

Oh and I was planning on keeping any extra money in a savings account as a nest egg in case of running over the three years or have to wait a while to find a job which looks likely! 

I can't imagine they only want a CV with no cover letter, this seems a bit odd.  I would include a cover letter even if it is not asked for, and in that you can say why you want to do the project and why you are suited and your research interests. The CV stick to a standard academic type as Ady says and definitely include your employment history, every job shows that you have some skills for example time keeping, project management, reliability etc. 

I would keep the education section as just an overall grade, a list of subjects studied and a description of your undergrad project.  You can add a skills section at some point and list all your relevant skills with examples, like computing skills, lab/research skills etc.

That's jusy my suggestions though, there are other ways to do it.

Good luck

It may have just been that they were being tough on your to test your passion for the PhD and subject. Perhaps by suggesting the MSc they were testing your commitment to the project?

It doesn't sound like it was a bad interview at all, it seems you answered most of the questions, they shouldn't expect you to answer everything as I doubt anyone can answer every question in an interview. It's perfectly fine to say you don't know something! So I would just wait and see what the outcome is, you must be a good candidate to be offered an interview so you shouldn't feel inadequate.

I hope you hear soon!

I couldn't get it either, sorry :-(

It may be that the HR department at the Uni have delayed things, they often do! Please don't stress too much, these things often overun as the Supervisors may be a bit over-enthusiastic about the amount of time all the paperwork will take.

Perhaps on Monday you can send a quick email thanking them for interviewing you and very nicely asking if the decision has been made yet?

Good luck and try to do something to take your mind off of it over the weekend.

I got it, if you PM me your email I'll send it through.

Caro

I'd say go meet friends for coffee/dinner/drinks etc I always find listening to other people talk about their lives distracts me from my problems! I'm not sure if you're working/studying at the moment but doing some work is always a good distraction. Or if all else fails read a book or just watch cheesy tv or films!

hope you're not kept waiting too long!

Caro

I think it depends if you have been in email contact with them already.  I was in email contact with my supervisor before my interview as I asked for reading materials etc. So after the interview I'd emailed him to say thank you for interviewing me and he got back to me about a week after the interview to say I'd been picked but they were waiting for funding decisions which could take weeks.  Officially he shouldn't have told me anything in which case I would have had to wait almost a month which was when I got the official University email!

But if they said a week maybe wait until Monday to email them as then it'll be over a week!  They will email you either way though!

Hope that makes some sense!

Hello, I'm also just about to start and have research council funding (Although I'm pretty sure it's £13,560 per annum for everyone with research council funding unless you're in London?).  It seems to depend on how your university decide to pay you, it's usually quarterly (every 3 months) or monthly and it will be an equal amount they will give you for each payment. The University should have sent you a letter by now explaining when they will pay you, if not ring the secretaries up and ask.

Bank accounts is another matter, I think Banks are all pretty much the same, I have a Lloyds account and have never had any problems but I think the banks are all pretty equal so just go with whoever offer you a good deal when you get to the UK. you can always change if you don't like them.

As for the account I think just a standard Current Account is what you will need, that is the type of account that your money will be paid into and you can take money out of easily.  You can also open a savings account which will have more interest (not very much more in this financial climate!) but they are usually slightly harder to take money out of, and you don't necessarily need one unless you really need to save (I guess it would be good for saving for flights back home though?). I hope that makes some sense at least!

Caro

Hello, just to add as Skig says most voluntary jobs pay for travel costs, and if it's a charity which cannot afford to pay you, often the Job Centre will pay it, my friend did it this way when he was unemployed and so was never out of pocket for volunteering.  I think some larger organisations also give you money for your lunch.

Although as you said getting little jobs don't help, my friend also got a job helping out cleaning at a church just to keep himself busy and was getting paid for the two hours, but then they took all his benefits away because of this - he now voluntarily does the cleaning instead.  So much for the government encouraging people to work when they punish you for working part time!

Anyway that was a bit of a tangent, I've been unemployed recently too and it is so disheartening, I ended up working in a supermarket for 5 months before I found something actually in my field and even that was temporary, but it has to be done sometimes just to keep afloat.  They say you have to apply for at least 50 jobs to get one interview now, and probably about 150 at least before you get a job, so you are definitely not a failure, many other people are going through the same problems. So just keep on applying, perhaps get someone else to look at your CV and covering letters, as you are not in a positive mind set at the moment this might be reflecting on how confident you sound on paper without you realising. 

I hope that you find something soon and I'm sure you will! Good luck =)

Hi Lauren, if you do a search on this forum you will find loads of previous posts about this, including mine. 

The interviewers could ask you anything from talking about your honours project to a specific about the PhD topic.

You will most likely be asked 'why do you want to do a PhD' 'What do you think is involved in a PhD' 'how do you get your research across to a wider audience' and other similar things, so practice answers to those types of questions, and read up about the PhD topic as much as you can although they won't expect you to be an expert yet. Basically show you have interest and enthusiasm and that you understand that a PhD is a very tough thing to do but you are ready for the challenge. 

I had four people interviewing me for mine and they all asked questions, but nothing was too scary and it was more like a chat really.

Good luck!

If it helps my part-time PhD was at a uni technically 300 miles away, I only had to go there for 8 weekends a year to get taught courses and the rest was at home. I think it was quite topic-specific but perhaps there is a Universitiy offering distance courses in your topic?

You're talking as if 30 is old, it's not! I'm closer to 30 than 20 and I so will technically be a 'mature' student. I think most supervisors prefer students that are more mature as they know they will actually have some life experience and know how to work hard! Reading this forum people have done their PhD's at all ages, and I know science PhD students tend to be younger but I think that is just because there are a lack of mature students in science!

And remember you don't need to be an expert in the PhD topic before you start it, you just need an interest and some enthusiasm. You'll become an expert later!

=)

Sorry to hear that! But don't let it get you down, as said most people apply for loads of PhD's before getting one, I applied for about five and only got one interview even though I had relevant work experience and the needed qualifications. If it's what you really want keep trying!

Perhaps you could consider sending in your own research proposal to potential supervisors to start next year? Although I had a friend who did this and even though she had the grades and the supervisor was keen he told her she had to get an MSc to get considered for funding... it's a tough world out there just now! She did get the funding in the end though (in fact she got to choose from two funding types!) so there is hope!

Or perhaps consider a part-time masters where you can work along side it to pay it? That's what I ended up doing as I couldn't afford a straight off masters, although it has taken me longer than I'd hoped it all worked out in the end.

Hope you have some luck soon!

Caro

Hi Tina, I'm in a similar situation, except that my supervisor refuses to give any input on stats/data analysis and I've handed two drafts to him when I only get three lines of text in an email back basically telling me to re-write the entire thing! But with no specific input into what is good/bad! Argh!

But you do have time, get help with your stats or find a book in the library that goes through everything step by step, I did that, and my stats only took me a couple hours (after about 4-5 hours working out how to do them). Although I still have no idea if what I have done is any good!

By the sounds of it you're almost done with the rest of it, any maybe these new stats won't change the results much and it will just be a quick changeover!

Good luck with the stats!

Caro