Hey Londoner! The musuem world is tough, but with enough experience and academic qualifications it is posisble to make it. This is why I am going to do my PhD part-time (also due to funding) and volunteer/paid employment whilst studying so that when I graduate I will have a strong all round c.v. Something worth thinking about ....

I've read posts referring to high drop out rates on doctoral courses. I wonder if anybody had an clue of what percentage this was? Obviously people might drop out for a whole variety of reasons (personal, financial, research problems etc) but I would be interested to know from your experiences of other people or yourselves dropping out what are the key contributors....I haven't even started out yet and I'm already having the 'what if my rsearch hits a brick wall' nightmare!

Some curators are fortunate enough to get their position with an undergaduate and a masters and experience, so you could probably be a curator of anthropology without a PhD, but in terms of research papers and knowledge this kind of qualification would be a marketable commodity.

I did an MA in Museum Studies recently, and this has not qualified me for a curatorial post straight away. If this was a post I wanted to take I would need more experience...in your example a curator of anthropology at a university or national museum would probably have a PhD in Anthropology, and perhaps an additional qualification in museum studies at a later point.

I am starting a PhD in september to compliment my MA and prepare me for (with hope!) an academic career/ museum career.

Hope that helps a bit. I'm a bit concerned about the high drop out rates people are mentioning! Makes me panic a little!!!

Halls are great...damn right I took full advantage of the 'free' heating and hot water during the winter months! (two showers a day, more if bored (lol) and the radiator at a toasty maximum temp)

Sigh..so warm

Anyway, yes...the bed bug guy didn't turn up (curses) so I have vacated to the living room and have ordered chemical killer.

Blood sucking vampires....your days are numbered!

Lamb....chris....

Good news about the funding! You'll be fine. When I started my MA I meta student who had come from the Channel Islands with her suitcase and registration forms....she spent the induction week in a b & b and spare time phoning house shares and seeing ad's in the free papers. It may sound (and probably is stressful) but can be done, esp. if you are going to uni in a large town or city. At least you can be reassured that you have your funding (almost) sorted. That is the hardest part!

...and most people are in the same boat: I enjoyed the whole process more than at undergraduate...that was just scary! What funding confirmation are you waiting for?

I moved into halls two days before starting my MA, and friends on the course moved into shared houses at a similar time: nobody arrives that early, I'm lucky in that I already live in the city I'm going to study in. Good luck finding accomodation!

I spent this weekend painting the bedroom with the boyfriend. The room looks great: nice and clean and decluttered just in time for the inevitable deluge of paperwork and phd mess that I will accumulate in September. The movement of the furniture appears to have woken up dormant bed bugs from god knows when....and they ate me (and not the boyfriend...picky clearly!) alive....so much so that I bled over the new bed linen (grrrrrrrrrrrrrr. So after trapping a few...I fled downstairs to the sofa bed to lick (proverbial) and scratch (literal) my wounds. sob.

Now I'm spending my day off wearing a goatskin shirt, dragging myself on my knees to Manchester Cathedral. I feel so Medieval.

Anyway, hope this story of woe cheers some people up!

Also, congratulations on getting funding!

If you are a UK or EU (or EEA student) then your fees will be normally around £3,500 a year (some subjects have bench fees as well). An international student would pay more in fees (but £10,000 a year does sound very high!). If it were say £3,500, the £12,000 would be tax free so you would have £8,500 to live on: nor rich by any means, but enough to live a modest living. You might be able to supplement it by teaching or by part time work, but most funding comes with a limit to how much paid work you can take on.

Nimrod,

It sounds like you have yourself a place there. At least, at my university the department decides whether they want you and then informs the academic registry of their decision. You'll probably get a letter and all the associated info in the post shortly. What do other people think?

Thanks everybody!

I emailed my university and they are only interested in either paying a year up front or the first installment and handing over bank details. So, yay!! A weight of my mind: I am in a very similar situation to you Mia, lol.

Thank you. I think you sound right. It would be a bit unfair to want to see all the ££££ at once! I wrote the best funding application that I could, so can only hope for the best now: please like my idea research panel!! Anyway, I can always do it part-time for a year and then apply again for full time funding.

Unless I get funding from the AHRC I will be doing a PhD part-time whilst working. I'll have saved the fees for one year 06/07 but obviously will earn the subsequent years whilst working. So in essence, I can't prove that I can afford upfront the costs of my course through the entire duration. I hiope this doesn't prove a problem at registration. Has anybody had an experience of this?