The competition for jobs in academia is becoming stiffer and, with budget cuts, ever smaller yet lots more PhD students seem to be being trained. Academia is only one route after a PhD.

I work in the private sector and would never touch academia with a bargepole now. But having the PhD itself has opened many doors and provided a really useful step ahead. I'm glad I did it and glad I finished it and I had some really, really rough times with it.

Ultimately only you can make that decision whether it's right for you. How long have you been doing your PhD? I wanted to quit mine after my first year, even had the letter written to quit and gave it to my supervisor. Luckily, he was very good and we talked things through and I ended up changing direction into something I'm now quite proud of that was quite interesting and unique. But PhD will be a mix of highs and lows no matter what!

Happy to talk further, little bit wine clouded at the moment :$

Most universities have the facility already if they have difficulties with their supervisor. Whether students choose to use them is up to them.

And this a forum where people come to sound off; majority of PhD students I've come across have got on well with their supervisors.

All boys grammar. Can't say I've ever really thought about it!

Writing a thesis can only be achieved thanks to lots of procrastination. I should know, I was very good at it and still ended up with a PhD :p

To be honest neither stand out in that field so they are probably pretty comparable. Times Rankings are just one set of rankings out of many so don't let that be your criteria to decide.

Exeter is nice but miles from anywhere and not much to do. Loughborough is a quiet place but lots going on and really easy to get to Nottingham, Leicester, Birmingham, London. Plus I used to live there so if it's good enough for DanB, it's good enough for anyone 8-)

I agree with Ephiny - find out how much you could steer it into your own direction if you come across something particularly interesting. The original topic of my PhD and what I ended up with deviated quite a bit as I found a direction I was really, really interested in and my supervisors agreed it would be intellectually interesting. But I was very lucky indeed that I was able to do so, I know some PhDs aren't quite as flexible. Do you feel able to approach the nice supervisor to discuss it?

You'll probably end up giving powerpoint presentations throughout a PhD so it's no harm to do one for this presentation - it's fairly standard format by now. I used powerpoint for a presentation for one PhD i applied for and also for a couple of jobs as well. I would offer to send it to you but I have no idea where it is as it was several years ago now!

I made loads of typos in my thesis and I passed. It's no big deal - at the start of my viva the internal and external each handed me a list they had find and I pointed out some others I'd found and that was the end of it. Seriously, it's nothing to worry about at all.

Yep, I had exactly the same - Professor in the department who didn't get on with my supervisor so wouldn't hesistate to pull apart my work (and his other PhD students' work) in seminars, despite knowing nothing about the area in the slightest. You just have to nod, smile, roll your eyes and not take it personally and understand that there are an awful lot of inflated egos in academia. It's probably got nothing to do with not liking you and more about her own sense of self importance.

When I did both my masters and PhD interviews I was never asked for transcripts in advance. They knew what I was predicted to get (as this was asked on the forms). The PhD came with a conditional offer for my masters overall and my masters, well, I got accepted before my interview (weird, I know!). But I don't think either saw a transcript of grades.

I passed with a big fat zero. As long as your work meets the criteria to be awarded a PhD, it makes no difference.

- Lie in pretty much whenever I wanted

- Working from home pretty much whenever I felt like it

- Sitting around all day in my pyjamas with my laptop semi-watching Jeremy Kyle and Neighbours whilst my simulations were running

- Being able to go into town midweek when not many people about

- Posting endlessly on PGF about lots of rubbish :-x

I'm guessing that your taught element will finish and you'll be doing your dissertation in order to get the full MSc, so correct me if that assumption is wrong.

£6000 budget seems very very high for about 3 months (again, assuming that it's for a dissertation part only) even in London. How are you making the assumption you'll need that much?

Also, do you actually need to be resident at the University to do it? Or could you perhaps do it at a distance and live back with your family?

It varies considerably but don't let it put you off - we had about 300 quid a year but a lot of conferences themselves will offer bursaries and there will usually be university bursaries as well. I went to two conferences that were paid for by the organisers and the rest came out of allowance and a further department bursary.