This is a real concern for me, too. I have been with my other half for two and a half years and we have lived together most of that time. I think that living together makes a difference, as even at the moment I am a busy undergrad and he is at the start of his career, and sometimes we feel like we live together but barely see each other. If we both had to make time to even see each other, I can see that it would be a massive strain. I think that it's really cynical to resign yourself to not being able to make a relationship and a PhD-in-progress co-exist, but then I have not started yet!

Could it have been a typo?

Is this a specific application to a position? At the uni I applied to there is a generic "postgraduate study" application form and it has spaces for various aspects of the application that were not relevant in my case.

AnnieG
[Registered User]
11 March 2008 10:03 no, I was googling "completing your dissertation" or something along these lines;)

Was this before you posted on here "where can I purchase a PhD" under an assumed alias? :-P

Best of luck.

That tool is great! But were you googling PhD calculator when you found it???

You could consider

http://www.bioinformatics.ic.ac.uk/wellphd/index.html

for which entry is closed for Oct 08 or the related MRes (it makes up the first year of the four year PhD above) on which there are still places

http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/naturalsciences/courses/pg/ls/bioinformatics

You could also consider http://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/events/Symposium_poster
to get an overview of who's who in the field.

Hi aloevera

I totally understand how you feel. I have been offered (and have accepted) a place on an exciting PhD programme to start this coming October. Competition was fierce and I was certain that my chances were shot after the interview.

I am a final year undergrad at the moment and my grades are good enough but not stellar so I was even more surprised.

I was so worried that I would disappoint (the supervisors) by taking up the place that I went to talk to them. I said that I was so excited by the place that I wasn't going to let my own self-doubt make me turn it down, but that I didn't think that I was good enough so I was putting my faith in their judgement and their selection process. If you have a supervisor (or selection panel) who has (have) supervised other students they will know what to look for at the interview stage. And it is definitely not in their interest to pick a "fraud" who "will not be able to keep up"!

Best of luck.
ejc x

Have you tried having a highlighter (not for a borrowed book!) and/or notepad and pen handy? I find that being able to "do something" - highlight, annotate, make notes, write the odd shopping list - whilst reading makes me feel more in control and less passive and confused.

Do you read hard copies? I find reading off the screen a lot more difficult.

If you didn't have a year out between school and university, then some time out would probably be valuable. If you're doing a 4-year degree, will you graduate with an MSci anyway?

ejc x

Emmie,

Did you take time out before you went to university, or did you go straight from A-levels or equivalent?

Like you, I am hoping to move into a related area (from Biochemistry to Bioinformatics) and when I contacted potential supervisors I got a range of responses, some indicating that a Masters would give me a better background for starting the principle research project.

The solution for me is to apply for "1+3" PhD programs (with a MSc or MRes in the first year), for these I have interviews at the moment. If I don't get a place on one of those I plan to do a Masters and then apply for 3-year Bioinformatics projects.

I don't know if any "1+3"-type studentships exist in Ecology? That could be an option.

Best of luck

ejc x

Thanks olivia and Sim
It is certainly an exciting time for me - and both of you have offered some very sensible advice.
I need to focus on my undergraduate degree for the time being, but I will be back on this forum if all goes to plan
It's nice to have some voices showing enthusiasm, some of my peers on my course raise an eyebrow when I get excited about what I will be working on.
ejc x

I am planning to go straight from UG to PhD training but the studentship is four years and the first year is an MSc plus project so I am hoping that this will give me a chance to develop my knowlege of the specific area. However, I did take two years out between school and my undergraduate degree to work and travel, which I feel helped me gain some perspective on my career aims.
I certainly wouldn't want to go from undergraduate to postgraduate study without having had that break!

Hi eddi (and everyone)

I am new to posting on these forums, although I have been lurking for a while.

I am a final year undergraduate and I have been offered a studentship at the uni I am at to start next October - very exciting

Anyway, in light of this thread I was wondering if anyone has any advice on how to deal with or avoid the feelings that eddi is describing? I understand that in any new job there is an element of anxiety (certainly when I have had new jobs in the past I have experienced this) but I think that there are some aspects that are specific to the PhD student experience.

Any thoughts would be useful.

Best of luck guys...

ejc x