Thanks Hazyjane- and small removals- good call! I forgot I once used such a firm and they were great- and cheap. I may try them or another small removal firm again.

As for flatshares, I'm lucky as I already have friends in the city and my new labmates seem really nice so I'm not worried about being lonely. Maybe I shouldn't rule out flatshares but I like being able to switch off when I get home and I like choosing when I can be with people and when I can be alone. I don't think I could go back to having flatmates again, plus I'm not the best person to live with myself!

Thanks again for the advice, I'll get this sorted somehow but I can't wait until it's out of the way!

Thanks BugBoi- I should have added: my parents aren't around anymore and I have no family in the UK I can rely on to look after my stuff and help me move bit by bit- the only option is do do it all in one go. I should be able to do it but the main problem is getting the timing right- securing a flat before I have to move out of my current one, and getting the keys before I can get my stuff delivered. The window in which I can do all of this could be just a few weeks! I'm sure I'll manage and I'll cross every bridge as I come to it...

======= Date Modified 17 Sep 2011 12:21:48 =======
Thanks Cinderella! I've got an MRC studentship so the PhD is fully-funded with a decent stipend. Looking at prices I see I could easily afford a one-bedroom flat (and I'm wondering why I've been paying inflated London prices to live in this dirty stresspit of a city!). I was just worried as I'd been warned that some agents just don't want to get involved when they hear the word "student". I've seen a few ads for flats that "would suit a mature student" but I know some agents also think students are naive and try and offload their worst accommodation on them- I've been there with my BSc!

I've had problems with estate agents before (and found they won't protect you if the landlord turns out to be dodgy- they lose all interest once they've got your signature) but more problems from dodgy private landlords. My current landlord here in London is actually really good and I'm wary of ending up with one half as bad as the two I had before him! Maybe I was just unlucky but I've been stung over the return of the damage deposit before and I'm far from alone there. Mind you this was before the Tenants Deposit Scheme came in so hopefully it won't happen again.

With estate agents I've had a few deals fall through at the last minute, leaving me high and dry- in London that wasn't so bad, with a move of a few hundred miles it would be a disaster! I just need to get those keys in my hand ASAP.

I joined Facebook a few months into my MSc- as someone posted in their welcome message on my wall it was indeed a "peer pressure victory"- I joined because I was missing out on a lot of social events and study group-type things which were announced to the MSc's own Facebook group. I'm also a member of a few science-related groups on there- I found it more useful than Nature Network, and I'm still not tempted to use LinkedIn.

Facebook turned out to be useful and I'm still on it now, but still pretty reluctantly. Someone else also posted "you'll be addicted to this!" on my wall but that definitely hasn't happened. I have about 100 friends on there and I know them all personally- I don't add anyone as a friend unless we've actually met. I also have my privacy settings up pretty high and seeing how much I could hide, and that I could prevent people tagging me in photos, stop strangers sending me messages etc I was somewhat reassured.

======= Date Modified 17 Sep 2011 11:42:29 =======
I finally got a PhD offer this week, just when I thought that it would never happen and just before I hit the big 3-0! First I would like to thank you guys for the advice and reassurance that it would happen for me eventually.

Now the good news is starting to sink in I need some advice on moving to a new city. After all my attempts to emigrate and join the predicted Brain Drain I ended up finding the perfect project at a UK university, albeit one at the other end of the country.

While I'm happy at the prospect of being hundreds of miles from London I'm not sure how to go about the move as I'll have just a few weeks to sort it. As a mature student I've had time to amass a few possessions- I've sold a lot of my stuff and there isn't much left, but there are some big things like framed pictures, lamps and furniture. I still have far too little to fill a removal van, but too much for a car, and I can't drive! I guess I need a wo/man with a van but do they do long trips? Would it be easier/cheaper/actually possible to pack a few cases and get the rest of my stuff shipped there?

Oh yes, and I also need to find a flat at short notice- in the past I've only moved within London so popping between my house, estate agents and viewings has been easy. I'm anticipating booking some appointments ahead of staying in a B&B for a week while I go to the viewings. The uni have been as helpful as they can and have given me a big list of recommended estate agents, but would Gumtree be better? I'll also need a flat to myself- I'm long past the point where living with other students is bearable.

Finally, I've read stories about PhD students getting turned down when agents hear that word "student" and assume they've got no money. I'm also worried that I have no-one to name as a guarantor- none of my family or friends own property.

Any advice? I'm not sure where to start, and as I've also got to sort out everything with the PhD itself the whole thing's a bit daunting!

======= Date Modified 17 Sep 2011 11:09:58 =======
Not getting stressed out is easier said than done! I've had a PI take over a month to get back to me with a rejection, and this week a PI told me the (good) news just two hours after the interview, but as I had *really* wanted the project those two hours were even more excruciating than the month of waiting I had before- I had spent them trying not to analyse the events of the day, and wondering what I could do to take my mind off the whole thing! There is also another PI I'm still waiting to hear from after almost two months- long enough for me to have found a place elsewhere!

Like BugBoi it was fifth time lucky for me- I had four interviews before, leading to three rejections and a reserve list place. I also submitted some writing tests to a PI based overseas, so maybe it was sixth time lucky, but in any case I got an offer just when I thought it would never happen- and just shy of my 30th birthday, which was a huge relief. Until this week I had been wondering why I kept tormenting myself by applying for things and getting my hopes up only to be let down. In the end I just found the right project, lab and supervisor (at least it seems that way, I hope it all works out!) and my perseverance paid off.

Often no amount of reassurance can do any good. Hearing people who aren't in the same boat (or are no longer in it) just telling you to persevere and avoid getting stressed out can just be really frustrating and have the opposite of the intended effect- just look around your local jobcentre to see this in action! I found the PhD search frustrating and demoralising but ultimately it was worth it.

I hope this has helped somehow, if not feel free to scream at your monitor! Good luck and I hope it works out for you, if it doesn't this time then it will eventually.

======= Date Modified 04 Sep 2011 17:39:39 =======
======= Date Modified 04 Sep 2011 17:39:19 =======

GSM: I would try not to take the credit issue too personally. It could be that at your age you simply don't have much of a credit history at all- never mind that it's good, credit providers can be overly cautious, most even more so now the banks have seen where offering sub-prime mortgages got them. It is also possible to have too good a credit history- though they'll rarely admit it, lenders like to take on more "profitable" customers. Asking for a guarantor for a flat is standard practise, and thanks to this whole credit crunch thing we're having even people with well-paid jobs are struggling to get credit. Just be happy you're not trying to get a mortgage in this climate...

The "real job" thing is something that I, as an older aspiring PhD student who has had several "real jobs", find hard to relate to. I've just gone from working on a fascinating and fulfilling MSc lab project with an amazing supervisor who gave me a great deal of autonomy and confindence in myself as an independent researcher to a blistering dull call centre job where that my confidence is being sapped by bosses who micromanage the staff to within an inch of our lives. The pay also isn't that great, and unlike a PhD student I have to pay income tax, council tax, and national insurance, and with the rising costs of food and energy what I have left doesn't go very far. Again you should consider yourself lucky here: your fellow classmates will be struggling over the shortage of graduate jobs and having the same problems as you, only to a greater extent because they won't have your tax-free £14,000 and three years of job security, or the chance of a much better-paid postdoc job at the end of it.

As for relying on your parents, you're not alone here- with rising house prices and rents and static salaries more people are finding they have to wait a little longer to become financially independent. I'd suggest you swallow your pride a little and accept any help your parents offer you- again you're lucky to have that option- and in three years' time you can get them something nice out of your first postdoc paycheque. Maybe buy yourself something nice too- a holiday or a spa break- as a little treat before the work starts. It's normal to feel anxious over the huge commitment that is choosing the PhD route but if you've survived on £5,000 you can survive a PhD. Good luck with it!

The MD-to-PhD route seems pretty popular in Germany and there are institutions which even encourgage it and run dedicated programmes for medical graduates. Many researchers opting for this route then combine basic research with clinical research. I'm afraid I can't add anything to that, this is just something I've observed when applying to PhD programmes in Germany, but perhaps you should look at your options there.

I've been led to believe that it was always best to mention other applications, interviews and especially offers. A candidate with offers elsewhere and insititutions competing to take them on will always look good, and making the supervisor aware of your other offers can give you a bit more bargaining power- a supervisor may make you an offer more quickly rather than dithering over their choice of candidate if they know another supervisor also has you in their sights.

That's what I was told by my MSc supervisor anyway, and he was on the PhD selection panel for my old department so he knew their selection criteria. When I got interviewed for that programme myself the interview panel asked me if I had applied elsewhere, and when I told them I had been invited to an interview week for a competitive international programme at an overseas institution they seemed impressed. Still only made the reserve list though, so I may have it all wrong here!

Right now I'm applying mainly to overseas institutions and I think that shows that I'm serious about emigrating for my PhD, and prepared to make the commitment. I've had three interviews so far, despite (or partly because of?) naming the other institutions on the application form.

Also saying "no" to the question "have you applied elsewhere?" would suggest a lack of flexibility and scope, while sounding frankly dishonest- surely you'd be expected to have applied elsewhere?

Remember that academia is also very gossipy and PIs can be surprisingly well-connected- a friend of mine is starting a PhD after her new PI phoned up her old one. I've applied for two PhDs in the same institute and both PIs are bound to know about this as they work together, but I think it just shows that I really want to go to that particular institute and that I feel the lab's focus is particularly close to my interests.

Any other thoughts? I'm not trying to be overly critical here, I'm just surprised to see people viewing applications elsewhere as something which could be seen in a bad light.

I read a study into electrosensitivity- perceived sensitivity to mobile phone signals, wifi, etc. The study used real and sham mobile phone signals to see if participants really were sensitive to the signals as they claimed to be, or if electrosensitivity was a made-up illness. A follow-up study was carried out and drop-outs included one man who had apparently moved to a remote part of the country where he could no longer be contacted by phone...

During my MSc I actually had the opposite problem: people stealing stuff from our lab! I never had to beg, borrow or steal anything but this was probably because we were using a relatively cheap model organism, and I learned that this really does make a difference as it frees up a lot of money for other things. By contrast the mouse people seemed to be constantly sending circular emails round the department asking if anyone had a reagent, enzyme or antibody that they could have a bit of.

Funding is a factor and I'm told that as younger supervisors tend to have less of it their students find they have greater financial constraints when planning work. Mine was young but got around the limited funding by not doing mouse work. However, working on animal models other than mice seems to affect the chances of being published in a good journal, so it's definitely something to think about. Ideally I'd go for a two-model system- zebrafish, chick, xenopus for testing out ideas quickly and cheaply, and mouse for looking into any positive results a bit more and getting data the better journals will consider publishing... actually, my best bet would be to go for a ridiculously well-funded lab but those are thin on the ground these days ;) Seriously, work on non-rodents has its benefits and it could be something to look into.

======= Date Modified 29 May 2011 00:47:24 =======
======= Date Modified 29 May 2011 00:38:07 =======
I'm in a similar position: I had always wanted to be a life scientist, but after completing my BSc (and being awarded a 2:2) I had to admit I hadn't really enjoyed it much and felt burnt-out. I was in desperate need to get out and do something- *anything*- else for a while, and so I began a career break, working in media but with the intention to return to science one day. After six years I found the time was right and I did an MSc, which I enjoyed and appreciated a million times more than my BSc. The research project in particular went amazingly well and convinced me that the life of an academic research scientist was definitely for me...

...but by this point I was 29. After struggling to get on a PhD programme in the UK, and being advised that my 2:2 may have been holding me back, I began applying to programmes in Germany (where a Masters degree is necessary and the MSc grade counts for more), and being dismayed to see many had age limits of 30. When I managed to get invited to an interview week for a very competitive programme there one group leader expressed concern about my age, and said fewer postdoc opportunities may be open to me if I got my PhD in my mid-thirties- in Germany, at least. I didn't get that PhD as none of the projects turned out to be entirely suitable for me (though I passed the interview stage) but I'm wondering if getting that invite was a fluke and a one-off. I have another problem as I'm female, and while I don't want children I'm worried some group leaders will assume that I do, and that I haven't got much time left to find a PhD project.

I'm starting to feel hopeless: working in academic research is all I want to do now and the idea of abandoning my plans and returning to my previous career in media genuinely fills me with dread. Was my plan to return to science ill-thought-out? Should I start to consider alternatives?

======= Date Modified 30 Apr 2011 23:05:23 =======
To me this all sounds depressingly and worryingly familiar: I had a similar situation when I was with a guy who was a bit of a frustrated academic. Despite not having a degree he had done very well for himself and was earning more than me but he seemed to feel a bit threatened by me with my qualifications and ambitions for a research career and was constantly belittling me and trying to put me in my place. When I told him the news that I'd got onto my first choice of MSc he seemed physically incapable of saying "congratulations", and instead told me "that's nice for you, I'd love to go to university if I could afford it". That was the final straw and I finished with him shortly afterwards.

He later confessed to a friend that he had found me intimidating... but that was his problem, not mine. I didn't need someone attempting to erode my confidence while I was on a very demanding and intensive course, and as you're doing a PhD I imagine you're a thousand times more exasperated than I was. I'm guessing he's feeling emasculated right now but taking it out on you is uncalled for- it's the 21st century, men can do care work and women can be academics and no-one should have a problem with that. You seem to be a very supportive girlfriend, does your boyfriend appreciate how hard a PhD is and give you the support you need in return? Maybe you should be more demanding. I don't want to judge too harshly without knowing all the facts but he sounds very immature and having been through a similar experience myself I know how destructive all these putdowns, competitiveness and other insecure behaviour can be. I'm single now but experiencing a sense of deja vu whenever I meet a seemingly nice guy and he asks "so, what do you do?"- for some guys, a woman saying "I'm studying neuroscience" seems to bring out a weird desire to take her down a peg or two. Next time I should just lie and say I do care work ;)

Good luck with sorting things out, I hope it's just a phase he's going through and that things get better for you.

Congrats... and which campus will you be based at? I did my BSc at QMUL and was based in Mile End and Whitechapel for most of it. London's East End has less of a housing shortage than most places so you shouldn't find it too hard, the only problem is the gentrification of the area putting prices up in recent years. Just stay away from Hoxton and Shroreditch if you need somewhere cheap, and avoid the estate agents Felicity J Lord- I've rented two flats from them and they were useless when I needed help getting my deposit back from their two dodgy landlords.

I've never tried one of these but they look fun, and like a good idea- kind of like speed-dating for flatmates:

http://www.flatnightfever.co.uk/