That's the spirit! ;)

If you're worried about the diplomacy content then go to SOAS. I know people who've done undergrad there and they worked hard but still had plenty of fun! I realise an MA will be harder but if it's the course you want then I think you'd regret not doing it.. Also would being based in London be helpful for making contacts etc? I don't know, just a thought..

its the eating of pickle sandwiches of course ...doh what else

An interesting question as rather similar to my own position. Excuse me for asking, but which universities are you referring to?

I agree with kas. I did a phone interview ~week ago. Although you can have cheat sheets with you and all...you don't feel much in control as you can't read body language (which would guide you a lot), you can't connect and if accents play poker on you, you can't read lips. Worse if you are in Africa like me, connectivity might me an issue. They gave the slot to someone they'd seen face-to-face and none of us who'd been 'seen' on phone!

...I initially found her very hard to work with, she is somewhat obsessive and in the early days would go away and complete work we were supposed to do together. After a while I went to the supervisors and said I wasn’t happy and wanted to be made more separate. Now we have individual meetings and rarely talk to each other. I feel she is making more progress and is getting more support.

Has anyone had a similar experience? Is this a common thing or was the whole setup always doomed ??

I would love to hear from you.

I am at the end of my first year and it has been a real struggle for me….

Another PhD student started at exactly the same time as me, working on the same project. We are both funded in the same way and initially no distinction was made between us. We both have the same 2 supervisors (one is my primary supervisor and the other is hers). We always had meetings with 4 of us, us 2 students and the 2 supervisors. I think the plan was for us to drift apart in our work gradually over time...

I really advice you to go for SOAS.It is one on the top unis in the uk.Leed is the 41st in the gardian top universities but SOAS is one of the top 5.

From my own experience, face to face interview has a lot of advantages, interaction is very important. it also depends on the type of the research u doing. Researchers in marketing for example use a lot of telephone interviews.

Walking into your viva...! ;o)

Aw...poor Wickid :o( When will you next see him?

lol

I think it goes nice with a Pimms. mmmmmm

I don't think so!

There is no worse part. What you on?!