Start soon. Get an idea of what you want to do and start learning some names and some groups which are big in the field. There's no harm in unsolicited "I've read your work on xyz...are you offering any studentships for 2006/7?" emails. The worst they can say is "no". For Microbiol try Bath, UAE, Warwick, Imperial (medical stuff) or KCL (dental/medical stuff).

In my lab, different research groups share the space. We have a rule between the group leaders: "if anyone needs help, anyone can help. if anyone needs a telling off, anyone can tell [them] off". Thus, postdocs can ask BSc project students for help if it's a technique they're unfamiliar with or 1st yr PhD students can shout at me for pinching their Gilson tips. It works a lot more in the other direction. Everyone is an equal on one footing in our lab: we're all able to ask/give advice.

You'd be amazed what some BSc students know how to do that I don't cuz they've done different degrees.

Read lots of abstracts and name drop a bit in the first week till you get up to speed ;o) Rememebing how to read science again after 6 months off is a chore and should be done gradually. Good luck everyone starting this autumn. It's a lot of fun, full of ups and downs...a lot like marriage actually...and after reading what some people do with their theses on this forum it seems like too good an analogy...

Oh how I fondly look back on the same situation! Yes, you can do it, you just need motivation!!! How to get it? Change the location you're working in. Swap your desk for the pub. One pint will do wonders for your imagination. Write scribbley notes longhand on bits of paper in the pub then go home and work from them. You'll look so impressively geeky it'll do wonders for your confidence.

Thankfully most University regulations insist on the use of wipe-clean covers. Now I know why...

Time to stop batting my eyelids at my students I think...

I find Bob's outburst very patronising. But I'll add that over the years it has become obvious how little science they teach in schools thesedays. I've had new PhD students MSc who don't know how to make a 1 Molar solution. That used to be in the GCSE Chemistry "in my day", ditto the "A" Level so everyone took it for granted. Not knowing stuff like that is not the fault of students if they've not been taught it.

....and one last little point from me to Bob. "Knowledge of the real world" gets you knowhere in academia. Believe me, it's an odd world where the blind lead the blind and fools become kings (mixing metaphors). No amount of life experience will get you a grant. Infact, very often, no amount of science will either. Ahhh the ramblings of an embittered academic. Please ignore me, for I jest!

Hi. Im going to the Royal Veterinary College in London. I am also a little nervous and scared.

yes this is possible. Good Luck

Doing mine at Manchester

i'm actually quite scared! I;m scared that it might be alonely process and may not be good enough...i guess everyone has these fears in them!

True. Where you all doing your PhDs? Im at Leeds.

Anyone intersted in reading a really interesting online book of power in academia. I was quite impressed by it and wondered if anyone else could give me their opinion on its relevancy. It's called Tied Power in Higer Education found at ....http://www.uow.edu.au/arts/sts/bmartin/pubs/98tk/

Did you make any efforts yourself to secure funding apart from the promise made by your supervisor? Usually, the destiny of ones PhD is always in ones hands. Please check the net to try your luck. best wishes.

The Sheffield Ski Village is Europe's largest outdoor artificial ski resort and much bigger than anything near Cambridge.