Any opinion on doing a PhD at UMIST, how good is it's reputation

(sorry, i meant jay not kay!)

good point kay. my supervisor is also a big yawn, but she's also a good rock. I know that once she's said something she's gonna stick to it, not like the flighty young flipperty-gibbet supervisors that some of my peers are lumped with!

I agree, it is a lottery. I've applied for at least 10 funded PhDs this year, for which I am more than qualified - 1st class degree and 2 years post grad research experience, but have had no luck. I would also consider myself to be a fairly 'nice' person, which doesn't seem to be any use to me.

It's all seeming a little pointless. If I'm not successful in the PhD lottery, I'll need to win the National Lottery to do a masters, just so that I can wheedll my way into a desirable department.

Someone told me that if you quit a PhD. half way through, you could never do another one. Is this true???

I did my degree at Bradford and went on to do an MSc at another institution and consequently am now applying for PhD positions. Although I loved my time at bradford, made loads of great friends i`m not missing it at all! The univeristy is great its just a shame its located in Bradford! I guess it`s one of those things that you dont realise till you go somewhere else and can compare them.

"Be aware that in Germany it's not like the Kindergarten it is here, so you will have to be really independent. That has its positive and negative sides. Your education in Britain will be better, but you essentially don't do really any original work." <- what a load of rubbsih!!!!!

I am passionate about research, that's why i want to be a doctor. Also so that when at the theatre and someone shouts "is there a doctor in the house" i can put my hand up. I'm sure that me having PhD in potato pests will be comforting to any heart attack patient.

Does anyone know if it's possible to call oneself a surgeon because i'm a dab-hand at dissecting potato fly?

i'm winning!

I've been asked some really random questions in phd interviews. Like 'what is the most important recent development in science?'

I want to study marine nematodes, which is very interesting, but hardly 'important' when compared to cancer research, AIDS research, and other BIG issues affecting humanity!

I was caught off balance by that question...!

I should have thought about whether i'd really enjoy being supervised by an old fuddy-duddy. Although my supervisor is one of the best in his field and he's genuinely a lovely lovely person, he is so boring!!! I don't for one minute regret studying with him, but it'd be nice if he was a bit more engaging to be with!

There seems to be many PhD-students contributing to this site, some of them happy with their choice, others not so satisfied. If you could name one thing you wished you'd thought more about before choosing your project, what would it be? I'm trying to make the right decision, and any advice would be very helpful.

If you wish to do a masters in bioinformatics i would suggest to do an MRes. In UK there are many universities like Imperial,york leeds glasgow and brunel that have such degrees with an integrated placement project.
It would be best to chose the ones that have statistics modules as well- they are more prefered by employers.
hope that helps!

A "career development loan" would be available for master students. They are offerd by high street banks eg barclay's .

A final word: Anyone considering doing a PhD in Germany should make sure that they can definately secure funding for a minimum of 3 years, especially given the state of the German economy at the moment.