Ethics applications are a nightmare, even with the new 'improved' IRAS system. It's like it's actually designed to make you miss things/misunderstand. Whatever you do, try to avoid multicentre studies or the kind that require you to additionally get ECC (formerly PIAG) approval. The latter requires you to specify who will fulfil various roles, and when you seek clarification as to what these roles actually are, and what some of their jargon means, they don't seem to have much clearer ideas than you.

I feel your pain.

I'm not sure it's possible. The PGCE involves placements in schools, which obviously you wouldn't be able to do online. I may be wrong, but I don't think it would work, sorry.

It has a name?!?

I just thought it was called 'being HazyJane'.

*looks both ways to see if anyone is about to find her out*

I had the same problem yesterday using Firefox, but today I have no problem using the home page via IE on a different computer. Try clearing your browser cache and see if that sorts it, or using a different browser.

Never having been fortunate enough to gather enough data to write a paper, I was nonetheless under the impression that there was nothing wrong in writing papers using data from your thesis.

You shouldn't, of course, re-use data in more than one paper, but given that the chances of the wider community reading your thesis are, alas, slim, I think it's permissible to rebrand the data for a wider audience. You'd have to rewrite the text, but that's good practice for adapting to another audience anyway. Certainly there seems to be no problem incorporating data from your own papers into a thesis, so I can't see why there would be an objection the other way around.

Just to add that I may be among the ranks of the PhD dropouts, but I wouldn't advocate it as a path for everyone. I really do think that the first thing to do is to talk to the people supporting your project, and see if any of the problems are fixable. In my case the number of people I could talk to was limited, and the problems could not, in my view, be fixed. But things might be different for you.

My 2.1 from a Russell Group university got me accepted for a PhD, a research assistant post and an MSc (yes, in that strange order)! There is always the risk that if two candidates are otherwise equal, the one with the first might get the offer. But otherwise I think that degree class is only one of the important factors - others being personal statement, interview performance and experience. A little 'weakness' in one area (and a 2.1 isn't exactly weak!) shouldn't thwart your plans.

Sorry to hear about your situation.

My experiences can be found on this thread: http://www.postgraduateforum.com/threadViewer.aspx?TID=11485
(bottom of page 1)

Maybe we should have a whole board for this topic. I'm starting to wonder if it's this time of year - it's nearly exactly a year since I went!

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Perhaps then it would be worth contacting the organisers of the course to see if they are able to reduce the cost for you, or possibly direct you to an organisation that might be able to help.

Are you currently registered as a PhD student with a university? It may help you find more sources of funding if you are a current student.

Otherwise, use search engines to see if you can find grants for students from developing countries. There are some sites that list a lot of studentships, bursaries and charitable trusts. If you are from a commonwealth country, there might also be some sources of funding aimed at those regions.

Good luck.

I am a PhD drop out, although still on the academic treadmill (going to do a Masters in a different field this September). Here are my thoughts on your specific issues:

1. Whatever the hardcore students in your group say, it is really important to have some down time. It's a shame that your fellow students are so opposed to anything social, but I guess you can't easily change that - just try to maintain good working relationships with them. Aside from that I would really really recommend getting involved with some activity away from your research group. Some people like to do something with other students from their university; personally I preferred to do something totally independent. In the last six months I was doing my PhD pretty much the only thing that helped me hang on to my sanity was going to a local dance class. Nobody there gave a hoot about experiments, papers, supervisors or whatever - it was pure escapism. Plus exercise is good for your mental state. So get out there and meet other people, and then your PhD won't eat up your entire life.

2. This is a tough one to crack and I don't think there is any one answer as to how to deal with it, as different personalities respond to that scenario in different ways. Some people on here have found various PhD guides/books quite a helpful way of structuring their work. It can be difficult to discern a sense of progress, but if you document what you're doing and keep making notes, hopefully it will start to become apparent that you know more than you did six months ago, for example. Try to build a few tangible goals into the forthcoming months (e.g. applying to go on a conference, writing X hundred words of a literature review, producing a first draft of a thesis chapter) - it will help you feel as though things are moving on.

3. I look around at my friends who are married/own flats/are having children/have their careers sorted, and sometimes I do feel a pang of jealousy. It frustrates me that 5 years after finishing my degree I still don't have the coveted PhD and if I do still want to pursue that path I still have a long way to go. But there is no guarantee that if I wasn't engaged in academic life that all those 'real life' things would come flooding my way anyhow. There are lots of careers which eat up your time in such a way that pursuing personal life can be hard. My outlook is to just get on as well as I can with the situation I am in, and be happy if those things come my way. I don't want to change my career plans to increase the chances of these things happening as I might then find myself without anything! Only you can know how much you want to prioritise these areas of your life, but just bear in mind that many of them are beyond control, and that some of your peers who have the things you covet are possibly jealous of you having the opportunity to pursue your academic interests!

In general...
I dropped out a year ago, before the economy went pear shaped, and the people I asked for advice were generally supportive. My reasons for dropping out were different to yours. I also had a plan of what to do instead (went straight into a research assistant job in another department with a view to carrying on with an academic career in another field). I would advise taking a long time to think about dropping out. Do see if you can make things work by using some of the suggestions people have given before you make your final decision. When I left I had previously gone through a phase of wanting to quit six months earlier, but was determined to give it another shot. It meant that when I did finally go, I knew that I'd done everything I could to make it work, and I haven't had a moment's regret.

Good luck, and keep us posted.

Congratulations! It's so nice to hear of people making it to the end!(up):-)

Try:
1. The university at which you are currently registered.
2. If no longer at university, see if your former institution has an alumni fund
3. Professional bodies/associations related to the field (although quite often you have to have been a member for at least a year before they are willing to give you money)
4. The bank

Unfortunately, if you are not a current student I imagine the chances of receiving funding to do a course are probably quite low.

Congratulations!

I'm waiting to hear if I get an MSc studentship from my host institution. But they'll only contact successful candidates, so I don't know if the silence means I'm already unsuccessful, or that they just haven't dispatched good news yet!

======= Date Modified 17 May 2009 21:31:06 =======
My first PhD interview was awful. I prepared, but in the wrong way. They asked a simple question and I had brain freeze and they refused ot move on until I had answered it. I knew halfway through that there was no way I would get the place (I would have questioned their wisdom had they offered it to me) and I toyed with the idea of offering to leave to spare us all any further embarrassment.

My second interview went a lot better - I had done more appropriate preparation. The way in which the rejection came lead me to believe that I was shortlisted and only unsuccessful because a higher ranked candidate accepted the place.

My third interview went really well. It was a relaxed affair with the right amount of challenge and comfort. I came out thinking I had done well, and was offered a place shortly thereafter.

The morals?
1. Practice
2. Prepare adequately and appropriately
3. Persist

In lab science, it would be nigh on impossible to self fund a PhD via one's own saving etc. As well as your living expenses (variable) and the university tuition fees (~£5000/year) you would need a huge amount of money for lab costs/equipment/consumables: ~£10-20K per year.

I suspect when labs say they are willing to take self funded students, they mean that they are happy to have someone do the work, so long as they bring their own studentship/fellowship funding with them e.g. international students who have sponsorship from their home governments, or UK students who take the project proposal and make an application to Wellcome/the MRC/BBRSC etc.

If you are interested in a particular lab, get in contact with them and have a chat about what the state of play is. It may be that they are planning to apply for a project/programme grant in 18 months time, and if they think you would be a good candidate to join them they will write your project into the application. In the meantime, you might get some research assistant work, which would be great experience for you.