Pharmacy is usually a 4 year course leading to NHS registration. You might be able to do an MSc in Pharmacology I guess.

It sounds like you are interested in a lot of different things. How about opting for something like an MRes in Biomedicine, which would give you more research experience than an MSc, and might enable you to explore the different disciplines you are interested in. What are you hoping to achieve via a Masters?

If location is the most important thing to you, then the simplest thing to do is find all the universities in that area and look at their websites. It shouldn't take too long. A map and Google is probably all you need.

Before we suggest a 'good answer'....

...why *do* you want to do a PhD?

It may be worth running another anti-virus programme, as not all of them pick up on everything. AVG and Avast! both have versions you can download for free. If you can't access their pages, download the software onto a memory stick using another computer, and then try installing it on your infected machine. Make sure that you don't transmit any viruses to other machines via your memory stick though! If the programme isn't technically a virus, however, but something like a piece of malware, you might like to try something like Ad-Aware (also available for free).

Regular backing up is a good idea anyway, but I'd try to see if you can remove it before having to go down the factory settings route, as that could cause you all manner of other annoyances.

I heard that Imperial College's reputation for English Literature is terrible.

;-)

======= Date Modified 02 Apr 2009 12:51:05 =======
======= Date Modified 02 Apr 2009 12:49:58 =======

I'd take you point except that
1. I was state educated
2. I've had various jobs since I was 17 and paid my way for things I wanted since that point.
3. I took a gap year before my *undergraduate degree*, not to backpack around the globe but to work in an office so that I could afford to go to university. I knew that the standard student loan was insufficient to live off of, that my parents could not support me financially (and why should they have to - my degree was for me) and I didn't want to go into a degree not knowing whether I could realistically meet the financial demands and risk the stress of spiralling debt. It was boring and tedious and I envied my friends who were doing interesting things, but it had to be done. The situation for undergrads is actually in some respects better now than it was - if the current rules had applied when I was studying then I might have been able to get by.
4. I am starting a Masters degree this September, for which I desperately hope to get funding, but if I don't, I will get by thriftily on savings. If I didn't have those to fall back on, I would give some very careful thought as to how I would approach this *in the current economic climate* as I would not want to finish my degree with a pile of debt and not be able to find work.
5. In the past I've had to alter my career plans/lifestyle choices in order to support family members in ill health and defer things I've wanted to do until other times.

I have been fortunate in that circumstances have given me the opportunity to save, and I do realise that isn't always an option at all times for people. And, as I said, I'm *not* saying that a career development loan is a bad thing. If I were approaching Masters study a couple of years ago and didn't have enough savings, I would probably take one out. But to get into debt when you already have bad debt, at a time when there really is no guarantee of a job at the other end when the repayments kick in (which is what I thought was the situation of the opening poster) is, to my mind, Not Smart. Nor is contemplating even riskier kinds of debt. That is the specific point I was making when I replied to the opening post. Not that loans are a totally no-go area.

As a slight tangent...
I am going to do a Masters degree because I *want* to do one, and it is important for my career. But I haven't lost sight of the fact that even having the opportunity to do a Masters is a luxury. I'm not going to get jealous about people who just ask Mummy and Daddy for cash to do whatever they like. Cos the fact that I have been accepted onto a course, that I live in a country where, as a women, I am free to pursue as much education as I want, and there are courses worth doing, is enough for others to envy. Much as this is the path I want to follow, I freely acknowledge that there are perhaps other more useful ways in which I could serve society without pursuing any further education, and that I am bloody lucky to have even had the education that I have.

sleepyhead, do you still think I'm an elitest snob?

Oops! Didn't notice the date of the original post! Still, I stand by what I say about adding big debt to existing bad debt.

I'm not saying that career development loans are always a bad thing. But I do question the culture that has developed in society that says "I want X, and I want X as soon as possible, so if I can't afford it I will go to any lengths to borrow money". It's that culture, and the banks' oh-to-willing compliance with it (and nurturing of it) that has contributed to the current situation.

I dunno, maybe I'm just old-skool but I've been brought up with an attitude of not living beyond your means, and keeping debt to a minimum.

This might not be a popular thing to say but...

If you have £2000 worth of bad debt, should you really be taking out more loans? Particularly in the current economic climate when the job market isn't very healthy? Your comment:

suggests some degree of obliviousness to the current situation. You are aware of the state of the economy, right?

How about working for a year to wipe out your debt and build up some savings? Or doing your Masters part time so that you can work alongside?

I would be incredibly reluctant to embark on a self-funded science PhD in the current economic climate, when one cannot be certain what the job/funding market will be like in three year's time. Don't forget, as well as your fees and living expenses, you may have to contribute to lab consumables if you're not funded, which is no small expense.

I would suggest:
1. Trying to apply for PhD funding again. So you were unsuccessful last time. Perhaps whatever you have been doing since then will count as good experience and strengthen your application.
2. Apply for research assistant jobs in labs. Firstly, this will give you a salary. Secondly, this will give you more experience for your CV. Thirdly, if you really can't get PhD funding, it would probably be better to do your PhD part time in the same lab as you also work part time. But first you need to establish yourself in a lab.

A funded place to do an interesting project with a good supervisor is The Dream. Go for it!

If you have any apprehension about having stayed in the same place, make sure that you take opportunities to make contacts elsewhere (going on conferences, networking at seminars etc). But one should do that kind of thing anyway.

I would use data as a plural in academia and as anything you fancy in the real world!

What problems would that cause? Presumably you'd only be registered, not actually doing anything at your MSc place?

Do you havbe any documentary proof of what you'd previously agreed (emails etc)?

I suspect that there's no formal obligation for him to stick to the original arrangement but it's highly unreasonable of him to behave like this.

======= Date Modified 19 Mar 2009 12:54:14 =======
That sounds very frustrating. It must be difficult to motivate yourself with a background noise of comments like that. Here are some thoughts on the topic, which might provide you with some replies to your detractors:
- no, you don't *need* to do a PhD to be a success. There are very few professions one *needs* to do in order to live a good quality of life, but that doesn't mean people can't aspire to them.
- do your friends consider the advanced level of education of their GP/pharmacist/nurse/flash car engine designer/i-Phone creator/combine harvester engineer to have been a waste of time?
- as others have said, the general evidence is that on average level of education corresponds with income
- the world has changed. You used to be able to be a senior academic without a PhD or a teacher without a degree. Things have moved on.
- the standard methods/materials employed by some people with 'real world' jobs is, at least in some cases, highly likely to be derived from knowledge developed by people undertaking research.
- if everyone went into their trade, the market would be saturated. What if you turned out to be better/more successful at their job than them?
- what the hell does it matter what you earn if you enjoy what you do?

Overall I think there are a huge range of things that are important jobs (from plumbing to medicine, maintenance to engineering). And they require people with different life experiences and qualifications. There is no 'one size fits all' recipe for this and it would be nice if your peers accepted that your approach is as valid as theirs.

What sort of field are you in? You may get different answers from science/humanties/arts students on this one.

Good academic writing needn't (shouldn't!) be hard to read. I think the main difference is tone. I'll add more depending on what your area is?

Working as an RA at the moment, and saving up. Keeping my fingers crossed about some studentships available but no idea what my chances are. I've had a good old look at various charitible trusts and I don't think I meet any criteria, so it's the university's MRc studentships or nothing.