I'm so glad people have liked the idea and look forward to hearing from a few of you soon!

Anum: generally this is something you have to work out with your supervisor. Regular work submission and feedback is usually best though!

It would be helpful to know what sort of area you are working in? Have you asked your supervisor about what kind of report is required? Often this varies quite a lot from one uni to another. Usually it will include a summary/discussion of the literature you have read, your initial directions of research and your proposed thesis topic, complete with your reasons for pursuing such. You may also need to include a short report on the other skills you're acquiring/activities (eg. presentations, conferences) you have been participant in.

I would suggest you talk to the people running the course, if they've offered you the course they must feel you are up to it but it would be nice to know how big a jump will be required in your maths skills. My BSc &MSc involved a lot of PDEs, numerical analysis and mathematical biology. They tend to use specific models but the equations that need to be solved/manipulated can take quite a bit of background knowledge of that sort of maths. Feel free to add more details, could be more specific.

Best of luck.

Congratulations! That's super, and so quick! Best of luck with the corrections and a well earned break :)

Well done KeepCalm. That must have been really hard to get in.
Got no work done at my parents. Did get the necessary done for meeting my supervisor but the meeting was still not great. Things a bit of a disaster at the moment. Just trying to do too many things at once and not having enough time or energy. Especially when I get so stressed about how i;m going to fit it all in that I just go catatonic :) Supervisor isn't leaving me enough time to do things like prepare my seminar for next week and keep on with my writing and coding. Just keeps wanting new results and different reading and research areas. So tired!

oops sorry for the mini rant!

Hope you get on with your list! my list is almost the same still as the next-to-last time. Have til sunday to finish those goals. Goal for today is to prepare to meet supervisor again :/

Is there any way you could do an internship or temporary job (even for no money) in the the clinical / caring setting? It might give you some idea of whether that route is really for you or just a grass-is-greener thing. When you really know what's involved you'll know better whether it's worth going down the extra masters road. They may even allow some kind of jump-in or catch-up on the masters course given your phd (unless they're completely unrelated). Like they do for graduate medicine for people with science degrees.

I have a similar decision ahead of me at some point but i'm putting my head in the sand for now :) I have the researcher/school teacher/caring practitioner/industry problem

Definitely sounds like overheating. Which could fry things if you're not careful. Make sure to back up everything. Could be just the fan that's the problem (ie clogged up) or as teek said could be an niternal part that's causing extra heat. Best of luck with it!

*temporarily hijacks nocturnal workers thread*

wow bilbo! Congratulations! That's so brilliant!

*hides again*

Hi,

Mostly just wanted to create a thread where people could post when they have submitted. So that we can congratulate them and see that people really DO make it to the end alive. Perhaps the mods would even make it a sticky - a sort of register of success stories. For starters anyone who has submitted or even graduated could post here.

Maybe this is a mad idea and I'm sure there's plenty of reasons not to do it, I just thought it might be nice.

Aw that's horrible! My sup contacts me at all hours/days too. Though he has gotten better by phoning my work phone instead. Maybe he lost my mobile number... That would be great!

Well done on your presentation! I have the same sort of presentation to give next Wednesday. What happened was horrible and mean but as KB said it does often happen at conferences and even at vivas on extreme occasion. Take pride and courage from the fact that you coped. You'll deal with it even better if something like that ever happens again. I overheard a conversation of professors once where they were complaining about departments that are too nice to their students at things like this, that it gives them no preparation for being 'eaten' by some ignorant prof later at events. They were saying how they hated ripping into students but felt it was their duty. How bizarre and twisted, but true. Worth bearing in mind.

Enjoy your relaxing and well done again!
as someone said to me: phd is about survival, nothing else.

What a great idea! I'm not on my thesis discussion yet but previous similar submissions have helped me to see a few things. try the one-sentence per idea trick. or even just a few key words if you can manage it. then you can look at the whole chapter at once. cut them out and move them around until you can see the best pattern for flow (or any combination you think might work). Then it's a little easier as you can tie off the end of each idea with a (possibly tenuous) link to the next.

Also it's fun but still engages you with what you're trying to do.

Good luck! I'll be waiting to hear how it goes!

I second what poppy has said. If you see it as the home straight then, like a runner, it can be easier to keep going and maybe even speed up as you see the finish approaching.

Also, when was the last time you had a holiday or even three days of not thinking about your thesis, being away from it all. Taking a break at this stage can help to refresh you (and your mind) and recharge your batteries to get you through the last piece. Even one day where you decide that you will ignore your phd and spend the entire day doing things you like. If you can get away from your home/workplace for the day it's especially good. Like a trip to the zoo or a hike up a hill.

Best of luck in the days ahead!

I find private tuition works great. They come to me for class and it can be quite lucrative if there is a sufficient number of potential students and a small number of experts. for a few extra bob around exam time supervision/ invigilation can be graet.

Aw KeepCalm sounds like you've been working really hard! Fair play to you! I worked myself to the bone for a few days to get ready for a surprise meeting with my supervisor. We've been meeting every day since but I just can't keep up the pace, too exhausted. I've loads of work to do for the next meeting on Monday but I really just want to relax. Especially since I'm spending this weekend away with my family (at my parents house). I know I'll just have to sneak away and get some things done though.
For Monday:

* Write up the new proofs
* Consider the more general case and try proving it.
* Prepare a short talk on the old stuff
* Check through all the details
* Make more elegant.

No idea how i'll get all that done. Also means my 3-week goals will be in serious danger! Unfortunately most of them still have to be done by that deadline.

Hope you manage to get both your chapters and article done for Monday. I find my supervisor prefers if I hand him stuff on the day he's asked for it. I just tell him I'm going to continue to work on it and will send him the updated/nicer version once it's ready. Often this is only a few days later and he hasn't gotten around to reading the first version yet!

good luck to us!