I don't know how hard it is to get on to a law PhD in London but as so much of it comes down to your thesis topic and how well you'd fit with your prospective supervisor, I would definitely start by contacting people most relevant to what you want to do. There's not really anything to lose. Also, the sad fact is most universities will take anyone on a PhD who can pay the fees. Much harder will be if you need to get funding where your academic achievement in the past will count quite a bit. However, with a good undergraduate degree and good references you may find having an average MA won't be a problem - after all 60 isn't at all bad, especially at a top 20 university. Again, as so much seems to come down to what you want to research and the quality of your proposal, not to mention the particular interests of the panel or what's 'in' that year, a small academic setback may not prohibit anything. Might be worth thinking about why you didn't get as high an MA result as you might have expected. If you think there were problems with your work that might affect a PhD or come out in a reference, perhaps you should address them directly with a prospective supervisor whilst making sure to emphasize all your good points too!

Hi fellow first years - good to keep hear how other people are feeling now the novelty is wearing off! I submitted 10,000 words (but by no means a useable chapter or anything) to my supervisor at new year and am seeing her every couple of weeks, which is working well. Should be writing more for the end of this term. I don't really have an idea of structure yet. My work looks at two poets and I'm only focussing on one, at least until the summer, so it's difficult to understand how it will all fit together as a whole. I'll be reviewed next term though so I guess I'll need to have an idea of it by then, especially to start thinking about submitting work for upgrade applications in the autumn. I also know I want to get lots of work done by the end of the summer as I expect to have my time cut a lot (at least to begin with) when I start teaching next year. I know I probably ought to be considering working towards a publication or giving a paper (not that any relevant conferences have come up recently), perhaps based on my MA dissertation, but don't quite know how to address that.

It's definitely trickier being a girl - for a man it's just put on a suit and all you have to decide is which tie! I'd put it down to finances. I don't think you'll go wrong in a smart skirt and a shirt with a jacket or smrt jumper. On the other hand a suit is something that will always be useful provided it's quite classic so won't date too fast - try somewhere like Next or M&S for decent quality but low prices. I'd maybe suggest only doing that if you're not someone who's likely to fluctuate in weight too much: I bought a beautiful and quite expensive suit for my BA graduation thinking it would last me for years but I was about a size 8 or something crazy then which is definitely never going to happen again! It sits nostalgically in the wardrobe now... Good luck with the interview!

Problems with grammar are really common as most schools don't teach it very well. I feel so lucky that my mother is a complete pedant and picked me up on grammar all the time when I was a child making it second nature now. There have been some good books mentioned below. You could also try the Oxford guide to grammar and punctuation (I think there's a really handy pocket version) or Kingsley Amis 'The King's English' for something that's also very readable. Another good way to understand grammar in detail is to do another language in which you have to learn the basics (my PhD is Latin literature and learning Latin at school definitely sorted out the understanding of grammatical terms and so on) - although that's obviously pretty time consuming if you don't need to do it for your work! I wonder if there might be any other grammar books for people learning english as a foreign language (which aren't themselves written in a foreign language) - perhaps a TEFL teaching book or something like that? And people are right about proof reading - sometimes it takes someone who knows what they're looking for, such as a language student maybe. I used to proof read for friends doing science degrees just because it can help coming at it from a different discipline where you will focus on the writing rather than try to understand the content too much! Hope that helps.

It's knee deep here in Leatherhead, Surrey and still snowing lightly! We donned our wellies and tramped as far as Sainsbury for supplies (the only place open here) but now safely in the warm getting work done. The snow makes the room much lighter which helps! No getting the cars out and with lots of roads closed no one round here was getting to work today. My partner's at home trying to get on with things but I think you'll find most offices will be in the same situation and not much will be happening today! :-)

Reading this I feel I should start to worry!! I'm only a term in and haven't started to notice any devastating effects although I do wear the same clothes a lot and this winter have been living in my slippers and not leaving the house for days at a time! I think there might be more white hairs but I already had quite a lot in my fringe before I started (I'm only in my early 20s!) so maybe people won't notice... I have had some new clothes though, having told my mother that I had decided to eliminate clothes from my list of essential purchases for the next 3 years! She was obviously so worried about me living in jeans and a hoodie for the rest of my life that she substantially restocked my wardrobe for me for birthday and christmas! Not everyone may be so lucky but I think it's worth a try...

I can understand your concerns. I'm in my first year and moved in with my boyfriend just before the start of the academic year. He doesn't understand my subject at all though he does at least see the appeal of the PhD, and like your boyfriend he's in a full-time business job. To be honest I'm really pleased we do such different things - I think it would be maddening both to be studying full time. He's doing a part-time distance MSc for work and that's quite enough! I don't really understand the details of wht he does and vice-versa, although it doesn't stop us supporting each other. In fact I prefer it that we don't talk about work much or at least can't do it in detail! I like the fact that he keeps me grounded in the 'real world', plus of course his income is rather better than my funding! As for my friends, I suppose it's helpful that I have quite a few who have done PhDs but for many it's still really alien, although that's never mattered so far. They just know I'm doing something a bit obscure but that I'm really passionate about it. Plus of course you're bound to meet and make friends with other academic types along the way. My family have similar outlooks to the PhD as yours but they seem to have come round to it a bit. I found the key thing was to keep telling them in the first term how well it was going, how inspired I was, etc (all true!) and that helped them to understand why I'm doing it! Good luck!

PhDbug, when you say "i guess every one has a unique style" you are so right. We're all doing the thing we're advised not to: comparing how PhDs are progressing! Everybody's work is totally different and it's hardly reasonable to compare different topics, working styles, supervisors' expectations etc! I know well that just because I've written quite a lot of words in the first term doesn't mean I'm way ahead, in fact I feel quite the opposite. I guess it's more important that you know if there is a problem with the amount of work you've done, and your supervisor should be the one to tell you about concerns there! :-)

Hi Pamplemousse, I haven't been on here since I started but I think I remember you from funding waiting Hell! It seems to vary massively between discipline (I don't have data to collect, neither have I started with a literature review). I've just handed my supervisor 10,000 words from my first term but it's not going to be useable as a chapter as it currently stands I don't think although I've learnt a lot which is more important at this stage I think.

Well done Pamplemousse and Mitzi. Just checked on here for the first time today and it's so good to hear more good news! Good luck all others waiting. :-)

Well done, theselfishgene. I hope there's further good news in this forum soon, and that those who haven't been lucky (and so much is clearly luck!) aren't forced to give up.

Oh Stressed, I'm so sorry.

======= Date Modified 13 Aug 2008 11:21:33 =======
I thought so too Pamplemousse so you should keep hoping! It's dated the 11th so that's quite efficient for 2nd class Royal Mail. Presumeably there'll be more posted this week so fingers crossed for you all.

It came! I got it! Good luck to everyone else. I'm really shakey! It was panel 1 PhD for others waiting. Thanks for all the support through the wait. :-) xxx

It's like a totally different site! :p