I'm working now! I shouldn't have took Xmas week off, but I did. Very naughty as I have to write 10k by this time next week....arrrhhh.

Hi Lara, remember you can take anything into the viva, so if you are bothered about your memorising, then take notes or mindmaps in the back of your thesis. Since you're in the sciences, I'm sure it's not too sinful to refer to condensed notes in the viva when things get very technical.

I'm planning to stick post-it notes all over my copy!

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I think I'm right in saying international relations/politics is an ultra competitive area because its a) a relatively contemporary subject b) involves small departments c) and its international nature attracts international candidates. So I would hope wj_gibson's experience is not necessarily representative of a typical recruitment experience. Although, I applied for 4 jobs last year and was shortlisted for 2 (one involving months of wasted prep work), but foreign candidates with an enormous amount of experience (too much for an academic entry job) were offered the positions.

Edit: I wholeheartedly agree with the advice to look outside academia. My brother is earning twice as much as I would in an academic post, and he does half the amount of work. He was a budding academic, but left the field after working out exactly how much he was getting paid per hour.

I have the problem with one of my chapters. It's already 30,000 words and heavily descriptive, but the description is essential to the context of the arguments. I'm considering pulling out the majority of the descriptive text and placing it into the appendices. This will free up my word count and hopefully eliminate the criticism: 'this is too descriptive and not unique'.

With footnotes you can run the risk of ending up with pages that are 75% footnotes, and 25% text. I know this style is used a lot (particularly in the US), but I find it highly irritating because you're eyes basically playing ping-pong up and down the text. The same applies with endnotes; although this is more irritating as the reader has to flick pages back and forth.

I hope to consolidate the descriptive element of chapter into not more than 500/1000 words in the chapter, so at least the chapter has context, and then guide the reader to the appendices for a full descriptive account (possibly 10,000 words).

The only problem with appendices and PhD examiners is running the risk that they won't read the appendices at all. Apparently, many do not.

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Duplicate post.

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Well strictly speaking those websites are wrong, as you should already be publishing during your PhD time. This process continues ad infinitum if you pursue an academic career.

Just to add.....upon passing your PhD, lots of people will spend time preparing their PhD for publication (e.g. preparing a monograph or slicing it down into articles)...you could always do this while you travel.

There was no such provision attached to my funding (may be it was just factored into the overall amount).

I doubt a supervisor would be interested in signing off on whether you can buy a biro (or shiny new laptop); possibly your PhD adminstrator will deal with such things.

Yes, if you have the money then go travel! Once you start a full-time career, you'll probably find it much harder to do so.

But, you have to bear in mind that many people don't finish their PhDs bang on the 3 year mark, but normally take 4 or sometimes 5 years...you need to factor these uncertainties in to you plans.

I can't see how it can be detrimental to one's career as academics commonly take sabbaticals.

Yes, of course they can still reject you. Your application will be decided by the admissions people.

The fact you have a supervisor lined up and you are self-funding does put you in an advantageous position though.

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Thanks Eska. There are some very good points in this video that are relevant for all PhD students. Some of the advice on here would have been very helpful at the start of my PhD!

You're right Rubyw, the interview is annoying because of the interviewer (although she is probably just reading scripted questions give to her by the academic).

I wouldn't bother attempting to explain the contribution your research makes etc. because to someone who isn't a researcher or academic...they often just don't get it. It's like attempting to explain to an ignoramus why you are worthy of holding the title 'Dr', but you don't wear a stethoscope around your neck.

Possibly you should point out to your colleague that the higher education sector is a massive industry for the UK (I think it's in the top 10 of our industries) because we provide the education gold standard, and we maintain that quality because of the investment/taxpayers' money that is poured into British universities. If that standard wasn't maintained, then students would simply go to the US or other countries, and lots of the students (who may spend money in this shop you work at) would disappear, support staff would lose their jobs, and the investment/gentification of local towns would disappear...

Hi Lara! Good to see you back for an update.

Has anyone else noticed that the forum seems to go awfully quiet when Lara isn't around?

I had a quick glance at the viva book the other night. It seems very useful, and suggests preparing up to 3 months in advance.

For those of you who have submitted...Well Done!!! (up)

I've voted no! There is no way you can act like an undergraduate at PhD level, and the atmosphere is very different from undergraduate life (particularly the British undergrad life of partying). I've noticed many uni's registering PhD students 1/2 weeks after the start of term so they don't crossover with all the fresher shenanigans.

Although, if you manage your time correctly, there is no reason why you can't do all the society/club stuff, but this will be on a smaller scale and with a smaller group of people. Invariably it's very hard to make friends at PhD level because many are not interested in a social life, and others already have a solid network of friends.

Apart from Oxbridge and the London colleges (UCL, LSE, KCL...probably because they are in the capital), most uni's in the UK are not known to foreigners unless they have worked or studied here.

I only really find that names travel when associated with international studies eg. international law, international relations. For example, for legal studies, Oxbridge and LSE are very well known in North America, and Oxbridge and KCL/UCL are very well-known in continental Europe. Other law schools which are just as good (or better) are not known because the uni's don't indulge in branding/marketing.

The easiest way to explain the status of Warwick is to say it's a Russell Group uni, and this is the equivalent of Ivy League uni's in the US.

I wouldn't worry too much about the status on an international basis, and the British education system is generally respected worldwide.