A Masters degree tends not to teach students from the start again (unless it's a crap degree that just extends upon UG courses), so I wouldn't necessarily agree with your friend. You'll be able to find a good finance degree that will offer excellent specialist knowledge way beyond your UG knowledge.

You say you want to work in the financial sector, but on that basis I cannot understand why you'd want to pursue politics or law, so I can't really say which one is better. If you want a law masters (LLM), you'll need an LLB to gain entry.

This type of behaviour is exactly why I don't work well in university facilities.

I would also suggest submiting a complaint to whoever is in charges of the room, and tell them in detail about the smell from the food. Normally, someone is only too happy to enforce rules.

If you have no joy, you could always leave an anonymous notice message at this particular girl's desk politely asking her to refrain from eating smelly foods as it's inconsiderate to other users.

I won't be partaking in much Christmas cheer this year. First, I'm broke, and second, I don't want to fall out of my current work mode while I'm writing up. It's easy to become really, really lazy over the Xmas period, and I'm already lazy enough!

I'm always assigned the role of chef over the Xmas period, so that will be my contribution - lots of cooking.

I'm also staying away from the shopping malls and supermarkets, because the rudeness of people at this time of year really irritates me.

If I had the time and money I'd go to Austria or Germany for Xmas, I love the atmosphere in those countries during Xmas time (especially the markets). They haven't been quite so hard hit with the commercialism that has beset the UK.

It's hard to answer your question because it's so broad...the 'accounting/banks' sector is HUGE.

To begin, I don't know why you'd want to do a JD unless you want to practice law (also you may have to do the LSAT). A JD isn't equivalent to a masters in law. An LLM is still superior even when the JD is a postgraduate course (e.g. if an American wants to do an LLM in the UK, then they need a JD, even though a British counterpart only needs an LLB).

I would sway towards to the MSc in Accounting or Finance...these are most pertinent to the accounting or banking sectors (which are completely different sectors btw).

The MSc Management probably would be a bad idea as they are always less superior than an MBA.

Thanks for the replies.

BTvault is too rudimentary...a basic click and drop procedure.

Carbonite looks very good! I like the idea that is just runs in the background. I may sign up to this service.

Just for anyone who isn't aware (probably everyone is), but it's good to keep back-ups of your files online (in case someone nicks all your gear!).

I've use a freebie BTvault account, but a friend just pointed me in the direction of www.idrive.com which is offering 2GB of online storage (I don't know anything about this company so check it out before uploading sensitive data).

Does anyone know any other freebie storage offers? BT now charges at least £4.99 per month (daylight robbery).

You can apply to US universities with a UK PhD, but they are very competitive.

As for pay: an entry level lecturer earns between £28,000 to £34,000. This moves up to £40,000 depending on your scale.

Pay is generally crappy (relatively speaking of course), most of my colleagues supplement it with private consultancy work or teaching/instructing for private organisations (which I guess you'd be able to do).

Ooo I like a good vampire film.

I will reserve it on Lovefilm when it is released.

Pamw, I agree with you about going to see a GP. If someone is suffering with chronic exhaustion/tiredness or other symptoms lasting more than two weeks it's best to get it checked out.

I've had abdominal pains for sometime now and put it down to stress. Last week, I eventually dragged myself to a GP expecting the 'oh, it's just stress' diagnosis. But he sent me off for lots of tests believing my liver or pancreas was playing up. It looks like my gallbladder is causing problems (probably the result of a bad PhD diet!!). I now have to see a gastro specialist at my local private hospital (hello, VISA card), because the stress and worry of waiting to see a specialist on the NHS (while writing-up) is too much.

The lesson of the day: if you are chronically run down or just not feeling right then see a GP.

Age can reflect in the quality of a PhD, but this very much depends on the circumstances. It ultimately depends on one's subject matter and whether other experience would contribute to a better quality thesis. E.g. someone who has practiced law for 10 years will undoubtedly produce a better thesis than someone who has not, and I'm sure the same is true for other professional disciplines. Having read a few theses, there is quite a marked difference between the work of a 20something and the work of a 40something, and I've never met a 20something PhD who has had their work published with OUP or CUP. BUT, this doesn't mean a 20something is any less deserving of a PhD than an older candidate..afterall the work goes to examiners who probably do not know the age of the candidate and they 'should' be judging the work purely from an objective point of view.

Whether age (or should I say experience) is a factor really depends on the PhD discipline/subject matter of the PhD. For instance, there is no way I could write my subject matter without a masters degree.

Squiggles, in a nutshell, inserting your own published work into your thesis can be considered self-plagarism which has exactly the same penalty as normal plagarism. This sounds harsh, but it is a rule that some universities insist upon i.e., you cannot reproduce your own work elsewhere. If you use the search engine on this site, you'll see this matter has been discussed before...and there appears to be no consensus on whether it is right or wrong.

Even if your university does not have self-plagarism rules, as Heifer points out, you face two problems (i) copyright and (ii) co-authorship problems.

The easy way to get around this problem is to re-write your published work, and then reference it. This way the examiners see you're already published and you avoid the plagarism risk.

Try searching for 'rugged' or 'ruggedised' (sp) laptops. I think the good ones for outdoor work are seriously expensive.

Well done K!!! ..well Dr. K now :)

A 1h 30m viva sounds very nice! I hope mine is that length. Obviously, your thesis must have been so well written you did not need to defend in any great detail.

Well, with respect to the ethic committee, you definitely need to get their approval to your new amendments as they could pull your thesis even if your sups agree on the amendments. Personally, I would have thought such retrospective amendments would not be allowed.

Thanks for the replies guys.


@Ruby, I am basically doing the same as you at the moment, mixing it up a little. I've noticed it's mainly US writers who will cite as Professor Bloggs etc., but I recently read an Oxford thesis that did the same.

@Tricky, really I should have opted to social sciences referencing system that you refer to. Unfortunately, in law there is no one authoritative system to use. Thanks for asking your other half!

My main concern it not offend any authors (I know most of them that I refer to) or appear inconsistent to the reader.

:-)