Good morning sarahlouise, batfink and star-shaped!

I've ridden my horse so that's my first goal done, just need to make myself look presentable then I can get on with some real work!

First goal is to write 500 words on what I started yesterday by lunchtime. I have to go to work at 3pm so hopefully I'll be able to do that and something else before then.

Good luck everyone!

Well done everyone who has been productive today, unfortunately I've been quite poorly for the past few days so progress is a bit slow. After a busy non-PhD morning and a sleep this afternoon I'm only really starting to work now - first goal is to email supervisor with details of a meeting I went to on his behalf last Friday, then I want to write 500 words on some reading I have done, have to send supervisors some writing on Friday.

Hi everyone, sorry to be irritating you with my endless questions but hopefully this will be the last one!

I have my first supervision tomorrow morning and I am so nervous, even though I have known my supervisors for years having done my UG and MSc at the same university. One of them supervised my UG dissertation, another supervised my MSc dissertation (merit) and the other one has taught me quite a lot and helped me the most with my proposal. I have done some reading around a key aspect of my topic but that is it, to be honest before I got my MSc result last Wed I was in a complete state of limbo and had a real confidence crisis about whether I would start my PhD at all.

So if you can remember, what was your first supervision like? From what they've said we'll be organising how often we are going to meet and mutual expectations, that sort of thing, with less subject-specific stuff. But I am still nervous, so any reassuring or pre-warning advice welcome!

Thanks, Natassia xx

Really pleased for you Pineapple, like others have said universities love to keep you waiting sometimes and don't seem to be aware of the stress it causes! Good luck with your viva preparation and try to be a little kinder to yourself as well. Nxx

Hi, thank you all for the useful replies - will try to respond to all of the ideas!

I already have a laptop that is serving me quite well even though I've had it for nearly 4 years. I've upgraded it a few times so it still works fine. Will probably need replacing next year but I won't get a new one until really necessary. An external hard drive is a really good idea though I'll probably get one of those soon so that I can back everything up properly. The idea of a netbook is appealing as well though - those who have them - do you still use one when you have a desktop at university and a laptop at home? Just wondering whether it will be worth it. I was thinking of an ipod touch but as I have a blackberry already I can already get my emails when I want, so I don't think it would provide much more, although the apps sound interesting.

I don't work in a lab as I am in the social sciences. I live 60 miles from uni but work from there 2 days a week. We hot-desk but I don't think our school provides us with anything! Space is an issue when working from home as I work in my bedroom. I have everything I need but don't have the space for a posh chair! So I make my chair more comfortable with cushions and it isn't too bad! My dad is clearing out a room at the moment to make into a study (he is doing a p/t MA) so hopefully I'll be able to work in there more comfortably soon, there is a nice chair in there as well.

Mind-mapping software: I downloaded MindGenius on a free 30-day trial yesterday, it looks quite good going to do some work on it now. Does anyone else use this?

I will probably get a voice recorder at some point - definitely when I start to interview participants. Will be looking at the voice recorder thread for more advice on this one!

I am definitely thinking of getting an e-book reader, for PDFs more than books. I have had a quick look online and the Kindle looks like the best to me, and good value. From reading the small print though it looks quite expensive to download word documents, like 20p per MB - doesn't sound like much but I think it would add up on larger documents. Does it cost much to download PDFs? Also I do like making notes myself on paper and I know you can highlight the text - do you find it harder to annotate the text though when it isn't on paper, or do you just get used to it?

AQ - massage idea is great but as I work p/t in a sports massage and physiotherapy clinic I'm already lucky enough to get them for free! Really useful for me as I have arthritis in my back (from falling off my horse) and carry a lot of tension in my back, neck and shoulders.

I think I've been through everything now - it is my birthday soon so can possibly spend a little bit more money as an investment type thing. But I will be frivolous and spend a bit on clothes and makeup as well!

Thanks again, Nxx

Hi everyone, I've just started my PhD and my mum wants to help me out and treat me a little bit after passing my Masters. I want to get some things that will be useful to me, and I already have loads of stationary and a filing system and can't really think of anything at the moment!

So this probably sounds like a really random question but what things may I not have thought of immediately, that could be really useful to me? I already use Mendelay quite happily so don't really need Endnote.

Thanks, Nxx

Thanks for the responses - it is interesting and reassuring to read about others' similar experiences at the beginning. I got a response from one of them this morning and like I thoght they had been arranging something amongst themselves so I now have my first supervision next Wednesday! Trying not to be too nervous, in fact I'm looking forward to it.

Confidence is a real problem for me sometimes, and I definitely have a touch of 'imposter syndrome' at the moment. But hopefully it will pass. I think that because I've wanted to do a PhD for so long, like since my 3rd undergraduate year, it all feels a bit too good to be true that I'm finally here now. I'm sure it will feel more real when I've had my supervision and things are more in place.

Nx

Hi everyone, I've taken a little break from the forum lately as I've been in so much of a limbo about the state of my Masters and whether I would start my PhD this month or not. I thought I had done really badly in my dissertation and that my supervisors might pull out of supervising me (lead sup supervised my MSc dissertation) and basically had a real confidence crisis and felt quite down over Christmas, it was like a huge period of uncertainty.

In early January I got an unconditional offer for the MPhil/PhD programme so was really relieved about that, after I accepted that I went through the rather long-winded enrolment procedures and attended an induction day. But I still didn't have the results for my dissertation and having an unconditional offer didn't really make it any easier to wait. But yesterday I collected it and I have a merit!! At 65 it isn't a brilliant mark but much better than I thought I would get. And it's been worked out that I have a merit for my MSc overall which I'm really pleased with, especially given the difficulties of the past year.

I've been getting to know the other PhD students and they all seem really nice and friendly, today we had a little meeting about the presentations we have to do next week, they have to do presentations about their research every year but I only have to introduce myself and my topic this time. I'm just a little concerned about how quiet my supervisors are being, today I emailed them all saying that I had enrolled and wanted to arrange an initial supervision meeting but I haven't heard anything back yet, I'm hoping that they are organising something together so that they can get back to me. Surely I would know by now if they didn't want to supervise me any more?!

I guess I'm still in that limbo period, even though I have started it doesn't feel like it. At the moment I am just reading around my topic as one of my supervisors gave me some writing to do over Christmas, nothing major just something to start off with.

Does the situation I'm in sound familiar to anyone? Sorry to ramble, but I just want to know if this prolonged uncertainty is 'normal'.

Natassia x

Well done, I'm so pleased for you! Good luck with the corrections, then take a well-deserved holiday. Natassia xx

Happy New Year everyone! I've made loads of resolutions that I probably won't keep, but I'm determined for 2011 to be a good year!

Thanks Satchi, hope you and everyone else had a lovely Christmas! Nxx

It has to be Mariah Carey's 'All I want for Christmas'! I grew up in the 90s so quite like the tacky ones like East 17 'Stay Another Day' and the Spice Girls' ''2 become 1'. Yes I have no musical taste at christmas!!

Hi AQ - I don't really want to comment too much on how you are feeling as I am yet to start my PhD so do not have a similar experience to draw upon; I just wanted to show my support. I have felt a bit like this, although not on the same scale, since submitting my MSc dissertation and I'm really worried about it, but trying to focus on getting off to a good start on my PhD rather than constantly worrying about the worst case scenario of failing my MSc and not being able to do my PhD.

Submitting your thesis is a major achievement and that is of course a positive thing, but it must also be very difficult to 'say goodbye' to something that you have spent so much time and emotion on, knowing that you will revisit it in the near future. It marks a different part of your life, but also signifies the beginning of a very grey area between submission and viva, which could give you time to question things and worry about them more. This is not unusual, my supervisor told me she woke up in tears every morning for a week after submitting her thesis. Christmas is also a difficult time as it seems to highlight everything that is less than perfect, and the lack of daily routine doesn't help either.

I hope that has helped in some way, take care, Nxx

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I am working today, have had a little break after finishing my MSc but need to start some PhD work now for a meeting in early January. Have just printed off a pile of journal articles so will start to read through them now, want to get them all read by the end of the day.

Have a good day :-)

I'm fed up with it as well, last night my dad skidded on ice when reversing his landrover out of the driveway straight into my little car which was parked on the road, and knocked a wing mirror off. So I couldn't drive to the stables this morning before work and had to make my dad drive me at 6.30am! Snow looks pretty enough but it makes everything take ten times longer and it's a nightmare with the horses; it wasn't as cold this morning (London) so hopefully the snow will start to melt a bit today.

Good luck everyone!