As most universities ask for a 1st or a 2.1, I wouldn't like to say that a 2.2 would get you in to any university, but my university requires a 2.1 and there is a student on my MSc course (social sciences) with a 2.2. So I do think you have a good chance of getting onto a Masters course, especially with your relevant employment experience, that shows that you are commited to working in that area; the interview is important as well. I think that you have nothing to lose by emailing the course leaders/admission tutors of the courses you are interested in and introducing yourself, good luck.

Unfortunately I have to work from home most of the time as my university is 60 miles away, its not always worth going there when I don't have anything specific to go for, I'm only at MSc level. Usually in the holidays I go once a week to stock up on library books. I find I work best in the silent area there, in front of a big window...I have my favourite spots and can sit there reading for hours with a few cofee breaks in between.

At home I have to have silence, or as close to silence as I can get, difficult because I still live with my parents and younger brother...and there always seems to be some sort of commotion or loud conversation going on that drives me mad, I find it very difficult to block sound out. If I have the house to myself I work downstairs, otherwise I work in my room, I tend to read better during the day and write in the evenings, when writing I use mytomatoes. I have to have the room fully lit as well, and have a lot of tea/coffee and a few sweeties in my desk drawer to keep me going! Sometimes I go to Starbucks/Costas and work there as the have free internet connection, or I just read with a coffee, I like that sort of alone-time and I find I think more freely when I'm in a neutral setting like that.

Hi Eska, like others have said it sounds like a very difficult situation for you and your family, above all I think it is a great shame that your niece feels she has to behave in this way towards you, at a time when your family should be able to remember your sister, and her mother, together. It is also sad that you could be helping her with her studies, it sounds like you both share a passion for art and creativity, but there is this great division between the two of you that she is perpetuating. Of course I have a very limited knowledge of the situation here, but I hope that she can overcome these destructive feelings of hers and develop a relationship with you again in the future.

Despite her overall spitefulness towards you, what she is doing to remember her mother is really lovely, and I think you should go, as a way of remembering your sister. You don't even have to speak to her, you can spend the evening with your friends and still enjoy it. If your niece has any respect for her project and the memorial service she will not give you any hassle, I don't think it would reflect well on her at all if she did, remember her tutors will be there and they are your friends first and foremost.

I hope it all goes well for you next week, Natassia xx

Well done Jinkim, enjoy your break and good luck with your viva, hope to see a 'passed thread' from you here soon! Nxx

Thats wonderful news Bilbo - congratulations!! Sounds like the viva was perfect as well, I am so pleased for you. Natassia xxx

I haven't heard of this happening at my university, to be honest I don't think it would happen either. The staff in my department are all reasonably young and generally they're not bad looking, loads of the undergrads have their crushes on certain members of staff and apparantly they reveal them when they have to fill in the module assessment forms at the end of each semester...I've been told they can be quite explicit sometimes! I heard of it happening at Warwick, a friend told me about a girl we both knew who had a one night stand with a young lecturer, I would have never assumed she would do that - shows its always the quiet ones! She ended up getting a first so I doubt anyone found out.

I would never go there, even though I prefer older men, I just think it would be awkward and it is quite a gossipy department, I would quickly get a bad reputation. Saying that I don't think its especially unprofessional for a staff member to have a relationship with a postgrad as they are consenting adults, I just don't think its a particularly sensible thing to do. I think its definitely wrong for a lecturer to have an affair with an undergrad though; there is much more of a teacher/pupil relationship there I think. I think its ok to have a relationship after one of you has left the university, or you have both become staff members...still a bit odd though really. I personally would rather date someone outside of academia, I think that sort of difference is good for a relationship.

I just wrote a reply to this then my laptop froze and I lost it...will try again!

Sorry to hear about this, sounds really annoying and difficult to live with, I'm not surprised that you are having to rant about it! Were you friends with her for long before you moved in together, has she been like this before? Is it just the two of you in the flat?

Its easy to say in a situation like this, but I do think she is jealous of you and putting you down is her way of acting on it, also I think that the people who constantly have to talk about how much they are doing often either do the least or feel the most dissatisfied with what they are doing. This is her problem and bears no reflection on you, it is just unfortunate that you have to put up with it. She is finding it difficult to address the flaws in herself so finds the nearest person to have a problem with, you probably just ignore her most of the time so she just carries on.

I've been in a similar situation before but with a work colleague rather than a friend, she was constantly belittling me for no real reason and rather than being angry about it I got really upset and was constantly trying to please her, even though I wasn't doing anything wrong in the first place. I wish I had been more annoyed with her as I should have been and confronted her properly. I think that as you live with this girl you need to nip it in the bud, and actually tell her that you are offended, she may not even realise how badly she comes across. It will probably be a bit awkward at first as nobody likes being told that they are upsetting others, but it would probably be helpful for her as well, she can't be happy if she is behaving like this.

Hope that helps and good luck, Nx

Well done for getting your upgrade work handed in, I hope it all goes well.

I'm not very good at taking time off either, I tend to get quite irritable; I've always been like it my mum tells me that I was a nightmare in the summer holidays when I was at infants school! Now I tend to get ratty and feel really down when I have to take time off, I found the gap between the end of my undergrad and the start of my MSc just dragged on, was horrible.

I think you should take a few days off though just to recharge your batteries, it doesn't need to be a whole week, just as long as you think you need - your body will tell you. When I have a day off I catch up with household things like clearing out my wardrobe and cleaning my car..I let things like that slip when I'm really busy working and I'm usually quite tidy so a couple of days of sorting things out can be quite de-stressing - for me anyway! Or pamper yourself a bit, you're already buying some makeup but maybe get your hair done or catch up with some friends.

I like this thread, I have a horse and three dogs, can't imagine working from home without them! My horse doesn't live with me but I go to the yard see to him twice a day, when I am really busy with work I give him a few weeks off ridden work, I do that twice a year and it seems to do him some good as although he goes a bit feral and becomes quite bargy and difficult to handle, he comes back into work better than when he stopped.
My two older dogs sleep on my bed when I work, they have a very calming influence; my Yorkshire terrier puppy is fine once he has had a walk, otherwise he just sits on my bed yapping at me for attention, or steals things from my room and hides them around the house!

Happy belated birthday, hope you found some time out from preparing your questionnaires to enjoy yourself!

I'd like to get asked for ID more often, I'm only 22 and haven't been asked for ages!

Hi Satchi, I am from a psychology/sociology background but don't really look into that area so couldn't give you a reference off the top of my head, are you familiar with any journals you could have a look at? Perhaps look up 'The British Journal of Social Psychology', 'Psychoanalysis, Culture and Society' or 'Subjectivity'. What particlular approach in psychology are you coming from, that might help me to think of something!

If you uni online library has ingenta or ASSIA, they could be very useful as you can just type your keywords in then. Good luck, Nx.

I went to an all-girls grammar school and stayed there for sixth form, I did well in my GCSEs but not so well for A-level, and have done well so far in higher education, I think my teachers would be surprised if they knew I was heading towards starting a PhD (hopefully!) although they all seemed to have faith in me. It was quite an old-fashioned school with a huge academic emphasis, it was expected that you would go to university afterwards and get a good degree, in my year about 20 out of 180 girls went to Oxbridge and a lot went to red-brick universities, many did degrees like Medicine, Economics and PPE - there was a bit of a hierarchy according to where you were going to go to university. But then there was another side, a few girls dropped out and had babies, but they seemed to be forgotten about as they damaged the school's reputation...to be honest my school was a bit snobbish but I did like it.

I went to a new university to study Applied Psychology and Sociology, my teachers seemed to supprt my choice although new universities weren't really recommended, neither was studying the social sciences; A-level Psychology and Sociology were suggested as 'fun subjects' to take alongside more academic ones like History and Chemistry. I found my niche at university and was pleased to be pursuing my interest in those subjects.

Hi Psycho, I am only at MSc level and doing a theoretical dissertation this year, but have done a discourse analysis as part of semester one, I really liked it and did quite well so applying it again to deconstruct the mission statement of an organisation that I am doing a research placement with this semester, hopefully I'll come up with some interesting results. Have you used discursive psychology, Foucaultian discourse analysis or a combination of both in your research, what are you researching? Nx

I think I've become very boring as well, I hardly ever drink any more as I don't generally sit down with a glass of wine in the evenings as my evenings are spent working, I only really drink when I go out with friends and that isn't very often any more as I'm so busy...I think I'm more 42 than 22! I've been a vegetarian for 15+ years so saving some money there...should really cook more from scratch though.