Where on earth can you swim for 7.50£ month????!
I live in Oxford and the absolute cheapest I can go swimming for is £2.80/swim or else c.£30/month.... :(
xx

I get that, but I have four months (not spare, MSc thesis writing) in which I feel I might get bored....
And this paper would be a major coup.

This might seem like a silly thing to get upset about but...
I've been exchanging emails with a visiting scholar in my dept and I got an email from him today in which he suggested (pseudo flippantly) we co-author a paper but that it might be v controversial and not initially do my career any good.
I'm just finishing a masters and it's very different from my PhD topic so I sent a vague email asking my supervisor whether I'd have time to 'research into X topic further' but he made out he didn't really know what I meant. Despite the fact it seems him and visiting scholar were talking about me over lunch....
I kind of made out I didn't know what I meant either, because it made it v awkward and I didn't want to be humiliated if this didn't come off.
I guess I found it slightly insulting and my sup has a tendency to act in complete disbelief whenever I tell him I've been in touch with other academics!
Now I'm left feeling a bit of an idiot and don't know what to do.
Sarah

Indeed, I've had a day a bit like that today too!!!
I think it's just the academic world, everything is opaque.
The problem is, all the AHRC reports on the competition make clear that the markers that are supposed to be objective are far from that.
I.e. some places give all their applicants 'excellent potential for PhD' ticks, despite some of them having middling marks, others deploy them strategically.

No quotas for AHRC this year, no. We're in the middle of a transition year so Universities counld put forward 50% more applicants than last year they received funding for. However funding has also been cut from 1500 to 1000 places so you're not at an enormous advantage having been put forward this year to having passed freely through last year....

I guess so, but not to that extent.
It does make financial (if morally dubious) sense for your dept to get funding for other people ahead of you then.....
Archaeology is AHRC, Anthropology is ESRC, I'm in an archaeology department applying anthropological models to archaeology though.......

Hmm that's ridiculous given you're there doing a PhD, which is presumably more than the other candidate.... it all seems like a bit of a joke. 3s are so harsh, but it does sound a bit like yours was to do with non-supervisory comments.
I do wonder, if the fact they know you can pay your own way, is affecting your ranking???
I'm an archaeologist/anthropologist. My topic is so random I'm a bit concerned! Put it this way, my co-supervisor looks like being a child psychologist.....

That's very unfortunate, though where there are a small number of people applying I expect they will take less account of the rankings that where there are large numbers....33/33 looks alot worse than 4/4....
I've been put forward also, though I have no clue about my ranking and my dept has put forward about 30 people because they've got very good standing with the research council....
My husband has also been put forward, in his case there are four people.
I think i'll be pretty annoyed if I'm not highly ranking because i've an average of c.84 for my MA.... but you just never know.
What subject is yours in?
Sarah

I really enjoy conferences...
By the forth day of a recent conference I did get, not bored, but, well, struggled to maintain conversation with people and be vaguely sociable. I like my own space.
Also, I was in awe of a number of people giving papers, so when they started asking my about my research over breakfast I didn't quite know what to say as I've only just got started...

I'm a Social Scientist and have been specifically told to write in the first person and not use passive phrases.... I have to say I only rarely use 'I' though.......

I had to get up at 7am to emil something to my tutor before mid-day.
And now I have to start doing another paper and prepare a presentation for Fri.
The joys of academic life!
Do any of you guys with funding manage to take your hypothetical seven weeks off?
Sarahx

Anyone else been put forward for AHRC?
What do you rate your chances as, and how do you think this years system is working?

I think that you really need to be honest about your chances.
If you haven't been put forward for funding with the new quota system then you need to admit your department aren't being too enthusiastic and maybe look elsewhere.
Also ask yourself some questions about your grades, how you rank in comparison to the rest of your year, the fashionability of your project, and so forth.
My tutor has been v clear that even with exceptional marks you still cannot be guaranteed funding; but it helps....
I have to say I'd be reluctant to start without funding and the potential of being forced out/major stress. This is despite the fact I'm passionate about my subject.