Haha, that's painfully apt. If I ever get finished I'm treating myself to the PhDcomics books. Cham's a genius.

Stick with it! You're closer to the end than you are the start.

With regards to the writing, have you been splitting things into smaller sections? I find it's much easier to write a small section of a chapter and then move onto the next than attempt the entire chapter in one go. It also means at the end of the day you can say to yourself. "I've finished sections 1.1 - 1.5 today!"

No extreme kurtosis allowed!

On the SPSS front I've found that versions 15 and below do just fine. But the newer ones are like a statistical assault course.

Good luck with it! I don't think a viva, mock or not, is something anyone is ever likely to feel completely prepared for. Just remember, you know your stuff! You just have to show them that.

Ta everyone :-)

I know that feeling. Im in a fairly niche area of psychology so the amount of suitable jobs seems to ebb and flow at times. I'm at the point where I check a couple of times a day to make sure I don't miss anything. I'm getting obsessive.




It's not so much a matter of taking it personally. Its more about whether I compete in the area's I thought I was experienced in. Like the latest job I applied for that looks like I've not been shortlisted for. I don't mind not getting shortlisted if the jobs a bit of a long shot but I'm just a bit down over the fact I don't seem to have even got a sniff in a field I thought I would do. Makes me wonder what sort of chance I stand with general academic jobs.

I'm not at the stage of making voodoo dolls though. Not yet! ;-)





38! If I'm against those numbers I can understand. I think I might have been getting too confident as I wasn't expecting a huge amount of applicants for some positions because it's quite a specialised and small area, and at a fairly low level of entry into academia as well. There may well be more than I imagined even taking that into consideration.

I'm starting to think the interview I got I was lucky with. The timing and the area being closely related enough to what I do and far enough away from most other areas. I think I was expecting a similar situation with the latest application.

There's one job coming up that seems tailor made. It's basically what I've been doing for the past 3 years, and it's at assistant/associate level so I'm assuming it's aimed more at the recently qualified than veteran researchers. I should at least get a chance to strut my stuff at interview. If not I'll be very worried. I've got over a month until the application deadline though so I think in the meantime I'll be aiming for volume in my applications like bcreative suggests. And I'll be taking whatever comes my way.

Does anyone ever ask to visit Uni's and such beforehand? It's been suggested to me by someone (who has done it outside the Uni setting) but I'm worried that it'll look like canvassing, plus there's not much to see. Seen one psych lab seen them all. At the moment I've just emailed beforehand with queries or phoned to clarify things and have a quick informal chat.

I ask because I'm getting more and more depressed over things. I'm writing up and basically have everything in place so that it should just be a matter of making corrections and tweaks here and there, rather than re-writing or adding whole chunks. I look on course to submit by the start of september at the very latest.

I've been applying for jobs, research and teaching but I don't seem to be getting anywhere. My first job app got me to the interview stage and into the last two. But since then I've not been offered any interviews. Some failures I don't mind as I know I've been a bit ambitious but others are hitting me hard.

I'm yet to hear back about a job that would be fantastic for me. The interviews commence next week according to the ad. It's a teaching fellow in an area that's related strongly to my thesis and interests, and it involves teaching in stats as well which I have direct experience in teaching. I emailed before hand and they said it sounded like I could transfer my skills and experience in teaching stats over to the main area of teaching where my research expertise is. But I've not heard a peep :-( If I don't by the weekend it looks unlikely that I've made it.

Am I doing something wrong somewhere? Is this a particular competitive time of the year for applying for jobs? Are there any steps I should be taking? Or is the fact I've not submitted yet counting against me a lot? I'm getting really worried because there are two other jobs on the horizon that I would love to do. One is directly in my area and the other has the freedom in to move into areas I'm interested in and have some experience with. I've got in touch via email and over the phone, and so far it looks promising. But then....so did the last time :-(

Would I be in a much stronger position if I had submitted? Or am I just losing out to slightly more experience applicants, and on another day I'd be in there? Anyone else found a difference in interview rates between writing up and submitting?

I think it refers to how Catholicism has survived in Ireland to the present day despite various efforts by past monarchs and then the troubles. But it's a pretty weak arguement for love, especially considering the more recent history!

Nothing quite like a funding powered ticking clock. I'm almost at that point. One payment left so it's a race to get things done whilst I can afford to. It's amazing how much you can get written that way!

Congrats Doc :D

Depends how relevant it is to the subject I guess. Whether it's an example of certain topics that's then discussed and analysed. If it's thrown in for no good reason, isn't analysed in the same fashion or is just the author's personal opinion then it definately shouldn't be in.

I've read a study that quotes Harry Potter though. It was oddly relevant.

Definately crossing my fingers for quality over quantity :-) I'm in psychology. I checked a past student's thesis, in an area where there some theorectical crossover and they were just shy of 40k so I'm a little less worried now.

I'm at the same sort of stage as you Pineapple and Algaequeen. Supervisor thinks I'll be submitted by september.

You sound like you're in a good position. Most it written, and written well with a good idea of what you'll be writing for the last bits. Sounds like it's in good shape based on what your supervisor said. I'd take a day off and relax, you'll feel better for it and be much fresher when it comes to writing again.

I wouldn't worry about viva dates and examiners not being mentioned yet. The more people involved the more difficult it gets to arrange so doubt you'll hear anything on that front until you're submitted. I have a rough idea of who the external is going to be based on who it has been for my supervisors last student but no idea on the date because there's no point arranging a date now. I might take too long to submit or I might submit early, and end up either with no time to prepare/have the thesis read or a huge amount of free time!

I'm worried about how many words people seem to write! I've done 8 chapters, which includes my general discussion and I'm only at ~45k words. Even with somethings I've thought to add and corrections I doubt I'll get much above 50k!

Good luck with the writing up!

I was in a similar situation. Got offered two funded places, same rate, similar projects. One at the same Uni I'd just finished my undergrad at and one at a different Uni. I stuck with the Uni I was at for three reasons. 1) I already knew my supervisor and he is one of the best in the field. 2) The project was closer to what I wanted to do. I was interested in other one but it was a slightly different take. 3) The University itself had a better research rep.

You might get asked why you've stayed on but I don't think it makes a difference. It'll be a question borne out of curiosity rather than a judgement on you I think. What matters about your PhD is the output and maybe the suitability of your supervisors. If you put together a poor quality thesis and papers then it doesn't matter if you've moved or where you've moved to. Likewise there's no point in moving Uni's for the sake of it if you end up with poorer quality supervisors or a project you're not as interested in.

It could well be as others mention, that your presentations are fine. It sounds like it to me.

I think most questions comes from either curiosity in the area, in the method/stats or any controversy attached to the issues discussed. If people don't know the area well, or aren't interested in the area as a whole then you're not going to get many questions. People don't want to ask obvious questions and if it's not related to something they do then they're not going to be motivated too.

If there's something interesting or potentially 'off' about the method and the stats then you might get questions but if everything you've done is solid and fairly problem free then again you're not going to get many questions. There's no point trying to pick about how someones analysis if it's solid.

If there's a more controversial issue attached to the area that your presenation relates to then people might get more motivated to ask questions. But again, if it's not relevant then you shouldn't be putting in your paper. There's no point trying to find a tenuous link to a hot button issue if there's no need.

From my presentations, and when I've had a co-authored paper presented, the questions were either inane or to do with an issue someone had taken with the interpretation (differences in gender were mentioned so obviously it was sexist!). I wouldn't worry!

I've been flip flopping from one to t'other as well. I don't think there's any avoiding it. It happens for me because I see something I've written about one of the experiments and think, "How did I not see that problem coming?", and then I perk up on the next paragraph because I've managed to wedge in an awesome post hoc explanation that covers it all up!