Hahah and how long will this below last I wonder...

Slowmo, your post makes me think about the last one year (well, almost a year now). When I started my PhD, i used to submit to my supervisor, essays I wrote, revised and sent in. And she would say "Brilliant!" or "It's excellent, points A B C and T are great, this is intellectually stimulating".

Last week, I submitted a document that was already in Version 8 (i.e. it had been chiselled by me for 8 rounds before reaching her) and she sat me down and spoke for 45 mins where she outlined 26 criticisms, page by page, paragraph by paragraph, and ended with "off you go to do version 9". And I realised even without my noticing it, as I went on writing, and revising and revisiting previous thoughts, and "bettering" my work, feedback kept getting tougher, till I cannot even remember the last time I hear something was intellectually stimulating. Note though, that those essays which got those great comments now read like trash.

My knee jerk reaction to the 45 min critique was OMG my writing has been getting worse and worse. My considered reaction was, OMG my writing has improved so much, my essays are so much better, but there's just SO much of re-chiseling to do!

My point is, looking back is always a good exercise, it makes you see how far you've travelled and also how far you need to go still.. :-)

HI, you never know till the grades are out, so chin up! Secondly, the point of a conditional offer is that it is made solely on the condition that you will meet a certain condition (which in this case is your diploma?) To me, it seems self explanatory, or else why would they make a conditional offer in the first place, they would just have said "we strongly prefer you to have a diploma" or similar...

But again, if there are instance of this being waived (?) others may know and be able to offer brighter news...

Yeah...I've heard of other weird things in another country.. where three or four people who did their theses in the same year/same cohort, would suddenly gang up and run down one of their own cohort at a job presentation (when they are in the audience)... on that occasion I am told the person being run down was immensely successful... but I don't know for myself...

Hmm... I don't quite know how the 'internal' candidate thing works... but I hear it does indeed... (though there often are situations where 75% or even 100% of those applying are internal....but naturally only one gets the job...)

Hmm... I don't quite know how the 'internal' candidate thing works... but I hear it does indeed... (though there often are situations where 75% or even 100% of those applying are internal....but naturally only one gets the job...)

Hmmm don't they announce it to the PhD students? In our dept they send an email around (without the names of the presenters) with the date and time, inviting PhDers to attend...

I think we're all all doing a lot by the sound of this!! Perhaps those of us with End of Year Reviews should do a simulation online over here ha ha! For those of you who have chapters, WOW!

Hmm what did i do? I've been earning money from day 1, so that has meant RA ship and a co authored report on a consultancy, a continuing RA ship on a pan European project and a scholarship that looks quite nice on the CV :)
Leaving money aside, there's a conference in the Netherlands in June, one (or two) in the UK and one perhaps in the States in Oct (not sure). There's also a little encyclop entry, and a couple more stuff in the pipeline for writing for publishing. Thesis work (ha ha, I hate how this comes last), my sup has read 3000 word essays each fortnight and I realise over the year that's a good many number of words...I started a pilot in January which became pretty rich fieldwork which we decided to include in the final thing, so that's a nice little chunk of data collection done..

I think it's been a hectic, extremely fast paced year and I'm getting nervous before the end of year review... simply because the thought of three people interrogating me is quite scary!

Oh and I did a 12000 word theory chapter which of course has come back to be revised for Version 2 now... (and many more to go still...) :( Hence my worry that it is a little too early for 'chapters'...

Hi all, how goes it? As end of year approaches...care for a review? (or should we hide?) :)

Hi Misspacey, I;ve sat in on one last November and will sit in on another in may. They give talks (plus slides) to the faculty and PhD students for about 20 mins (I noticed people tiring when the one ultimately selected went on for 45 mins and still had to be cut short). The presentations usually focus on their recent work, their major work (if these are different), future research agenda, the fit with the department and also what new they could contribute, and teaching experience etc. Followed by questions and then the faculty interviewed them separately. I noticed the faculty paid very close attention to both fit with dept and what new they could bring in... i think the real task is to find a mid point and not tilt to either side....And it is this last that could ideally run through the structure of how you present/frame what you do...

Best!

awwwwwwwwwwwwwww (((((((((((((((((hugs))))))))))))))))))))) I hope you feel better soon, and I also hope there's somebody/bodies looking after you? If not, (which is almost always the case with PhDers) I know it's a complete sad situation to have to drag yourself out of bed (answer frantic family calls on how you are) and make yourself some soup and it sucks... But some good tips are: 1)inform the people in charge that you are unable to do your tasks, give a recovery period 2) if family know of it, pl keep them informed rather than their bugging you with calls and getting worried if you don't respond! 3) make yourself some food for two days and 4) stay in bed.

Get well soon!

Hello. I have no idea of this specific course in these unis, but I do come from the field of media and communications, and indeed study in a department of media and communications. From what I see of Pol Comm in my department I've seen some *very* motivated students who've gone places, either with their research or with jobs outside the industry.. (these before the pol comm course began even..) I think your choice would depend largely on what kind of a career you are interested in, whether the faculty interest/inspire you, some alum research etc..

A quick response, in a rush..

1) Social life. Face it, a PhD is necessarily a solitary journey, more for some, less for some. For the first you are not in it 'together', every project is different. Talk to the other students, discuss supervisory styles, discuss predicaments. The market, the solitude, the uncertainty, the feelings of being drowned in an aimless mass of something something called academia is not a feeling you have alone. We all do. We all have dreadful days, weeks, months, phases. And then, it's clear. It's a process which is more painful for some than for others. Trust me, I go through this all the time.

2) Tangible targets. I've realised over the first yr (I started in Sept last yr) that all along in taught courses our 'targets' were defined by the system (to top a class, to get an A, to graduate). Now, for the first time, some targets are set by the system (proposal, defence, submission) but most are set by you. Your publication plans, your conference plans, your networking targets, are entirely personal. To start off, why dont you print a copy of your CV, and sit with a marker pen and insert 'potentials' in every section. What you would like to see there, in the next few years. And there you go, those are your targets. Track your progress, test your strengths. If you do this in your first yr, and amend/modify along the way, you won't have to discover your CV anew (along with gaps) in the end rush. Make your CV you basket of targets if you feel you haven't any targets now.

3) Life on hold. well. yes. I got the news of my close friend's engagement 15 mins ago. Another is having a baby this summer, and two are on a honeymoon in Mauritius and someplace else. And mind you, we are all fresh out of Masters, did straight degrees after high school and joined the PhD. Even then, I find every one I know is hooked up. Some people manage both lives, some people prioritise.

And often it sucks. I want their lives at times. But then I realise it was just a phase.

I've been there. We've all been there. It may not be time to quit. It may only be time to sit and think!! :-)

Good vibes!

One thing....the reading and writing stages are hardly separate stages!