brass

pore

Olivia, it's partly a status thing, trying to elevate yourself in the academic hierarchy. It's a blurry status though in reality, as PhD students do have a less straightforward status as students, in that they also teach as members of staff, and are employed on that basis (at least in my uni). Also, some staff are also doing PhDs though they were staff before they registered for their PhDs (I am one) so wouldn't define themselves as students, as they're employed primarily as permanent members of staff. Some of the fulltime PhD students we've had do no teaching and aren't staff, so I think it's purely an ego thing with them. It's a bit disturbing how inflated some egos do get in some cases, not necessarily proportional to the quality of their work, or so I believe.

cross

mole

======= Date Modified 05 Dec 2008 13:17:32 =======
Butterfly, that's great to get to that stage, hope you get good feedback for it. I was really nervous when I did my first draft and dreaded the meeting for the feedback, but was pleasantly surprised by their comments. Hopefully it'll be the same for you.

Tokyorabbit, I understand the PMTish effect on your work, it's crap when it coincides with a big deadline, I swear it affects my productivity and that's not another procrastination excuse either! I wonder if you can arrange your viva to fit in with these things??? Probably not...
Good to have finished the nightmare chapter though, so nice to get these little monsters out of the way. I felt like that about some of my problem chapters, that I couldn't get any further without feedback as I was too close to it and needed fresh perspectives. Not sure if I misunderstood you, but won't the intro be at the start and the conclusion at the end?

Anyway, I'm off to carry on doing nothing!! Well, not literally nothing, but pottering about. It's SO nice because I don't feel guilty AT ALL!!!!!!!! hehe :-) Oh yes, and I'll just blow my own trumpet as mum calls it... my supervisor said congratulations after skimming through my draft, and was impressed at how much work I've put into it, as it looks good and I made all the right decisions re getting it bound, doing the pics etc!!!! 8-) I hope the feedback isn't too tortuous when I get it, but it is SO nice to feel I'm getting near the end of this PhD business! Whoopeee!

Yes, Olivia's right, it's all do-able. I think it's because you can get such a lot out of actually doing the PhD that any sacrifices in time or money are balanced out by the satisfying bits, and the possibilities of what it might enable you to do in the longer term. I'm writing up too, and don't have any regrets really, apart from I wish I'd speeded myself up a bit ages ago to finish it quicker, then my savings wouldn't have leeched away so much, but that's not dreadful in the wider scheme of things.

truss

solo

ooh good, you're both back :-)

I did that. I started the PhD while working full time 5 days a week, then after about a year went down to 2.5, then after a few more years went down to 2 days, where I still am. I tried to save as much money as possible while I was working full time, and paid off as much of my mortgage as I could, as I knew I'd be on a limited income for quite a while. The drop down to 2 days from 2.5 was because I felt like I was spending almost the same amount of time travelling into work as actually being there, and I also found it hard to switch mentally from doing the job to the PhD. The drop in permanent salary was ok-ish as I supplemented it with teaching, mostly during the autumn terms each year. As it's PhD related and good experience, it's all worked out ok. The money's useful and it doesn't encroach too much on my PhD work as it's squeezed mainly into one term, so I can plan around it. I try to spend 3 days a week on my PhD when not at work, though it usually becomes more time consuming when I have deadlines, or had to spend time either going to archives or interviewing people, as I had to be flexible, though this is obviously dependent on what your project it.

Yep, me too Liminalplace! PhDbug, you have made me splutter on my breakfast coffee in a good way!

lol Juno, we've got some of those spaces too!! 'Zones' that offer 'flexible space utilisation' and give students 'ownership of their working area'. The colours make me feel like I've accidentally walked onto the set of a children's tv program. Lime green plastic isn't a lovely sight first thing in the morning.

Pamw, there's absolutely no food allowed in our library. And no tea or coffee either, but you can have bottled water, always useful in summer heatwaves to prevent students passing out from dehydration!

======= Date Modified 04 Dec 2008 11:55:30 =======
That sounds really annoying - it would get to me as well. Cheese and onion crisps do smell, sometimes other people's dinner smells quite putrid and I wonder if they've got something wrong with their taste buds.

Is there a member of staff responsible for postgrad students and their facilities? Maybe you could get them to say something, and to send out an email to everyone or put up a notice about guidelines how the room should be used. Or is there a student rep you could speak to? It would be better if you could sort out 'rules' for room use through a third party who officially has some sort of responsibility for the whole area, then you won't look like a moaner (which I don't think you are AT ALL btw!!). Or you could speak to their supervisors about it, and they could tell them how students are expected to behave. Failing getting third parties to sort it out, I'd speak to them myself, but do it on a day when you're feeling particularly tactful, otherwise it might come out a bit rudely and you still need to work with these people presumably.

Though to be honest, us lot have moaned about each other, put up notices, told people off for various habits and at the end of the day, you just get used to each other having off days and being grumpy, like families in one way.