The People's Republic of desire by Annie Wang

Well done! Im so happy for you

Thanx guys

You are an EU citizen so I would think so

Hiya,
Just wanted to ask when you say Ireland do you mean the Republic or Northern?

Also I just had a meeting with my postgraduate advisor who told me that he was concerned also and felt that I shouldn’t have had to make my own experimental plan and this should have already been done before I even started the PhD so that I could just get straight on with it.

Now I am really confused as to what should be happening? on one hand I though a PhD was suppose to be independent research so I would expect that I would have to devise my own experimental strategy, however on the other hand I find that most science PhD's already have a plan set out before the student starts and this seems to be the case based on what most other people doing PhD's tell me. Does anyone know what is suppose to happen? Is my case normal or is it all going wrong for me?

Hi guys I dont if you can help but I'm really confused right now. When I went for the interview for my PhD my supervisors were really vague about the experimental plan for the project however I just assumed that when I arrived that I would be told what the plan was. When I arrived to start my PhD 3 months ago I was told that they didnt really have a plan and that I should make my own plan. Although I wasnt exactly over the moon about this I went away and got on with it and made my own plan telling myself that this is what was expected of me at PhD level. I am now 3 months into my PhD and so far I have made a plan for the 3 year project which has been approved by my supervisors and have done a lot of litterature searching and have been learning some lab techniques and only started on the actual experimental work a couple of weeks ago. My problem is that when I speak to others they are suprised that I have done such little lab work as they started almost from the first day.

no its not and dont worry if you dont know that much about the PhD title they ususally dont ask too many specific questions. Just be prepared to talk about any projects that you have done in the past not in great detail but just u know the general backround methodology results you obtained and any improvments you would make. Other than that you should also be prepared to answer questions about why you want to do the PhD and a PhD in general and maybe your career aspirations. I hope this helps.

Dont worry you will be find. Best of luck

Queen Mary without a doubt. It's part of the university of london which includes UCL, King's college and LSE. Hope this helps

You could ask about any caloborations the reserach group has with other unis/ industry and you could ask about what oppertunities you would get to present your work and then obviously if there is any aspect of the experimental design that you want to clarify that's what I did at my PhD interviews i'm sure these are really standard things that most people ask tho'. Hope this helps

Hiya,

I don't know if this helps but when I was applying for PhDS I never used my master's project supervisor I used my personal supervisor since he voluntered himself for the job and the other referee was from my undergraduate university which was not from my project supervisor there since they constantly complained about having too much work today and would sometimes ignore reference requests so I had to find a more reliable referee. This seemed to be fine and I was offered 4 PhDs on the basis of these references and my inteview performance so I thnik if you could find someone else from your uni who knows you then you should be fine.

Hope this helps

Hi Luisa, you really have nothing to worry about. I got a first in my undergraduate degree and then did I masters, I got a similar mark to yours for my dissertation (merit) and got a merit overall for the masters. However I didnt have any problems getting PhD offers and weasnt really asked too much about my dissertation marks or any of the marks for the masters course at any of my interviews. The first degree was enough and I was given unconditional offers on the basis of this, so really you will be more than fine and the extra knowledge and experience you have gained from the masters will give you a real edge even though you probably don't need it. I hope this helps

What did you get in your first degree? if you met the PhD entry requirments in your undergraduate degree then you should be fine and as has alreayd been said it will only boost your chances.

Hi I got a first in my undergraduate degree from a uni that ranks in the 90's in the league tables but was still able to get onto a masters course at a top 20 uni with funding as well. Also I managed to get a PhD after this with funding at a top 10 uni so I think you should be fine. The OU has a good reputation and I can't see this affecting you. Hope this helps

Hiya, that sounds a lot like my PhD too. At first I was quite upset about it but then I realised how much freedom I have to decide exactly what I want to do. At the momment I'm just developing my methodology so I wont have to decide exactly what im going to do for a few months yet so I'm going to take my time and read around the area as much as I can and then hopefully in a few months I will have a much clearer idea.