i'm only one year in but i believe right now i would do it again (my mood can change quickly though...). i want to be among the people i am now, even if it means i'm not the "bright, clever one" anymore but just one among many, thus making my chances of sticking out of the crowd and attaining one of those few good jobs slim.

second: in academia there are few "good" jobs and lots of contenders which makes for the high competitiveness. outside of academia there is also competition for the best jobs (there might be more well paying jobs around, but that's not all that counts, is it?). we with our certainly bright, educated minds we would have (would have had if we had chosen that path) a priviledged starting point in that competition and thus good chances of attaining those "good" jobs. instead we chose to enter a field where everyone else is just as smart and educated as we, thus increasing the elements of luck in who gets those sought-after jobs. we have less control, and might have to make do with second best, which could be quite bad. but that was our choice, no?

hmmm... whilst i overall agree, i'd be interested in what you all think of this:
first: my partner who is finishing his economics PhD just got a job, starting soon, as a lecturer, in the UK. this will be paying 37k in the first year with prospects of raises every year (£1k) and promotion to senior lecturer with significant pay raise sometime in the not-too-far future. lucky exception? perhaps. still, apparently it is possible, for some at least, to get good, well paying jobs right after your PhD.

overall, working from home has been fine for me at times. i think it is very important that you are well set up at home and have everything you need to work concentratedly. that can be a good desk, comfortable chair, good lighting, but also such things as a good internet connection, working printer, sociable environment, quiet during the day but distraction in the evenings... and you need to organize your days into clear slots, especially concerning when you have breaks/stop for the day. i often had "work until 30 minutes before evening news. then cook, eat dinner while watching the news, have the evening off" i find it most annoying when i'm working from home and suddenly realize that i need to go to uni to continue because i'm lacking some sort of equipment at home. that can disrupt my whole day.

on the other hand sometimes the PhD-student's loneliness is even more pronounced when immersed in people, if you know what i mean. if i have nothing to look forward to in going home, the danger of working at uni lies in working too late (forgetting the time it will take to get home).

this has worked particularly well for me when i lived with people i liked, and when i had a cat to keep me company. thus the loneliness of everyday work was broken by social companionship in the evenings without me having to organize anything. if you don't have that sort of living situation, working from home might increase your loneliness.
working at uni on the other hand has the advantage of people being around when i need a coffee break, of impromptu meetings and informal exchanges with colleagues and my supervisor, of having all my stuff around me, of having a clear distance between work and other life, of being able to nip down to the library on a haunch, of being able to print and photocopy stuff, to use campus software,...

chris, hope you're well! for me it's got more to do with my "mood" than with where i am. when i'm in a procrastination mood i will find things to do apart from my work even if i am at my own desk at university. or i will just stay at home procrastinating until half the day is over. the only thing that helps then is an approaching deadline or perhaps an intentional "work meeting" with a friend.
but when i'm feeling good, i can work from home or from uni. home has some conveniences such as the possibility of cooking lunch/dinner whenever you feel like it, making tea, doing the shopping during a needed break... you can sit around in your pajamas if you want, you save the travelling time to/from uni, you can take care of chores such as calling the bank or making an appointment with the doctor at any time... depending on how you are organized, you have all your material and books and stuff available at home... (i keep these things at uni)

i feel you've been winning long enough, insomniac. my turn now

bill gates foundation. specifically funds PhDs at Cambridge.

IFUW international federation of university women

it's unfortunate that you are one year to short in britain to be eligible for ESRC.

i agree with o.stoll (welcome back - how was the cycling?)
however, if your prime motivation to do a PhD is to avoid being unemployed, i would think about it very carefully. that might not be enough motivation to keep you going through the difficult parts.

hey PinkNeuron,
150h DOES sound a lot, for 8k. Is it really 150 contact hours? Or rather, 150h of paid work which sums up to 8k, but this for example made up out of 25 class teaching hours, 25 office hours, 75 hours for preparation, and 25 hours for essay marking?

if you've actually got to teach 150 hours, i wouldn't do it. if you split that on 3 terms of 10 weeks, that's 5 hours a week - assuming that you need about 3 hours of preparation per one hour of teaching, that would make 20 hours of work already, and then there might be other duties such as office hours and essay marking...
if on the other hand you get 8k for teaching a class of 1h/week during 2 terms and a bit, plus preparation/office hour/marking, then that is well paid, i would say. i will also be teaching, 2h/week, for 23 weeks , plus the other duties, and will get less than half of 8k.

great, pinkneuron! now, after seeing them, do you still think they will make your fees?

(i just can't get rid of the image someone once brought up of you going to your fees office and dumping a pile of puppies on their counter)

swiss, actually - swiss german even, not french swiss. but in the swiss version of german there are a lot of french words, such as above.

salut!

all i can say is that this is definitely something you want to discuss with your supervisor BEFORE you get in contact with those institutions. the point is, in difficult cases like this, one wrong word in an e-mail or such can make obtaining access incredibly hard, whereas your supervisor should know what the pitfalls are.
as you haven't started your PhD yet, I wouldn't worry too much yet. Talk to your supervisor; he/she is there to advise you.

well as it has been said already, in the UK, it is normally so that you don't have any, or very few, mandatory courses, in your first year - no more after that. in my case - i'm doing my PhD in the UK - we had one 2-hour mandatory class but that was all. you agree with your supervisor if you need to go to any other classes such as research methods training and similar.

so follow the advice already given - check out the times or guardian league tables to find "good" universities, then check their individual PhD regulations. MOST of them will be without or with very limited coursework.
costs will be between 3000£ and 16000£ a year, depending if you pay home or overseas fees.