hey antonymous, are you waiting too?

sarab, did you apply for 1+3 or +3? it's +3 for me. i'm only eligible for a 'fees only' award, but still, that would be a huge chunk of worry less!

Badhaircut, it's good to hear from you, even if there's no good news - I'd been wondering what had become of you.
I just moved into a houseshare with 3 others myself and know what you mean - it's not the style of living others nor myself expected of me at my age. But then, it could be worse. For me, the upside is that every sacrifice is for getting a PhD that I want. For you - any day now you'll get a good job, I'm sure of it, don't give up hope. Then you'll have more opportunities to chose where and how you want to live.
Good luck!

sorry to hear about your troubles. i can't give you any real advice, except maybe not to take rash decisions now. after four years, what are three weeks? can't you just take your own time to do the corrections, and if there is time left before your sup comes back, go on some holidays yourself?
hope the Dr.s around here can help you more.

hi sarab,
i'm your competition also waiting for the results. haven't heard yet. last time i checked the guidelines i believe i read that they would inform your school's registry at the latest by july 31st. then who knows how long the registry takes to let us humble applicants know...

good luck!

i hope all goes well tomorrow!

ours should be 3 more-or-less definite chapters (one of which must be "substantial" eg reflect original data) plus outlines of all other chapters. no word limit, but if the full thesis should be 75'000-100'000 words and would comprise, say, 7 chapters, then the report would be 30'000 words upwards.

i find that if i use font 11, arial, or if i use font 12, times, i get about 1000 words on two pages, so that would make 30'000 words ~60 pages. that's without any charts or tables.

well then, i suppose that's good news for you! good luck with starting your PhD

um - which research council is this?
as far as i remember from reading the ESRC guidelines, they may contact you in june if they need further information, but they won't inform you of decisions before july. concerning the "open competition" the guidelines say they will inform your university at the latest july 31st (and it is your university's job to inform you). i think you are referring to a quota place - this might be communicated a bit earlier - during july. the guidelines also say that under no circumstances will they reply to enquiries.
so - i wouldn't be too worried. but you could look up the guidelines of your RC to be certain.

what did you do in those 4 years since graduating, then?

would you be self-funded or are you applying for funded places? i believe funding for MSc's is extremely limited - that could explain all rejections. if self-funded, do make it very clear in your applications that you do have the means to pay for your fees and the living costs.

good luck!

leigh, interesting question.
first question - should you contact supervisor now or wait for studentship advert: if it were me, i'd try the first option - contact your potential supervisor and work out a proposal together with him/her. because if you don't, there is always the chance that someone else will, maybe from a different university - then no position will ever be advertised and you missed your chance!
second question - taylor the project to suit you or to suit your department: well your potential supervisor would advise you if the project turned into something unsuitable to the department. it might be a compromise. but i would not write up a project totally disregarding your own interests. then - even if you get it, you won't like it!

hey bitterbutter,
i suppose hardly anyone is in a perfect situation. so in yours, the downside is the lab-mates.
do you feel the way they treat you is more like ignoring you, or is it rather condescending?
you could try just keeping on - maybe they will unfreeze sometime. or you could maybe address the problem directly - ask them why they never talk to you. if you do that, be prepared and ready to hear things you don't expect. maybe they don't even notice that they don't talk to you? maybe they feel it is you who makes conversation impossible? it might be a genuine intercultural misunderstanding - these things are hard to resolve and it takes a lot of mental flexibility from all sides. good luck!

Yevhen, you might find some information on www.ukcosa.org.uk

As far as I know, if you have a student visa for England, your spouse can go to England too, I think she will have to apply for a visa separately in a simplified procedure. However, I don't know if she will have a work permit. She might have to apply for a work permit separately or might not be eligible for a work permit at all. You need to check that out - it will be very hard to provide for both of you on one PhD studentship.

hey snappy, you say it yourself - it was uncharacteristic. so unless her "character" changed totally within minutes, it was a bad day. perhaps she just had a fight with her partner where body language was a major issue - or some other reason why something generally harmless like that got her up in a fury. a bit unfair to let it out on you, but she's just human. i'd take it as a good sign that she wants to see you again soon - it could be remorse speaking.

thanks pea
i guess i'll just stick with my children's trainers.

great cc, things seem finally to be moving!