Just remembered I did have one bad experience,

I had an interview arranged (during the final year of my undergrad) with a supervisor in Edinburgh- we had had various contacts over the 2 month period before the interview, but on the Friday before the interview she emailed me and told me to make a presentation of my final year project (I hadn't even done this for the course yet)- I presumed it would be just to show her and made a 10 min presentation - but had no real time to prep it.

When I got to the interview - she showed me a presentation of hers which was fine - then I asked if she'd like to see my presentation - at which point she said not yet, and that said I'd be presenting it to the department - and she had invited along the whole department.

It went okay - but I didn't get the job - Doh!

I think a lot of supervisors will prob tell you you'll spend the first 6 months reading up which you could make in to a review. but in my expereince this rarely transpires (the review not the reading) - so it'll be a good idea to get their opinion on when you'll be publishing research based publications and always aim your research towards publication - it is so important that you publish - if you get a t least 1 first author publication it makes grant and job applications much easier

Good luck for the interview

S

Read the project description - keeping in mind their research interests - and if you know some of the techniques it allows you to ask questions about how the project will be carried out and the specific aims of the project - deadlines - do they expect papers to be published - do they collaborate with any other unis (this may give you good travelling experiences and bulks up your c.v.), conferences you expect to attend and posters you'll be expected to produce

Without being arrogant, you might want to try and act like they have to account to you as well - Its the next 3-4 years of your life and if you are really interested, you'll want to know that the goals they have set out are realisitic and achievable, and mainly what their plan is for publications?

I have personally only had good experiences - although they can be a little daunting - and sometimes take a while to get back to you - so I would ask when you should expect to hear - this gives you a definate date you can phone in if you have not heard

My best advice would be to have a clear idea of why you want to do the PhD in their field. It will help if you have some knowledge of their work - In my experience, they will do most of the talking telling you about the project and their work - It will help greatly if you understand their work first and it'll make the interview less awkward for you.

There may be an option for you in the form of suspending your registration (have you already done this on your year out?) In extenuating circumstances you can suspend your registration (or even get an extension) the time during which does not count to the total time taken

As for the 6hours maximum - I presume that is only while you are under contract as a PhD i.e. getting paid

If they stopped then theoretically you should be free to teach more hours I assume - therefore you could possibly raise some more money that way?

Part time is an option - but I don't have any experience on how this works - but I assume the total time would be adjusted to give you more time to finish etc

At the end of the day, only you know your situation and will be able to determine whats best for you - but you're right with all your prep from previous years it shouldn't be as hard - hopefully

s

its a hard fact of the PhD - that most people probably - regardless of time out - have to work for a period without funding -

It is extreemly difficult if you are the sole breadwinner for your houshold and I don't know what you could do otherwise

Most folk have to take on part or full time work whilst in the final stages of their PhD - which does slow down the writing process - but at least it gets done and you can go on to reap the rewards

At least if you plan now - for the possibility of a lack of funding next year - you may be able to come up with a solution that might allow you to finish - rather than relying on it and being stuck when the time comes

Hope this helps

good luck

S

melib was just being rude and offensive to get a response I expect - as he/she has done on several posts previously

Must be bored!

agreed!

Despite other arguments the truth is your ultimate salary is greater

These are just figures out of my head but roughly - so please no comments on how wrong my figures are

Burger King Staff (£5.50 an hour) 40 hour week - £220 a week (£12,000 a year)
Burger King manager (50 hour week) £12-15k MAX
Call centre (37.5hr week) - £10-15k
Hospital Lab work Based on Degree (40hrs) -£17-25k
Hospital Lab work based on Masters (40hrs)- 2 years of training but salary potential increases to up to £35k by the end of your career - potential
Hospital Lab - with PhD (40-50hrs)- you could take one of specialised posts which pay up to £60k
Academia + research with PhD (?hours) - start at £23k (ish) upper level is variable but upwards of 50k is possible

My point is that each step you take increases the starting potential for earning and ultimatley affects the ceiling salary you can acheive by the peak of your career. Plus you won't come home smelling of burger grease every day

Personally I would never take the job just based on whether one university had a better name than another - in most cases it will not make a difference when you go for a job afterwards - you'll be chosen on your acheivements - publications etc - and if you go abroad afterwards, it means practically nothing to them


good luck

S

What are the prospects for jobs from each project based on the techniques you have been told you will use (thats if its a science one) - i.e. there will always be more jobs in cancer, heart disease etc than in physiology based projects - again this is only science directed - but I assume it translates to a few other areas

How easy is it going to be for you to live and get on in the area? do you easily make friends?, how many other PhDs were in the department? you only have to look at previous posts to see the importance of support from close friends and other PhDs.

Finally I suppose - do you want to travel, live away from home (if you don't already)

Dundee (in a science view) has some great research going on, there is a good student population and plenty to do, plus you are never far away from Edinburgh, Glasgow, the highlands etc if you want some time out

your question I assume is 'If both projects were identical and amazing, is it better to move to dundee than stay at leicster

There is no hard and fast answer - I did my undergrad and PhD at the same Uni and it hasn't held me back in the least

Some might say that if you moved, it would show future employers that you can move around and you gained a PhD position based on merit and not just being handed it by a undergrad supervisor who knew you (this is a very sceptical point I know but its one argument)

Personally I would always make the choice based on the project -

how good are the supervisors,

how well structured are the goals and outcomes of the project - realistic and acheivable?

Which supervisor is going to have the most time to look at your data when you hand it in - and which one is going to be too busy

A good talk I went to a while back, was a senior female researcher describing her career and how whenever she moved to a new post, she took something of what she already did but incorporated a new aspect.

It meant that she had a grasp of the area, while learning something new and inspiring while diversifying.

yeaaaa! I love endnote

As everyone else has said it is basically a ref lib manager - everything is put in manually - but you can search for it via basic search terms and it'll fill in all the details - it does not automatically search for updates for you and put those in

but the good thing is that it stores all the different paper styles for referencing - so if you do it one way and decide to change to another - it is as easy as a click of the button

You can add your own refs (for odd quotes and books) - edited by yourself or just add in all the journals you ever use - through a fairly comprehensive easy to use search engine

and it means you don't have to spend weeks formating documents -

Definately use it (or any other ref manager) from the start

S

If you feel there would be a problem with the field, what to do would be to make sure you incorporate a lot of techniques - your next job is only as good as the work you can perform

For example it doesn't matter what you studied as long as you have the right techniques - think about what you might like to get into afterwards and tailor your experiments around it this way

One of the guys just finishing his PhD in my Lab started as microbiologist but changed it through techniques to a more biochemical focused one with real time PCR, 2d gel analysis pcr etc etc

so he ended up cross disciplinary - microbiology and Biochemistry -

Techniques are very important but it is possible to get jobs where you learn new ones - its just a lot harder at the start

hope this helps

S