Hey Walminski!
Glad it wasn't a total firing squad! Congrats on getting through - what is your discipline, and were the panel experts in the field?

Hi LukeK
Many Universities, especially newer ones, do run Masters courses in the evenings rather than the traditional daytime, so you can work these around your full-time job. There is also the option of the Open. However you may find the the better and/or more traditional universities do not offer this option.

Have you not asked your department for support? Normally most depts will offer something towards conference costs, especially if you are taking an active part.

There are no hard and fast rules with regard to this kind of stuff, so its general info only.
1. You don't need to have a full proposal written down (although some will expect this) to contact potential supervisors - just a very clear idea of what you want to do. You will need an analytical framework and a series of questions you want to address as a bare minimum.
2. If you are applying for PhD funding often you will find that supervisors will help you refine your proposal especially if you want research council funding... but this is not necessarily true.
3. Most people I know applied for half a dozen - I applied for 4, and got 4 acceptances, but only 2 offers of funding

Hi!
I haven't lived in University of Manchester halls, but some friends have. I would avoid Ladybarn if you want peace and quiet - its in the centre of Fallowfield which is undergrad central and you will have a string of bars outside your door. Have you not thought about private accommodation. As far as I know the options you've stated are all approximately £100 per week. You could get a really nice houseshare (with other postgrads) in one of the best areas of Manchester for £300 - even with bills it would work out cheaper or equivalent and you would probably get a much nicer space!

One of my students gave me a Valentine's present - the first time I've ever got one that wasn't off my mum. Total non-believer!

Congratulations CandyDan...

Hi Paido!
I'm in SocSci, and just to reiterate what others have said, different unis will accept different things. First of all - I am working on the presumption that you will need a funded PhD position. As such, this is only relevant to that.
Before you can decide what you want/need to do, you need to contact prospective Unis to see if they will take you on as an MSc with a 2:2. SocSci is more (much more) competitive that straight science so this is not always that easy. Many good Universities will put you on the Postgrad diploma stream, see how you do, then decide if you should do the research project (in many cases the research project is what distinguishes the PGDip from the Masters). Check this out first.
You can get a funded PhD position without a Masters in a social science, but it extremely rare. You would absolutely have to have a first. You would also have to either go for internal university funding, or go on the ESRC 1+3 scheme (so even if you complete this BSc with a first you would probably have to do a masters anyway, but it would be funded - do you have the time?). It would probably also be a lower ranking university - I don't know if this bothers you.
To me, the most logical step would be to discuss Masters options with a few universities and then apply for a career development loan to do the Masters asap, rather than waiting to save up... If a PhD is what you want, you are going a rather long way around to getting it

Writing in coherent English rather than complete drivel would improve your job profile immeasurably.

Hi Bluebird!

Hope you are ok - you sound a bit fragile. To be honest, the experience I have had with deferrals (interruptions of study) have not been positive. Everyone I know who has opted to take one for personal reasons (ie not maternity or physical health problems, but financial/emotional issues) has not returned to uni to complete. This is only my experience, but they found life outside academia to be much healthier mentally than trying to deal with the pressures within it. I think a lot depends on the attitude and support of your Uni, and most importantly, your supervisor.

My sup is like many fairly laissez-faire. Holidays are negotiated when I have things going on - moving house, visiting family, physically going away. It is simply a case of 'this chapter will take an extra week as I'm busy week X', as long as I don't take a huge block of hols, no-one seems to mind! Although I totally understand how lab-based projects are completely different.
Obviously when teaching you cannot go away during teaching/assessment periods but I'm sure someone will tell you about which deadlines are fixed and cannot accommodate breaks etc.

Hi,

No there is not some magical standardised pay across all universities/disciplines unfortunately. I know that my Uni, for my Dept (Politics and History) pays (per hour) £33 for a lecture, £28 for a seminar, £13 for essay marking/assessment.

Hi Gazzer (classy name by the way!)

A couple of my friends were funded PhD students and left before their funding was due to end. First of all, yes you were fortunate to receive funding, and many will be rightly jealous of that, but you should not feel guilty about leaving if you feel that you are either deeply unhappy or cannot see a way to successfully complete with all your marbles still intact.
The only examples I know are cases where either the University or the Research councils have funded. In those cases what normally occurs is that you may be requested to pay back a small part of the funding. For example, if you were paid in January and your next payment is due in May, then if you received January's money but leave in, say, March, you may be asked to give back the money that covers April and part of May (if this makes sense!). You will not in any case be expected to pay the whole lot back, and I do know that in the case of my friends, they were not asked to pay anything back (they were University funded, I think research councils may be more 'on the ball' so to speak).

Unfortunately I don't know what would happen if you are industry funded for example.

Good Luck regardless (up)

I've noticed a pattern over the past few years of sitting in on interviews that more and more women are going for the shift-dress with smart jacket look. I think I'm going to opt for this too, mainly on the grounds that I can wear the dress again and again without feeling self-conscious in it (formal parties/conferences/dinners etc) whereas a suit I'd rarely get use out of, and seems like an 'extravagance' when I could spend the cash on books!!

Me too Chris - the lights are on in Manchester tonight then! Luckily I have Haribo to keep me going... sugary treats yum yum!