Hey WJ_gibson, I'm doing IR too, but a very unorthdox approach... what (more precisely) did you do. I'm starting to get worried about jobs too - applying like mad. And I've seen lots of friends fall when it came to jobs, I'd really like to hear your experiences...

Oh no, I'm definitely off to meet the ex, unless he changes his mind (he can be fairly unreliable!). He can also be very useful! He's offered to look at some job applications for me (he's a prof) and I owe him a drink at least - he helped me swap supervisors when I was having problems earlier this year... Bless. Unreliable, but comes good when I need it... The perfect ex..

Oh and good luck PhDbug!!!!!

I'm still bashing away at my laptop! Chapter due in asap (ideally today)... no major plans for christmas, although an ex-boyf is back in town and has mentioned that he wants to meet up... oh dear!

I have a part-time job in a shop to help pay the bills during the PhD (although desperately trying to cut my hours!). Anyway, on Friday I found out that a funding bid that my friend and I submitted to the AHRC had been accepted. On a break at the shop, I rang some friends to let them know we'd got the £2000 we'd asked for, and I was overheard by one of the full-timers at the shop who shouted at me "So is that where my taxes go?!?!?!"
What the heck am I supposed to respond to that??? I tried to explain the value of the conference we're going to hold with the cash (looking at human rights for linguistic minorities, especially in newer states), but that just made things worse as she started ranting on about how people who come to this country need to learn English, or they shouldn't come here....
How do the rest of you deal with that kind of reaction?

Ours has bombed big style! Still in the top 10 for European Studies, but 5% 4*, cleverly balanced out by 5% unclassified... dreading that board meeting on Monday now! Well, at least it wasn't me bringing the place down!

Olivia I am so jealous!!! Got collared by my supervisor in the pub yesterday. First of all he thanked me for helping out a student, then said "oh, and your next chapter? Not to put you under and pressure; but you're under pressure..." Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh!

I had a chapter due about 10 days ago, but ended up with 50 essays on my desk to mark. Essays are done, but the chapter still needs work. I promised it before christmas, so it looks like it will literally be Christmas Eve - lucky supervisor! Thank god I bought presents early this year!

Maggie, the RAE doesn't assign marks to individual staff, just to percentages of staff; but any University Manager who does not know who is weak shouldn't have their job. Staff who have only produced the minimum amount of publications and mainly minor journal articles are easily spotted - they know before they make the submission.
Heifer, although departments can make projections on the basis of this week's results, the financial decisions are not released until March, so your husband may be waiting a while - although it is expected that jobs will start to appear late January (well, I'm hoping too!!!)

You're right Rubyw, universities actually get access to the results today to give department heads time to prepare their reactions (we were supposed to have a board meeting today but it has been knocked back to next week so out Director can spend time looking through the results). I do think the new ranking system, where depts can't 'hide' weaker staff is going to cause some major problems though!

Hmmm, that reply was really quite out of order, please ignore him/her Bobby! I do think you need to ask for more advice, something clearly isn't clicking for your supervisor, and I guess you really need to find out what that is.

Anyway, inspired by the thread title, thought this might cheer you up a little!:p

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=R4hdwBWqAlU

Flatshare is good, and so is www.spareroom.co.uk. Although sharing with strangers can be odd (especially given PhD working hours!) you will save money with that rather than a studio (sharing the price of a phone line, internet access, tv license etc), so might be an option. I live with a friend who I met whilst doing the PhD, but she quit at the end of her third year. Its harder now given that she goes out quite a lot, and I get jealous! But its workable. And you might get a normal sized bed out of it!

My Sup always tells me to be ruthless, and this seems like a perfect example of how/why that could/should be done. My one concern is that during an interruption of study (being on leave) you are not allowed access to any university facility, which includes your supervisor. Your sup has no obligation to give you feedback during this time, and in fact may be in breach of her/his contract by doing so - you should check this out before going ahead...

Good luck either way...

Good luck Jouri, we'll miss you and your input. We all hope that it works out for you...

A friend of mine is staff at Notts and lives in Manchester. He spends two days a week in Notts (crashing at a friends) and it works pretty well. yes you will miss out on some stuff, but there's normally quite a bit of notice for events, so you shouldn't have to travel last-minute. The train journey is horrible (4 hours) for not a very long distance, but if you acn discipline yourself to work whilst travelling, its not a massive issue.

With a 2:1 you can easily get a place at a top uni on a Masters course. Most unis see Masters courses as cash cows, so if you're willing to pay, it shouldn't be a problem.

Instead of a graduate loan, it maybe easier/preferable to get a career development loan. If it is possible for you to say at home an go to Manchester Uni for your MA (that's what I did), you can get the CDL to cover fees and free up some cash to live on (maybe have a part-time job too). Although the rates are higher than a graduate loan, you don't pay the money back till you finish your Masters. By that time you will hopefully have a funded PhD or a job, so the payments won't hurt quite so much.

Both options are possible (CDL and graduate loan), although I think a graduate loan is based more on current earnings, and CDL you can get without a job as long as you have a decent enough credit rating. I got mine through the co-op who were lovely. Just remember to make sure you're on the electoral register before you apply for credit - it can make a big difference.

Good Luck