Hello ALL,

Do you have a hiking or walking society in your Uni? I have joined one and it is very useful in finding friends, you only have to walk and the talk just comes in naturally because as you walk in a nice area and for long hours you tend to talk about subjects and people just join in.

Also, if your university organise trips to other cities go to these trips, in my first year I went alone to Oxford with my university travel society, then there was some one alone, I asked if they know where the bus exactly stops, we stayed at the trip together and became friends afterwards.

Hope this help.

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hello all,



Oh, I didn't think of that, but that is a bit annoying. I have singed up for "findapostdoc.com" but it is not very useful in my field, I have been using it for one year and I'm not getting much from them. Naturally I have to search for other websites.

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could please explain further, am not sure what do you mean?

======= Date Modified 10 21 2009 18:21:56 =======
Hello All,
can we please make a collection of the best website for to find post docs?
If everyone respond with a new website, then we can have a nice collection to share between all of us.

I know some famous website:
Nature: http://www.nature.com/naturejobs/channels/graduate/
Science: http://recruit.sciencemag.org/
Cancer careers http://www.cancercareers.org/
Science job: http://www.sciencejobs.com/

Does any one know other website?

Thanks:$

======= Date Modified 10 Nov 2009 15:15:47 =======
I have attended a course about stress management, and one of the most common issues in the PhD apparently is this feeling of loneliness and how it leads to extra stress. They have made a survey and it was shown that the feeling of isolation and loneliness is universal and it is one of the challenges of PhD which students need to overcome.

I joined a hiking society, and it helped a bit, also you can ask some one you like to have a coffee, am sure everyone is in your situation and they will be happy that someone asked them.



With our limited abilities, we can help too sometimes .

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Hello Cobweb,

yeh, you are not alone, I think every one is like that and they pretend to be confident. No one really knows how the others feeling cause every body are thinking of themselves.
Well, in my department, we have an office of 30 desks, and we are all the same age PhD students, but strangely no one talks with each other, or even knows their name.
There was a girl at desk in front of mine, I see her everyday and she sees me every day, it is about three years we see each other in the PhD office, can you believe that one day I went to her lab because I wanted something, and she did not know am working in the lab next to her lab ? and that we see each other in the office every day!!! she told me are you new here? what are you looking for? I was like what is wrong with people, I just don't get it.

Since am international student, it is a bit more difficult for me to be friend with others, although I tried very hard, but it is not working, something which makes me so curious why the English people (with all my respect to everyone here) in my place also don't interact, no one in my place talk to another one or made friendship, what is the reason?

if I was in my country, and we were all in the same room, it would be like every one will know everyone, every one greet the whole room when they come in the morning, we all go to house invitations of each others, I just find it very strange the way people interact here. of course too much mixing is not good either because it has a lot of downside, but the loneliness here is extreme !
I have spent the last four years like that, and most of the PhD students in my school, why? I don't know.
what do you think is the reason? cause i really can not work it out and for me it is extra weird that two people from the same country, same background, working in the same area can not be friends?

Hello sherlock holmes,
I know chevening scholarship? but you have to be older than 25 years old.
if you visit the british council website, you will find few scholarships for international students.
Even if the deadlines passed, still contact them and ask for help, you never know.

Sometimes universities also have funding for international studetnt.
You need to have a good TOEFL or IELTS score.
hope this helped

Hello walmin,

good for you for being happy and positive, that is really encouraging.

my attitude and mood changed after joining this forum, keep on the good work.
by the way may i ask what does your nickname mean, it is too long and hard to remember:$

OK, supposing i go there, am a bit shy, for example how do you approach a big academic in the field, it is intimidating.
I want to work on my subject and I like it, so I want to network, probably leading to a job, but i just don't know what to say? What to do....etc. DO you have any suggestions please?.
My aim is to find a job with someone whom I value their research

======= Date Modified 09 Nov 2009 19:42:51 =======
Hello ButterCup,



Could you be a little clearer of what is the problem?



statistics is very tricky and one of the most popular questions on viva day, it is better to ask an expert.



I had problem with statistics, I asked someone who has been working on it for three years, but something told me his method is not correct. I asked someone else they told me a different story.



what I did, I sat down and tried to understand the problem as much as I can.

Then our university had a statistic course, and the tutor was willing to help with any research questions, so I emailed her, and she solved it for me so nicely.



am telling you all that to show what steps might help you, first : try to read some basic statistics ( I used prism software and I read its guide very carefully) secondly ask someone who is doing statistic in your area.



Read some basic statistics like t test, and ANOVA, I think if it is two variables you do a t test, if more you do other tests for larger populations.



Good luck

======= Date Modified 09 Nov 2009 19:27:28 =======
Hello Ruby,



That was a an accurate description of how I'm feeling now, wow !!!

yeh, one of my big problems is i can not even look at my thesis, thanks for sharing, that is huge relief.

do you really feel happy after? am so pessimistic to be honest, worried about finding a job, and if I find it, am worried I might hate it, I just can not go through the ups and downs of PhD again, but at the same time I like the challenges of research, it is mind stimulating.

Any way, thank you very much, I have voted for you too as helpful user.





8-)

;-)

Hello Stressed,

I should call my self stressed as well, am always stressed. Thanks for the nice, touching and encouraging words, it sounded so sincere, am really touched, thank you sooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much :$. Strangely your words made me a little bit better, it felt nice that someone out there is listening and caring enough to write a reply, that is a huge relief.

I voted for you by the way.(up)

i know you will tell me that i should be happy after my writing is finished, but I am not, I never been this miserable, I want to get it done and move on.
I cannot find a job I like and the clock is ticking

:-(:-s this seem never ending, from one difficult stage to another one.

Hello Ev, I will not tell you are brilliant etc, am sure there is a reason you are doing the PhD and being inadequate is not one of them.

tell us why, or write it down to yourself why you are feeling like that. There are two answers :
1-you are too hard on yourself, want to learn everything quickly and comparing your self to people that you shouldn't.
2-sorry for being harsh but, there might be a reason for that (may be you need to try harder? ask more? observe more? or may be that is how the supervisor motivate his/her students to do better because he/she sees more in you than you achieve?)
try to find out why you feel he/she is treating you like that, it might be just he wants you to do better and figure out things yourself so you can be more independent gradually.
is it few times or he/she make you feel like that all the time?
it is common in the first year i guess

Hello Sue,

Thanks.
it might be helpful, I will try it any way, but I'm keen on a chat room for UK as well.
I think if we are able to discuss problems at work, for example someone has more expertise in an area can help those who are starting etc. I find discussing experimental work (am doing biochemistry) and figuring out what went wrong very useful, sometimes it is only small thing that cause the error.