So for a pt Phd, it means you have to fund yourself?

How confident are you in working on a topic which someone got funding and pass it on to you ? I'd like to work on my own thing but due to funding constraint, may take up some formualted topic with research questions being identified already. The subject area still lies in social science but is completely new to me.

No, they just said there were 140 applications for 4 awards and competition is very fierce. There was no interview involved for it, everything was based on an application form and two references. they always give bumbling replies, no actual feedback.

I was told wikipedia is not 100% accurate and we cannot totally rely on it. Be critical!

The average annual income of a lawyer in the UK is around 78,000 pounds, according to some legal publication. But they have to work very hard, sometimes from 7:00 am till late night. Maybe the better side of staying in academia is freedom and less working hours in the workplace, but again there is "publish or perish" pressure......You simply can't get both.....

but the thing is, rick ,you won't be able to discern the supervisor's personality firstly during a chat. Until you work with him/her and the research process starts rolling, you'll never know..... He/she may look very kindhearted to you at first sight but the nightmare only starts later.....

Haha, I think claired didn't mean to mention this specifically. But probably claireg you don't need a masters as postgrad qualification from Oxford are awarded as Mphils, so undergrad should be seen as postgrad? I'm bantering....

well, I think the scholarship selectors do care which uni you did your undergrad. I know most of the ESRC/AHRC award winners graduated from Oxbridge.

404, I totally understand your eargerness to get it coz I'had been doing the same thing (refreshing emails, checking websites). I was informed I wasn't successful for the scholarship just yesterday, and actually I haven't recovered from the sullen hangover yet as everything used to bode very well.I think one bigger regret is that they normally don't give us any feedback so we can identify room for improvement. I was sent the bumbling nonsensical email notifications twice, " I regret that you are not offered the award"... and something like that. Sigh, I don't even know how I should improve in order to succeed?????

dazednconfused, would the chance of winning be very low if you apply for a studentship other than in your own primary research area? I find it hard to write up the proposal without relevant background knowledge. It is not hard to acquire but it takes time!

Well, as I said I'm not eligible for AHRC/ESRC, etc. I've been keeping trying but without any structural outcome. This year's entry is unlikely and I am just wondering if it is still worthwhile applying for the same thing next year, being rejected this year. What I have been worrying about came true--indeed, they actually don't favour un-sociology/anthropology related undergrad. There were 130 candidates for the competition which can only fund 4 people. Well, this is not unexpected anyway, as I have some kind of ominous feeling.....

I got to know this just half an hour ago. As I've expected, maybe they do think my undergrad is irrelevant to sociology, so I was ejected...... I'm not eligible for ESRC/AHRC, so funding is a headache for me. I can't afford to pay the tuition myself, so I'll have to give it up for this Sept. No miracle is likely to happen, I know I'm not that kind of bright person, nor am I lucky enough. They probably don't like my research topic, coz one EU student is doing somewhat the same thing, and he is funded by AHRC....Sigh.....

Ta.....

Yep, i know some extremely bright PhD students from LSE who have to fully fund their studies, well at least for the first year. Some get a fee waiver but again that's very very competitive. By contrast, Middlesex Uni has some fully-funded studentships paying 1000 pounds per month plus tuition paid, maybe there is jsut a trade-off between money and university's fame.

why it is informal for self-funded students? Shouldn't self-funded be treated 'formally'? It is your work and you should be aggressive for it, otherwise nobody really cares!