He's a Dr... of course he's smart :p

Sad thing is though that because its all unintelligible and you lose track about the third word in the product placement is lost on us! Sigh.... must read up on whatever its about and try and translate it into English .... but avoid clicking on the product placement ;-)

You are in the same boat as the vast majority of the population, in fact you're in a significantly better boat than most - you have prospects. We're just coming out of recession Summerfox (hopefully), thousands are losing their jobs, people with many more years work experience, many of them with equal qualifications and for now the job market is dire.

The advice that Walminskipea has given you is very wise. If you can get a job take it, if then you can afford to learn to drive do that. Consider further training. Above all don't allow yourself to wallow in self pity about your prospects right now, things change. I'm probably quite a bit older than you (I'm 40) and I've seen times where there are loads of jobs, and times when there are very few - its cyclical, this won't last forever!

You don't say what you want to do, where you want to go with your life. You need to be proactive and quit the bitter pity party (sorry if my words are harsh). Many of my friends are only now getting close to where they want to go - an MA isn't a ticket to a high powered job, its another rung on the ladder that can get you higher potentially. One of my friends from my MA got a good BA, a good MA and then took a job in a shop (only thing available) to save enough money for the further MA she needs for the career she's chosen - she's pretty much as guaranteed a job as you can get when she completes this. Another is also doing a training course for her chosen profession, but they couldn't have got their places without the original MA. Some are working in shops, some in admin, biding their time til the right job that they're qualified comes around. The thing is with arts qualifications (I'm in History) you have to look not so much at the actualy qualification as the transferable skills you have unless you want to further train and specialise. Its not like some of the more scientific areas where jobs are more fixed if that makes sense.

Either way, you really need to think about where you want to go and plan how to get there - it'll take time and this is a rubbish time for everyone in the country - but until you sit down, think about your hoped for career projection and work out what you need to do to get there you aren't going to move any further. Take what you can to pay your bills and fund what you need (be that driving, training etc) and see it as a long term goal that your MA will have put you in a better position for in the long run

======= Date Modified 29 Aug 2010 17:05:29 =======
Oh dear Ogriv... that sounds like fun :-( :p (NOT)

I agree, with the PhD there is so much uncertainty and you never get a chance to reallly tick things off your 'to do' list, as the time goes on that list just grows and grows and then *shudder* write up with the spectre of the viva looming and what I can only at this point think of as the horror of corrections. Its just never ending, and yes, I suppose in a way it is self inflicted lol. I do wonder if I was back at the end of the BA again and deciding whether to accept a GTP position and go into work or take the funded MA and then PhD route if I'd do the same thing... probably.... right now though I think I'd quite fancy McDonalds - they give you free McFlurrys or so I've heard :p(up)

The other thing that for me really doesn't help the stress is the opinion of others, the constant query as to why I don't have a 'real' job, why I'm sitting on my bum at a computer, financial stress (that's a huge one with 3 kids) etc etc. Add all the normal stuff of daily life which is enough to push many over the edge to the constant uncertainty and shifting workload of a PhD and its amazing we aren't all in secure units really....

Are you funded by work or one of the research councils? If its the latter then this question is null and void - they won't allow you to work more than 6-10 hours per week anyway :-) I think most people have no idea of the work involved, my family certainly don't lmao! Some weeks you'll have far more to get in than others and that's where work can be a massive problem. Some weeks I don't do a huge amount beyond reading, others I'm writing and burning huge quantities of midnight oil, working f/t would be a terrible pressure. As you're funded though your funders and your uni just won't allow it, you're basically paid a wage to work f/t on your PhD.

Hi there, it may well be worth getting checked out but it does sound like massive amounts of stress, stress can cause massive physical manifestations! I find when I'm badly stressed (like all the time right now) my teeth hurt (due, according to my dentist to really clenching my jaw in sleep), I get what feels like a physical lump in my throat, so much so its hard to swallow, and yes, the night sweats, in the summer when I had other stuff as well as the PhD on my mind I was waking drenched! Horrible :-(
We really do need to try to control stress though if possible as it can lead to physical illness - if nothing else broken fillings ;-) but cancer, bowel diseases, heart disease, all sorts are linked in some reports to stress. If you find a way to sort it please let me know and maybe I can then change my screen name ;-)

I'd say not a chance! For a start its unlikely that your supervisor would agree to it, and secondly the workload for a PhD is enormous, it easily fills 5 days a week! You'd be working every hour God sent and more. I'd strongly advise you to either do the PhD part time or drop to a max of 2-3 days a week working - I work 10 hours a week and I struggle big time to keep up, I work 7 days a week basically, you'd have to somehow get what would amount to 9 working days a week work in... burn out...
Having said that, I think some here do similar, but I'm not sure anyone does f/t work and f/t PhD, I don't see how you'd last the course

You know what, you're doing it again :p

Yes there are always people who have more books, more publications, more of whatever than you, but does that mean that they are right for this job? That's a standard lecturer's salary scale at my uni. There is far more to appointing than just looking at the spec on the CV, it has to be someone who can communicate that knowledge to the students and some people, with all the publications, industry experience, whatever, in the field are utter rubbish at doing that. It also has to be someone who works for the good of the dept and will blend in well with existing staff (in an ideal world). Some of the lecturers in my dept completed their phd at the uni and went straight into their lectureships, newbies, just like you ;-)

You can do the job, you have the knowledge, the rest comes with time, they know that and if it turns out that you're a better fit than someone who has dozens of publications then you'll get it - they know that you'll continue to research etc. some people go for plenty of these positions and then get the right one, others walk into the first one. Don't second guess the panel, maybe someone else will be better for it than you, but maybe they won't - is that not the same in any job in any field?

======= Date Modified 27 Aug 2010 21:51:15 =======
Arggghhhhh *slaps Nearly...Finished with a fish* don't do that!! You are wonderful, you've achieved something amazing, of course you have expectations, and if you don't then fake it til its real :-) You are the flipping expert, its your specialisation, BELIEVE IT!!!! If you go in there saying basically 'sorry for applying, don't worry about my application cos I dont' think you'll want me' then they won't - go in there saying hey, I'm the person you're looking for, I'm the one that knows this work backwards, I'm perfect for the dept and the students YOU NEED ME - its enough to make your hair fall out with embarrassment (I have serious self confidence issues myself lol) but you've gotta show them (as my sup puts it) that you're a player and you're what they need - not the other way around... ;-) You don't need them!(sprout)

Now get out there, put on your professional persona and self yourself, don't offer yourself up bargain basement :-) Yes, offer them your teaching skills, they may well need that in the interim, but quit this negative chat 'I don't suppose I stand a cat in hell's chance', 'I don't know if I fulfil the criteria', 'would I be a laughing stock', 'I'm far from brilliant' - all putting yourself down - come on, get out there and do it, you've worked damned hard for many years through all sorts of unmitigated sh*t for this chance - you do stand a chance, you do fulfil the criteria, who the heck's gonna laugh at you, and yes, you are brilliant Dr!!!!!

Here endeth the lecture ;-) *puts down the fish*:p

Don't worry, unfortunately 4 weeks is nothing when it comes to paperwork! They wouldn't just not tell you, or I'd be stunned if that happened if its a mainstream uni, but as the others say, this is a crazy time for them in admissions with however many thousand new u/gs and p/gs to process with term starting again soon, it may also be that your future sup is away - mine is - so I really wouldn't worry. I applied for mine in the april or may I think it was, I was doing my MA at the same uni with the same sup, everything went through, funding was agreed and I STILL hadn't had the formal paperwork til days before term began in the Oct. Its a long process between a few different academic and administrative depts with a lot of things to be signed off so it doesn't happen fast sadly - but then what does in a uni ;-)
Good luck and I really hope you're successful(up)

Glad to see that it looks as if you're going for it - you have everything to gain and nothing to lose except maybe a bit of hurt pride and some sleepless nights :-) Someone has to get that job and it may well be you, if it isn't, well, there'll be others and I'm a firm believer in things happening for a reason, if this isn't the one then its not right for you and something else will come along even better.
See it as experience and an opportunity to push yourself forward and hone your interviewing skills. I went for an RO position last year, was in the final two, didn't get it - darned good job actually, seeing the job in practice now I'd never have managed it but it hurt - within a month I'd been offered a perfect RA position on the same project, perfect hours to go with my PhD (if there is such a thing) on a s/t contract that has been extended three times now :-) If I'd got the RO my PhD would have been blown out of the water seeing the reality of the position, it just didn't suit although it looked perfect on paper - my RA is just great :-) (and there are times I feel sorry for the RO lol lol)
Just go for it, you're your own worst enemy, you have a PhD in the bag, you can do it, you have a future, go grab it :-)

That sounds so nice but I can't make it either, I'm skint with a capital S until my bursary is paid in october and it costs me quite a bit to get into London let alone drinks/food etc and its very short notice lol - I need weeks in advance to sort out babysitters etc etc lol lol lol - ahhh the joys of being a mature student :p

Lol Algaequeen, its raining here so mine would have definately cooled down :-)

Helena, thanks for that, I know nothing about these things! Its around 95 - Oh, I lie - I've just checked as I'm typing this as is sure as heck doesn't feel normal and its degrees C!!!!! so that's 95C, not 95 F...... damn, knew it was hot - does that change things??? Anyway yes, the keyboard feels V warm, the underside roasts and that's with 2 fans blowing onto it from the cooling tray, as I say, it burnt my leg to the point of being very sore for a few days in a matter of minutes - was NOT happy! Without the fans blowing onto it I have no idea what it gets to, I know it shuts itself down within around 10 mins - 30 mins max of turning on through heat.

Its around 2 years old now, is that really only the shelf-life? Flipping heck! My first laptop lasted me through the BA and MA with no trouble til my son dropped it... but the poor thing is on all day everyday, I had hoped that it'd see me through the PhD but no chance :-( Having said all that the first time I complained to HP I'd had it about 3 or 4 months - the first day that I put it on I was shocked at how hot it was but they told me it was normal.....

Oh, and get this.... I complained to HP about it back in the winter - her advice - use it in a cooler room.... we have no heating, my room thermometer was showing that the temp in the room was 8C (I was wearing full thermals, gloves and a hat) - I did suggest that if HP laptops are only to be used by scientists working on the ice flows of the poles that maybe they should include that in their spec....

Helena -would the cable you mentioned work if windows explorer isn't working? I can't open my computer, my control panel etc.

The tray that I have has two fans in it that run off of a USB port and blast the underside of the laptop with cold air - I can't use mine without it at all - as it is as I'm typing this the fn has just gone crazy again and the coretemp is up to 95F - ouch ouch ouch. I actually burnt myself a few months ago - massive red patch on my leg that was sore to the touch - so not good :-(

Mine is just ridiculous now, I downloaded coretemp which tells me the temp of the core (clue is in the name lol) and I run around 80F sometimes as high as 95F which is seriously bad news. Mine has already fried elements of the computer (apparently my windows explorer issues are down to it) and i'm on the verge of chucking it and buying a desktop :-(

I do have a cooling fan tray thing - its the Akasa and I got it from Currys, it keeps the temp down to the temps listed above lol - ie I can run it without it crashing out on me, without it I have maybe only 10 mins now. To access my fan means totally dismantling the computer down to the case itself, the fan is the last element - never get an HP 6735s - I did a search on the heat problem and in my case it seems to be a design fault lol.

Due to the windows explorer problem I can't back up, all I can do is to email my work to myself so its off my computer :-( I would say though that if you've only crashed out a few times see if you can get the fan checked out and buy one of these tray things, they are good. It does mean though that you can't go 'laptop'