Hi there, I'm not in your area, although mine is related to women, just ones that lived over 100 years ago ;-) I have been feeling a kind of 'what the hell am I doing this for' emotion the last few weeks - I really can't see the point - I mean, its not exactly the cure for cancer is it, and does it really matter..... well no, apart from to about 10 (maybe 20) other academics :-/ It gets me down sometimes that I'm doing all this work and it will be read by maybe 3 or 4 people. I dunno, I guess its the nature of the game and I know from talking to people ahead of me (I'm at the end of the 2nd year) that it does get better again but I've lost all my passion right now and really can't quite work out why I'm spending so much of my life on something of no interest or practical application to anyone or anything..... (phd blues anyone?) If I find it improves and I'm able to engage with my work again I'll let you know ;-)

I haven't been there yet, I'm approaching the end of my 2nd year, but as a fellow mature student who's also been through the 'you're too thick to do anything decent with your life' mill I can completely hear what you're saying. The thing is, you aren't are you... you've worked so hard, been through so much, you've proved yourself and the chances are that even if you do have corrections to do then you've achieved something amazing that the bullies could never have done! I also understand the drug thing - I have TMJ, its under control to a certain extent now but in my BA it was terrible - pain from that kind of condition is incredible and the drugs make you more zoned out that a class A hippy ;-) In my mind anyone who can keep going through all you've been through for 11 years without saying sod this and dropping out is one special person and I'm in awe of you.
Keep going, not long now and I'm sure it won't be as bad as you think :-)

I work from home - there is a room at the uni which PhD students can use, most don't... its only got about 5 desks and the computers are awful as is the printer and the majority of us work at home. I find I need silence and no distractions, especially if I'm writing so if anyone else was in the office I'd be unable to work properly, would chat, would keep wondering off and the view outside is distracting - darned ducks were nearly the death of my BA til I started working more at home, can't let them ruin the PhD :-) The problem with working from home is that, as a mum and wife I tend to end up fretting over washing, what to cook for tea, stopping WW3 (its the school holidays God help me) and that is a problem, but at least I can work into the evening after they've gone to bed, have everything I need here and can just focus on that rather than having to factor in a 40 mile round trip to do some work.

Wishing you lots of luck and not too many sleepless nights - I so remember that from the AHRC a couple of years back - finally heard on the 22nd Aug! I also remember the letterbox vigil and the feeling of nausea mixed with excitement followed by deflation every time the post arrived and nothing from them. Hopefully the ESRC are more clued up with delivering the letters lol! Hope you're both successful, keep us posted :-)

Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm so pleased for you :-) I checked on the site first thing this morning from the office but couldn't remember my password lol - home now and wanted to post :-) So so happy for you xxxxxxxxxx

That's fantastic news :-) well done you!!!! Really, really pleased for you and looking foward to you joining us in the madness lol 8-)

Me too Chris, I've been thinking of you today and hoping all is ok :-)

When I did my MA the sup was only allowed to see the entire thesis once for editing, but that didn't stop him seeing sections of chapters multiple times and OMG the edits lol. BUT yes, it is part of the process and your work will be far better for it if you can see why your sup has suggested the changes and get an insight into the academic writing process. I even had this with my BA dissertation, my sup handed me back my draft and said 'its really good, just a few minor changes' - i swear, on every page were at least 20 red marks, everything from lose this comma to research further (with two weeks til submission. I asked if it was bad if he just gave you back a bag full of shredded paper lmao. Just go with it, it'll be fine, you don't have to follow all the suggestions, but its better if you can, and you really will learn from it but yes, you will hate her lol

Are we neighbours sneaks ;-) Sounds like my daughter - if she sings 'schools out for summer' once more i swear I'm leaving ;-) I'm getting seriously concerned that I'm going to have to write off the entire school holdiays - I've got 3 of them here :-( on top of that I've got an article to write by early Sept and no idea where to start - feeling so stressed out and upset right now that i've been ranting to all and sundry that I'm quitting

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Yes, its just impossible for any of us to say..... so much of your second question depends on the nature of your course and your research - I don't 'have' to spend any time at the uni if I don't want to beyond arranging meetings with my sup once every couple of months (it was more frequent early on) but others here have to be in every day as they are using labs, and others are somewhere between the two!
Regards teaching, I don't do any, our first years aren't allowed to teaching full stop, 2nd years and above only, but then plenty of unis and some depts within our uni allow teaching in the first year, some depts offer more teaching, some less depending on the requirements. I'm only allowed to work a max of 10 hours a week and I have a RA position in the dept so no teaching for me til this ends, some of our students will do 6 or 8 contact hours, some only one seminar a week. I know some work more than that.
It all depends on your course, your requirements, the rules in your particular dept at your uni and your funding situation
Really sorry I can't be more help

I'm stunned - 6 years worth of bank statements????? sod that! Like I'd give that kind of information to anyone - they are confidential - the darned envelope they come in says so - that's all your personal details in (was gonna say triplicate - not sure what the term is for 72 times over....) Why on earth would any employer need that?
Application forms are just ridiculous - I'm 40 now, I can hardly remember what I've done in the last 10 years let alone school back in the early 80s! I always ending up forgetting jobs lol, and so many gaps (children can do that to your cv) I tend to just scrap everything for 10 years of it and put that I was bringing up my kids lol rather than listing about 15 different temp jobs ;-)
Hope they haven't just discarded your application, but honestly, its crazy, utterly crazy. The person you are now bears no resemblance whatsoever to the 11 year old you, and the school girl you had totally different priorities in life!

I think a lot of this depends on your priorities, for me its my husband and family (so a bit different - I have kids!) I am wanting a career but if it had to be a career or my husband he would win hands down every time. I simply can't function without him, he's my rock and to live apart is just totally unthinkable - I come home to him, I look forward to that, we married because we wanted to be together for life not so that some job would come between us. He would follow me if I needed to move, although again, I wouldn't do that, I can't just uproot the kids for a job, so my work will be kind of limited and I accept that - in my mind its a job, I work to live not the other way around. I am different though, I'm older (40) have children to consider, but I honestly think that even before the kids arrived i wouldn't have moved elsewhere and lived apart - I don't function like that (very similar to Sneaks :-) ) I also guess that's why I've never had a killer career lmao - its a job, its money, its work, yes its something I want to do but nothing in this life means more than my family and I couldn't move away from them for anything, even after all this I'd rather work in Asda lmao!
I'm not suggesting for a second that your'e putting work ahead of your relationship so don't read that the wrong way, I totally understand, its just how I would view it for me personally, not how I view it for others. My own sup lives half the week on the other side of the country to his family and it works fine for him, I'm just wayyyyyyy too clingy ;-)

No Chris, this time next week you WILL be a Dr :-)

Yay - huge congrats Dr Amanda :-) Please fill us in on all the gory details when you've recovered!