Well I'm perfectly content with my 3 stars - I'm happily indulging in the Blue Nun and White Lightening on offer here and suddenly stars don't seem to matter that much..... in fact I think that those with 4 stars have achieved their fame through ruthless canvassing. Personally I reckon that they pm the new kids here with their no stars, or one star and 10 posts and tell them that if they click on their names as helpful forumites then they will assist them with their reading/writing etc... hmmmm vice and corruption on the board - tragic....

*considers contacting coco-cola and seeing the price list for a 4th star* :-p

Ha ha, Eska is quite right!!! I too remember Bug's pleading for stars - now she's a big superstar she no longer remembers the good old days when she too scrabbled in the gutter for stars... sigh... I'm sure that fame and stardom hasn't changed her, but you do worry :-p he he he

At my uni it would depend what type of postdoc you managed to get - an RA starts around £25K and an RO at c£29K up to £34K so it does vary. I think junior lecturers are on about £32K - either way its nice money. To put it into context in holiday between ending my BA and starting my MA I had a p/t job in a shop - I earn only £20 less now for a 5 hour day than I earnt in an 18 hour week a couple of years back!

Hmmmm, that is an incredibly hard question to answer without knowing how close you are to having read enough to be able to discuss it in detail - even then everybody is different in the way they write, the speed with which they write and editing time etc.

Personally, for me, a week would be nowhere near enough time - simply because although I write fast I spend a long time editing and turning my random verbal diarrheoa into something vaguely academic and knowledgeable lol. Its just the way I work, I write far too much and then cut - I can't write to word counts or even legibly half the time on the first pass as I have to put down what's in my head and then sort it all out ;-)

You overall plan doesn't have to be 'that' indepth - its more a kind of 'this is how it will be, this is what I'm planning etc' and it will most definately change, but its normally a fairly large piece of work. The 'very' detailed plan of the first chapter is more indepth by definition, although with my supervisor I could get away with saying that I propose to read this and this and this, and then hope to do that and that and that. I think its mainly to check that you're thinking things through fully and have a strong direction that you can then be advised upon.

I'm sorry I can't be more helpful, but this is one of those 'how long is a piece of string' type questions as there are so many variables to be taken into consideration lol :-)

*wonders in and looks around* - where's the party??? my best mate Bug told me that there was a party going on here and I thought I'd drop by - but I see I'm not actually invited being as I only have 3 stars and am therefore generally unhelpful and objectionable.

Having said that - I do have some inside info on Wally, Ruby and Bug that I am prepared to sell to the highest bidder, plus some compromising photos.... Now that they are stellar rated superstars I consider them fair game on the papparazzi circuit - mwha ha ha ha ha ha.....

So.... Wally, am I a helpful user??? *nods frantically*

Awwwww huge huge congratulations!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 8-) Really hope your head feels better soon, can't wait to hear all about it - it helps so much for those of us still plodding through hearing about these things and getting tips. Really, really pleased for you, great news xxxxxxxxx

Hi there and nice to meet you,

I haven't done a Viva yet so can't offer specific advice, just try to relax if you possibly can lol. Don't worry about your hair - curly hair is not unprofessional - they'll be more interested in what's going on inside your skull rather than on top of it ;-)

I do feel for you and know I'll be exactly the same when my time comes - the thought of it terrifies me, but you've done the work, you know your stuff, just remember that this is a chance for you to shine and discuss your thesis in detail for once - at least this time people won't glaze over ;-)

Good luck, let us know how it goes, I'll be watching out for you tomorrow - there are also threads on here - a very good one by Lara is recent, that discuss the nitty gritty of the (successful) viva - it may help you to see that some people actually enjoy it once they get there, even though they are terrified before hand. You are the expert in this - sell it to them :-)

I don't teach yet, I was going to this year but have a RA position at the moment and it would extend my hours too much, having read this I'm almost glad I don't have to!

I passed a group of first years in the dept corridor today and was quite shocked to hear the way that they were slating the lecturers, and my supervisor - grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr - and whinging on - they expect us to read a whole chapter this week - how are we supposed to do that, don't they realise that we've got other courses to do - we're at uni, we're not here to spend our whole bl*8dy day reading... hmmmmm...... well if a chapter takes a whole day you're doing something wrong, you are here to read and learn, party by all means but don't moan about actually having to do some work once in a while!

I'm pretty sure we weren't rude and demanding when I was an u/g - personally I wouldn't have dared - for a start who's marking the essays ;-)

I quite agree - there is no point in sitting and doing nothing and getting yourself stressed - if you don't have deadlines I think I'd be tempted to write today off, maybe do a bit tomorrow if you're feeling ready to go, just aim for 10 mins or whatever and if it progresses from there, great, if not then 2 days out of 3 years isn't going to make a huge difference, but the break might :-)

I consider that my suggestion that you watch films is highly helpful...... I feel that to do admin would be injurous as you are obviously in a state of great suffering today

I must admit this whole situation has been playing on my mind. PhDbug and I joined at much the same time - she has 4 stars, I have only 2 - I feel hurt, rejected, unhelpful and have had to drink far too much coffee to cope with the sense of isolation and loss! I also find the limit on my avatar's clothing options depressing - all in all I worry that my studies are failing now due to the star and clothing issues!

created 7 years ago??????? how can that be right? The poster didn't join until 2006! Oh well.... I wouldn't necessarily advise it, its an incredibly big jump from BA/BSc to PhD without the masters but possible.

Enjoying life should always be a priority, and that is why I chose this path - i turned 40 at the weekend - I'd spent years and years in dead end jobs, my personal favourite was in a call centre for Zenith Windows cold calling and trying to get people to buy double glazing - life is wayyyyy too short for that! I've also done the supermarket checkouts, worked in a tanning salon, a bank call centre on the charges line (another personal high :-|) but with only a few O levels to my name, and all the interesting jobs asking for a degree I realised that I could either do this, or spend my life brain dead. This was never actually my plan when I signed up for nightschool A levels 7 years ago - I wanted to be a midwife - but life took me this way and now its what I want. I figure that even if I spend my life smelling mildly musky and dusty and wearing stripy jumpers and shapeless slacks it can not be so bad as cold calling with a 'supervisor' (read spotty idiot) shouting over my shoulder to not take no for an answer when hassling people..... I moan a lot, but all I have to do is to look back and I realise that I'm actually incredibly privileged to be doing this - its something I could never have dreamt of 7 years ago, I was approaching mid-thirties with two kids, a divorce, a remarriage and another baby on the way and on a hiding to nothing career wise.

That obviously isn't the case for many of you here - as guitarman shows we're quite capable now of getting good jobs with our current qualifications, but that fear of dropping back into the occupational gutter spurs me on no end!

I can't speak from experience regarding researching - I'm not there yet, but this is something that bothers me in my darker hours too lol! I really do think that we must force ourselves out of our cells and into the real world where normal people live at least once a week - its too easy to get bogged down by deadlines and retreat into the dingy room. I'm a little different to you in that I came to all this later - I once had a life... I have a husband and children and a home, therefore it is different, very different, but in another way even harder. I have missed SOOOOOOOOOOOOO much, especially as my youngest was only 11 months old when I went to uni for the BA and haven't stopped since. I've made so many sacrifices, and so has my family, so I feel I owe it to them to carry on and force through this to the other end. You know, there are some academics who are a bit odd, but many of them have lives, real ones, they have interaction with normal people, they go out, they get married, they have kids, they have all those things, so working in research can't be like a PhD really can it ;-)

On the other side, having been out there, the grass isn't greener. You want a good job, you work extra hours, my brother works from about 8am-7-8pm most nights and is expected to go in on weekends and work then too! Ok, he gets overtime, but its not really voluntary, he doesn't do it he won't get promotion and he'll be sidelined.... most of my friends out there find the same, so maybe its just modern life?

I too can completely relate to what you're saying. I'm also in my second year now and feel no great passion and no great drive right now. Again, I write because I have to, I do what I have to do, and can't summon up the energy or the drive to do anything more. Like you in the BA I was so focussed, worked so very very hard, aimed for the first and went all out to get it (and did). I couldn't imagine not making that grade, it would have been too upsetting after working every hour God sent to do it! I got onto the MA, again, I went at it 100%, all i could think of was making the grade so that I could claim the golden cow of the PhD place. I clearly remember the euphoria of this time last year lol, I'd made it - ahhhh sweet innocence....... lmao! I wonder if, in some respect, the way a lot of us feel now is because there is no clear goal, and the ultimate goal is so very far away. We've proved ourselves, we have our BAs, MAs etc, most of us have our funding, those in the second year still have such a very long way to go and there is no immediate aim in sight, not like the taught courses where the essays are lined up and its constant deadlines every single one of which count towards that final goal. We're also, lets be frank here, absolutely bloody knackered!!! We've worked so hard for so many years already that we're on the point of burn out, maybe this second year is a time to coast a bit - do what we need to get done to be ready for next year and the write up (hopefully)?

I still love my subject, but the passion isn't there really, well, it is, but I think its buried under the pile of 'stuff to do' and its hard to dig it out. This is such an inbetween stage - the reading is pretty much done, the sources found, now I've got to travel around to check them out (can I be naffed???) and then analyse all the data. I'm hoping that stage will psyche me up a bit more again and excite me. I'm also tbh feeling slightly disillusioned - I guess that academia isn't quite what I thought it would be, that thing I strived to hard to qualify for is actually not the great glory I thought lol lol. I dunno KC, I think we will get it back, I hope so, I just think in some respects speaking personally I'm so tired, haven't had a break in so many years now, and I think its probably just that. I think once I begin the analysis and the write up it will slot back in. I must be feeling something as my supervisor said how great it was seeing somebody so fired up (me????) when I was discussing my sources with him the other day. It must be there, just muffled slightly lol. As for 'extra stuff' like organising etc, oh heavens - the thought is agonising, more time, more work.... noooo!!! It will come, but just not right now ;-)