Its great to see enjoyment in this - its good - the Masters was a great, if intense time :-) Best of luck and enjoy it :-)

Bug, there is no them/us - we're all in this together sweetie :-) All students, all working damned hard to make ends meet, where we come from in the world makes no difference whatsoever - its a shame that finances have to affect higher education - but I guess that's life. What has made me so very angry is being labelled a racist and that 'I'm alright and sod the rest of you' when that is so not the case. The thing that amuses me is that I've done a quick check in my dept and the only people being funded are OS students! To be fair they are incredible students and bloody well deserve it, but it seems to make a bit of a mockery of argument here that our educational institutions and funding bodies are imperialist and racist!

======= Date Modified 24 Sep 2009 12:39:19 =======
Benm - I am not a politician, just a tax payer who is grown up enough to understand politics and finance. As I said before, IF I chose to go to another country then if I was paying more and not expecting to sponge of the tax payers of that country in their far superior education system, that would be just fine. If I didn't like it I wouldn't go. I wouldn't spend my time insulting the nationals, labelling them racist etc because of a policy that is in place and has been far longer than I had been in the country. I wouldn't expect them to make exceptions for me and my bit of student research that may in time possibly, maybe make a difference. I didn't pay into their system, I would most likely be going elsewhere in the world to pay taxes later, I would not expect them to pay for me.

And I actually find it incredibly offensive that you consider the behaviour of the Brits racist simply because our taxes won't fund your decision to do a post graduate degree - for goodness sake - they don't even fund MINE!

What a ridiculous argument! For heaven's sake, did somebody drag this foreign research student kicking and screaming and drop them in the UK and force them to do their research here? I hope not - I thought that kind of behaviour died out many many years ago!

I have absolutely no idea how other countries fund their higher education, but, if it is a similar system to the UK where it is taxes that subsidise the fees, then if I were to choose to go elsewhere then I would certainly not expect for a second that my fees were subsidised - why on earth should they be? Going there would be my choice, and to be more precise I would have known that that was the case and made me decision knowing I would pay more than nationals and too right too! In the same way that if I chose to go to Bug's country, although I'm not French, I would expect to be paying 10 times more - MY choice!

At my uni there are quite literally thousands of international students - the people are up in arms enough as it is about funding British students, can you imagine what would happen to higher education if they were told that their taxes would then go to funding OS students too? Every foreign student I know has said that they knew the funding situation, but they also knew that this is where they wanted to study and so they will do what it takes

It is absolutely NOTHING to do with imperialism and everything to do with funding and finance and personal choice. IF foreign students were to be subsidised then you could be certain that the numbers accepted would plummet, the choice to come here would be removed because the country's coffers simply could not withstand the cost. Academic jobs would go, unis would shut - is that what you want? Its certainly not what I want!

Hi, your uni should have documents that will explain the marking criteria, but yes, it is strict and certainly not easy to get a distinction. Your marks are really good, I found that my dissertation mark wasn't far off what my main marks were, I averaged 74 and my distinction was a 75 so it may well be that you get the 70 you need (I'm guessing its a 70 if its the same as the marking scheme at my uni). Is it long until you hear? I submitted Sept 15th (oh, its a year ago tomorrow - what a difference a year makes lol) and heard mid December. I do hope they don't keep you hanging on as long as that!

I also know of people who've had quite major changes in direction from their MA to the PhD, so I'd say that if you have a good, strong proposal and a supervisor lined up who supports you then it shouldn't be a problem. You wouldn't be using many of the same research techniques and studying within the same discipline, its not as if you have a humanities background and attempting to transfer to science or social science. Do try to meet with you potential supervisor though and discuss you ideas fully with them and see what they feel.

I agree with the others - give it a go!!! You'll never know til you try and if you give it up before even beginning then you're gonna have your whole life wondering 'what if' and that's no way to live. If your relationship is strong it will survive this and make it stronger - if it can't survive then tbh it was never meant to be - I know that sounds harsh but its the truth of it. It will all be fine, think how incredibly proud she'll be of you when you complete this and she's with a doctor :-)

Pineapple oh hon, as has been said, you deserve so much more - if you'd been at home this would still have happened, you know that in your heart. If somebody isn't prepared to be there for you and be in contact then well...... You WILL finish, you WILL have a whole new life and you will be so insanely proud of yourself that you did this even with all that sh*t being thrown at you. If you can do this you can do ANYTHING!

Excellent thread - thanks for this :-)

I seem to work much the same way as the rest of you - this is my standard procedure for essays/chapters etc

1. get an idea and ponder on it for a while
2. get the main reading together, journals, articles, books, etc
3. revise my argument (it always seems to happen)
4. prepare a rough outline - headings/ideas within the headings/location of key arguments and quotes
5. I always begin at the beginning - without a basic intro I can't get going
6. write a draft of the various points within the chapter including quotes/data etc (not always written in order - I find a blank piece of paper hard to work with so after the intro I'll start on the bit I find easiest and take it from there
7. put completed draft to one side for a few days and I'll normally show it to somebody who is able to see the typos/contradictions that I miss
8. revise the draft - rewrite sections - hack hack hack back to the good stuff (always well over word limits)
9. send to my supervisor for initial comments
10. act on the comments and pretty up the whole thing ensuring the argument flows well and makes sense
11. submit

All of this can get a bit muddled up sometimes - I'll think of a quote or an argument during the write up and spend ages reading again to find the details that I need. I'll also sometimes write and correct at the same time - this normally only happens in longer pieces where there are readily defined sections - I'll have a break from writing by going over an earlier section that has sat for a few days. But that's the normal progression

Huge congratulations Bug :-) That must have been so nervewracking but so good to do! I'm delighted you got such good feedback and I too tend to talk to fast, just remember to talk so that you sound almost too slow to yourself and that is around the right speed :-)

(((((hugs)))) rsi is awful - I hope you feel a whole lot better after a break from typing and all the best with the conference!

I can clearly remember my A levels as I did them not that long ago - I studied for them one evening a week per subject for two years in night school and completed them in 2003! I remember so well the sheer terror being handed the envelope and the complete ecstasy of seeing that actually I could cut it :-) My O levels I didn't do so well in, an A and 6 Cs and I left school and did lots of rubbish jobs - if someone had told me even 5 years ago that I'd be a year into a PhD with a first class BA and a distinction at MA under my belt I'd have laughed myself silly!

I too feel so bad for the kids - they'd already started this 'they're too easy' stuff when i got mine and I'd worked so very very hard for my results - there is nothing quite like working yourself to the bone, getting wonderful results and having the media say 'yeh, but.....'

I do think that being prepared for the reality of a PhD is extremely important for anyone venturing down this road. It isn't studying as in the type of experience during BA and MA, its a totally different venture and one that many are simply not suited for. I have found the isolation very hard to cope with, but then I am getting used to it, and you have to be proactive in handling those kind of problems. I think I too view it as a job, a very poorly paid one (I don't have 'funding', only my fees and a tiny bursary) but it is an apprenticeship for future positions as well as the experience of researching a single topic in depth. Would I start again? Yes, it has already opened doors and taught me a lot, not only academically, but about myself. Is it for everyone - certainly not, but if you can get around the problems and see it for what it is - a stepping stone and a learning process then most can get through.

Good luck everyone - I got my rejection last year around the 20th and my award the year before (MA) on the 22nd - this year I've bombed out again but at the block stage lol - I'm too ESRC to be AHRC but too AHRC to be ESRC lol! I sincerely hope we see a ton of acceptances here and I so feel for you, 2 summers were wrecked with the waiting!