Hi - I can offer sympathy but not much advice as I am floundering! My main problem at the moment is having nowhere to study. My husband is looking after our three today (plus two friends) but I have nowhere quiet to study and our flat is small. I am currently trying to read some articles to the sound of World War One (9 year old and two friends are doing a reenactment). Every now and again two three year olds come and pelt me with lego......

I do agree that getting up early and working is easier than in the evening but I know it is hard. My two boys are good sleepers but if I get up early my daughter often senses it and comes and joins me which is not good!

Congratulations!

How did it go?

hi - congratulations! The only tip I have (and I had twins a year into my PhD - but I haven't finished - yet!) is to always have a list of stuff to do that includes short, mundane tasks too so that even if you only have a quarter of an hour you can still use your time efficiently!

Thanks for the reply. I couldn't email them as they were too long but I decided to take the plunge and synch the phone anyway - and I didn't lose them - phew!

Aaargh! I have been trying to do this for hours but it won't work. I have an old iphone 3 with interviews that I need to download onto my new laptop (so I am afraid to synch as I keep on reading that that would erase everything??) Any ideas really welcome!

At the risk of sounding totally negative - you can't. You need to sleep and your schedule leaves no time for study. Having said that, if you are able to change something then you do have a chance. I work part-time and have three young children. I only study on the days when I am not at work and never when they go to bed as I am too tired by then! Since starting the PhD I have had someone else (paid) to do the cleaning and the ironing. In theory my husband also takes the kids on Saturday morning so I can study....but that doesn't always work out... You need to find ways of delegating (using a cleaner/your husband/relatives etc) or finding out if you can cut your hours down at work in order to succeed. Good luck!

Just posted on the other thread and then saw this one - hearty congratulations and enjoy celebrating!

Fantastic! Really pleased for you Dr Pineapple!!

When I log in I am told that I have an unread private message but when I click on messages, there aren't any? Help please!

Ian - :-D

Pineapple - really sorry you still haven't got the result. Hope you can enjoy Christmas without dwelling on it all the time - difficult I know!

Hi Radion. I am so sorry to hear that you feel you made the wrong choice. It was a tough choice to make and you did what you thought was best at the time. It sounds like you are really struggling now though. Can you access any counselling at your uni? It might really help you get through this tough time. Hope you are feeling better soon.

It's definitely possible - I live about 2000km away. ;-) The first few months I spent on campus though - lots of research seminars and meetings at the beginning. I do miss not being on campus but it is possible not to go very often if your supervisor is in agreement.

My tip would be to make it as big as possible! I presented a poster recently and the conference organizers specified the maximum size a poster could be. Stupidly I thought that's too big - I'll do mine smaller. Well, everyone went for the max size so mine looked a bit out of place! Also: pictures - lots of them.