You will get on to a self-funded program at most universities. They just want the money.

Generally your supervisor pays, and publication fees are often written into grants.

Hi Babbage,

I think you will be ok as long as you do the corrections as they asked.

I think "improve your explanation of your contribution to knowledge through the thesis" and "make your use of voice, person, punctuation, etc more consistent throughout" is actually quite specific.

The first is asking to state more clearly exactly what you have achieved so saying things like 'this is the first report of this', 'this was shown for the first time here' and then for example making bullet point lists of your achievements in your discussion chapter. This is really sign-posting the contribution to knowledge throughout the thesis and I can't see what else you could do. Of course, if you did this already and they are still asking for more then...!

I think the second is just asking for consistency, so check whether your style of writing is similar throughout. Were there long periods of time between writing each chapter? I feel that some of my chapters are better written than others depending when I wrote them, for example.

Maybe ask your supervisor to look over it again, highlighting the areas you have changed and see what they think?

The good news is that by doing the corrections you are pretty much going to pass, so keep on going, you are nearly there!

I think at some point the majority of us will be in your position and have to make the choice to leave academia for a bit with the hope of returning later. I feel that a couple of years isn't a big deal, especially if you have publications during that time, but I don't know anyone that has left academia and come back.

Ok, so it's a case of need not want, I get that, but that means on some level you actually want to go to that place you were accepted into, otherwise you wouldn't be considering it. When I was applying to postdocs, there were some that seemed to be great projects and I probably would have got the positions, but didn't feel right, so I didn't apply because I knew I didn't want to go there. I don't want to be in this postdoc where I am either, but it was the lesser of two evils.

Personally I wouldn't worry about spending too long in a place if it's going to be productive, and I think that's what you say in an interview. I think it's fine to say you have applied to other places and you are waiting to hear the outcome, rather than saying everywhere else you applied to has rejected you.

Yes I have to fill in a separate timesheet too, to say which projects I have worked on, how many hours of meetings etc. This I don't mind - I only have to do it once a week and it's easy to get this information from my calendar. I didn't realise that some academics elsewhere have to do that too; I know that my PI said that he has to do it.

Well, I hope I get to work in an institution that resists this change for as long as possible.

I think the best advice is to stop applying for positions you don't want! Now you've proven to yourself you can get a postdoc elsewhere, just apply for places you actually want to go.

I've experienced it before when I worked at a company too, and sometimes I think it is required, particularly for those staff that won't actually do any work unless someone is watching them, but I think when you get to postdoc level it's a bit much. Generally, we are in research because we want results, so not doing the work isn't helping anyone. It's been about 8 years since I've worked in a job where someone monitors what I'm doing every minute of the day so I'm finding the regression to this difficult.

I don't actually get paid for overtime, but I get the time back as flexitime, so I can take extra days off, but I still have to request them off, which doesn't sound very flexible to me...

I'm not sure why they brought this in the first place, because I've only been here a couple of weeks, but I expect it is because they have had issues in the past. I've read some of their other policies and it appears that their management solutions are a blanket approach for everyone when issues arise. For example, they had a fire so now they ban bunsen burners. I mean, seriously?? In a microbiology lab!?

The academic staff don't have to clock in and out and apparently I can come off it in six months time, as long as my PI agrees.

I haven't met any other postdocs yet to know how they deal with it, but I have joined the postdoc group here, so when they have the next meet up I can talk to them about it then.

It's good to know that other places don't have this, or when they do it's not enforced anyway, so it means I am less likely to encounter it in my next postdoc!

Has anyone ever been on 'flexitime' as a postdoc?

In my new job I have clock in and out and I find it really frustrating and an inefficient use of my time. For example, the clocking in machine is downstairs, so if I want lunch, which I eat in my office, I have to go downstairs to clock out, then back up to eat, then back down to clock in then back up again etc. I find it really disruptive. Also, if I find out my PCR hasn't worked that day and I need it for tomorrow and it's now after 5pm and I want to run it again before I go home, I can do this but I'm too tired to be thinking/reading/writing whilst it's running, so usually I would read some random websites or chat to friends, but now I feel like I should be working whilst it's running because they are paying me to be there.

Personally I prefer just being paid for a 9-5 and if I'm there til 7pm because I'm procrastinating/paying bills/chatting to friends during the day that's up to me. I'm well aware of when I'm being productive and when I'm not. I hate the feeling of being time pressured all the time and that I can't have a 10 minute conversation in the lab with others because I'm not 'working' and they don't pay me to stand around and chat.

Anyone else in a similar situation? I know the solution is to suck it up and deal with it, but I can't help being annoyed about it. The universities where I did my MSc and PhD previously weren't like this. Why are PhD students allow to do whatever they want but postdocs are subjected to this pettiness? Are all research institutes like this? I knew there was a reason I hated them.

Do you mean you haven't finished your masters yet, or he is asking you to not to finish it ever?

Quite a few students start their PhD without quite finishing their master thesis, but they will go on to finish after about 6 months of starting their PhD.

It won't really make any difference to your future career whether you have a masters or not once you have your PhD.

Many students in the UK have a PhD without a masters.

I don't think there's much distinction between those that ask for fees and those that don't. Maybe those with fees pay their staff and the others rely more on volunteers?

I think you should narrow down your choice of unis and then contact the admin dept and ask them if they will accept you

Will you be applying for advertised programs or directly contacting professors? Do you need funding? In the US, often professors give studentships to people they know, so considering an internship would be useful.

I would be careful about submitting without supervisory approval. First of all, it might annoy them, second of all, I do know someone that did this and got a R&R verdict and then was never heard from again. if they have seen other drafts, then you probably aren't at risk from an R&R so it's probably ok. Let them know your deadline and ask them if it's ok to submit without them seeing it.

I could have submitted my thesis with my supervisors only seeing one draft to be honest because they made so few corrections, but it's not like this for everyone. They might surprise you and give it back to you within a day (mine was returned within a week).