Most people on here are not from the US so you might not get a great response.

What was the feedback? Just interested, generally I receive 'negative' feedback but it's constructive. I like to think I give constructive feedback but maybe I don't. What did they say?

Welcome ClairaN!

I should have said: that was a position of responsibility. £25k was a managerial salary.

I just don't agree that experience and working your way up in a company is a better alternative than a starting salary of £33k. I would probably have got another promotion and be on £33k had I stayed within the bank. So, that would have taken me to the age of 30 to earn £33k, whereas if I did I a PhD from undergrad I could have been earning £33k at 24.

There might be many more opportunities in other places, and definitely in London, but in the rest of the UK, that was pretty good going for the financial sector.

Also, if prospective PhD students are lured into the system thinking they would be better off financially, then maybe they won't make a very good PhD student. It's not hard to find out that academic jobs are scarce.

Having worked in both finance and science, I can assume you science offers the better prospects, at least for me. There's noone monitoring your every move, most people you work with are intelligent, you don't have to be at work at 9am on the dot, noone cares if you leave early, you have plenty of time to chat with colleagues, then you faff about in the lab, write a few papers, mark some work, attend a few conferences/lectures/seminars... Yeah, and because of this I work long hours, but guess what, I did the same at the bank but I was stressed all the time from all the crap I had to do and endless emails/phone calls/IM/referrals etc and never being able to stop for even 5 minutes. I know what I would rather be doing.

Switch to working in a office/bank/shop and see what I mean.

Do you think it is a disadvantage to apply for two postdocs at one uni? I want to do that but I'm not sure if it looks like you don't know what you want?

I've only been in the 'system' about 4 years. I have, however, worked in other 'systems' such as banking, where I worked far harder than I've ever worked in my PhD and probably ever will in any subsequent career, for a final salary of about £25k, so yeah £33k seems pretty damn good to me.

Also, I think we are lucky to be able to learn a bit about a subject and get a PhD. I learnt just as much about finance, people management, computer programs etc as I have about my PhD subject and I didn't receive any qualifications for that and I certainly wasn't considered an expert. A PhD is nothing special - it's just a way to make people think they have achieved something. It's no more or less than any other achievement, so why should you expect more than someone working in finance, or any other job?

Furthermore, the average salary in the UK is about £27k, so it's more than that, and it's only a starting salary, and it's about £7k more than many American postdocs earn, and most of the people where I'm from work for £20k a year, so yeah I'm pretty happy with it.

I like that, very funny and very true

yeah, at £33k a year the post docs I am applying for have a really low salary...

Link doesn't work

I'll be going to mine. I feel like I've worked hard for this PhD and attending graduation is a way of showing this hard work.

You need to check the admissions dept of the paces you are looking at. Everyone will vary as to how they convert the grades.

Yep, people may have another offer and choose that one, so you may have a chance. Good luck!

Hi, sorry to hear about your son. Postgraduate degrees can be really challenging and get the best of many people.

I hope the supervisor has provided some options and hopefully he will be able to get an extension. He probably won't be able to change the subject of his thesis at this stage.

From your post I assume he doing a four year undergraduate degree? It may be possible for him to leave with a BSc then - the supervisor or admin dept will be able to advise you of this.

Hope it works out.