I doubt my supervisors got my references when I applied for my PhD since I didn't ask the people if it was ok to ask them beforehand.

When I have applied for academic jobs in the UK, sometimes they have asked for references before I was offered an interview and sometimes at the same time of inviting me to interview, so it varies. In non-academic jobs, it's normal to ask for references after offering the job.

I wouldn't say her chances of an academic career are zero Dunham. If she gets a PhD, no one will care about her 2.2 or lack of masters. Her age really isn't a significant factor either. Most people guess I'm 25 and yet they can add 5+ years to that.

But, you're right, of course it's competitive out there and there will probably be no academic job afterwards. There's no reason she couldn't apply for a postdoc though, like everyone else. With her previous technician experience, she would be more able than most postdocs anyway, I would expect.

Can't you get support from your supervisor or other students?

Hi Emma,

You have nothing to lose by applying for a PhD. I think you should contact your first boss and ask if he is prepared to give a reference if contacted - you are only hearing it second hand that he is angry with you, and maybe he is, but that doesn't mean he wouldn't give you a good reference.

Yep, put down HR as your other reference, unless it states academic. Just put down a colleague if you have to.

Yes you have a 2.2, but you have a wealth of experience which should counteract that. You don't need a masters.

Personally, I doubt it matters. References often aren't requested until you have been given the PhD after a successful interview, so start applying now and worry about references later.

Not sure if this is a spam post... But anyway, depends what stuff you have whether you can move it yourself doesn't it? In the UK, i think it's more common to just hire a van and chuck it all in.

Didn't you find a workable time management strategy during your masters?

Same as chickpea.

There's a few posts on here about this situation. For worst case scenario, read this:
http://www.postgraduateforum.com/thread-47992/?pageNo=3

So, appeals are possible, but vary by institution and outcomes are not guaranteed.

Technically you are not supposed to, but I know lots of people who have. Try to reword the abstract a bit, even if the content of the presentation /poster will be the same.

I don't think this is an easy question to answer. Personally, I didn't struggle with my mental health during my PhD. The only thing I found difficult was when I was writing up and I just wanted to be left alone to finish it but I felt pressurised by family and friends to do things with them.

I sometimes feel that people that struggle with their PhD are putting too much pressure on themselves, whether that means they want their supervisor to like them, or get the best results, or write the best thesis or get x number of papers. I don't think these pressures would be unique to the PhD though, I expect these people would feel the same in other environments such as a high pressure or highly competitive job.

I also think people often have high expectations of what a PhD will be - maybe they expect a lot of support from their supervisor, or their research group etc and then find that the reality isn't like this.

There should definitely be more support for people that struggle with their PhD for whatever reason. I think common feelings should be highlighted in seminars when people start their PhD so people know others feel the same too and that that's ok. There should be more training for supervisors as well so that they do their jobs better. And there should be better counselling services to help people deal with how they are feeling.

Not necessarily, depends how much work the editor/AE has on.

Just ask your supervisor again how much help the postdoc should be giving you and then tell him you are not getting that much help. Or just ask the postdoc directly to do more?

Do you have to submit your report now or can you take time to improve it?

You need to be honest with your supervisor about how you feel. Admit your mistakes, but also say that you need more support to be able to develop a project.

Delay acceptance for as long as you can if they don't need an answer right away, and then keep looking elsewhere. It's understandable if you give up a non-funded place for a funded one.

That depends on what you want to do in the future career-wise or how much you just want to do a PhD. What are your plans?

All travel for the PhD could be claimed back from my supervisors via grant codes (even though my stipend officially came with no money for that - it was just fees and stipend). But like chickpea said, this isn't the case for everyone.

If I had had to stay somewhere for a week to do a course or learn a technique, they wouldn't have paid for that. I would have had to applied externally for grants for that sort of thing. Many people from my lab did that and got it covered

So ridiculous Anz07, the levels some people stoop to.