This means that you have to compete with the other projects, so even if you get accepted on to the PhD there is no guarantee it will be funded. Stipend is around 14k a year; non-taxable.

I chase up editors after 3 weeks or so in science if they haven't assigned reviewers or if the reviewers seem to be sitting on the work for too long.

I just use the online system to email the editor and say that I'm just looking for an update as I'm keen to see whether the paper is acceptable for publication in their journal. It hasn't affected publication outcome so far!

1. Yes
2. Don't know, might be uni specific, check website or email admin
3. As above

Hiya, I feel your frustration, interviews are horrible. I had one today and I'm sat here thinking the same as you - why of all things did I use that example etc

Just to reassure you, messing up on technical details isn't the end of the world. They are often looking for behaviours and ability in a PhD interview, not just knowledge, so don't lose hope yet!

It's possible to get on a PhD with a 2.2 but as you're competing with other graduates with 2.1s, 1st and masters it does make it that much harder. Since you have been working in a lab, that helps a lot and if you know the academic that you are applying to work under that helps massively as well.

I think you can apply for PhDs and see what happens.

Mine weren't for PhD interviews - I think that's quite strange you have been asked to do that! I've never heard of it for PhD interviews before, generally other than a basic interview people might be asked to do a presentation and that's about it.

For non-academic jobs, I have done tests before the interview shortlisting process and they have said what they are going to be on (maths, English etc). I have an upcoming interview soon where all I have been told is that there will be a test... so that should be interesting! For other non-academic interviews I have been asked to a prepare a presentation on a specified topic, using examples from my own experience, or been on assessment days where they say there will be a variety of tasks to complete but they don't say what they are. These tasks ranged from completing things as a group to trying to sell something to responding in writing to a customer complaint to multiple choice questions about different scenarios.

These days many students are accepted on to PhDs with just bachelor degrees, so having a masters is an advantage. If you have a masters it will compensate for a poor bachelor grade.

I'm in biology, so it's probably quite different. My papers are all multiple author, although I would add that I did write everything myself and prepared the figures myself, so my supervisors had very little input and basically just went along with what I had done. But on the other hand, it was all stuff they had seen in my thesis and thought it was ok so they had input at other stages.

Most people on here are from the UK so you probably won't get many answers to this.

Revise and resubmit means work on the same thesis topic though, you can't switch at that stage.

The difference is that women are more likely than men to go ahead and have a child alone, particularly due to age limitations. So sure, the same things can apply to single dads, it's just there are far fewer of them.

And I disagree on the career thing too. I think it's possible for a woman to have a full time career and a child. The problem is this is near impossible in science, mainly because of the need to relocate, extended working hours, conferences etc. It's one of the, if not the, main reason women leave science.

It's not always that easy Dunham. Sometimes other factors have to be considered when making choices. For example, could I, as a single woman, take a job hundreds of miles away from home and raise a child? Highly unlikely isn't it? How would I afford child care full time on a postdoc salary? How can I breast feed adequately if I'm supposed to be working full time? It's not as easy to say just find a man who is happy to take over child care responsibilities to enable a woman to focus on a career.