I also liked Dexter's Laboratory but I am not sure if I liked it as a child or teen.

Oh yes, Flintstones, Jetsons and Monkey. I loved Barney!

X-Men, Power Rangeres, Transformers, Ninja turtles, Married with Children, Simpsons, all on Sky One. I used to love that channel. And funnily enough my fav. character in the Ninja Turtles was "the brain" closely followed by Donatello!

These days I still watch the oh so lovely Simpsons, and have seen the X-Men movies more than once. It reminds me of youthful days. I still don't understand why I liked the Power Rangers ever.

No chance whatsoever. I am writing up... not even the scent of holidays on the horizon for me.

However given the chance to choose, where would you want to go for holidays? I am thinking of going to Prague or Hong Kong after I finish writing.

It is about moving out of your comfort zone and getting an idea of how research works in other parts of the world. Nothing is stopping the student from coming back as a lecturer or RF after the post-doc but it is generally good if you move for your institution. Atleast in Engineering and Applied Sciences it does.

I agree there are family commitments and other personal issues that tie down people to a certain area but again my opinion is for people who have the choice and can do it... Even during the PhD, if you can go to another university as an affiliate student, you should do it. I did not have the chance but those kinds of programs are becoming common now.

There is the knowing in theory that other groups practice differently, respecting it and so on but then actually having experience doing it is better. I think it is like knowing and understanding other cultures exist and then going to live with other cultures for a while. It is not the same thing. It is the reason why travelling in a gap year for instance is good experience.

With respect to the postdoc, it is probably the way to go for most... but the post doc has to be in a university different from where you did your PhD in order to show that you can do research without help from people who know you and also to gain wide experience.

However I have known of people who did a postdoc in industry (Engineering and Applied Science fields) so doing a postdoc does not have to be just about academia. Atleast I hope not. I am not ready to impart wisdom to younger minds yet. I want to work and get money first without having to teach!

A couple of days out of the forum and all these replies about the implications of one statement. I think people who join a postgraduate forum should be credited with enough sense to know that qualifications of any kind are not a waste of time if they benefit you and your career. For a person in my situation (coming from an engineering background with relevant undergraduate project work to do a PhD in engineering and science); an MSc would not have helped at all. I was talking about me (female btw) not anyone else. So sorry if you thought I was talking about you; it was not a statement directed at you. It was kind of self-reflection considering the start of thread was made by someone who got a PhD without doing an MSc and was wondering if that was a bad thing!

Self-Important? In what way?

Gosh STU - So personal... 'Naive and Stupid?', 'Narrow-Minded'? Such strong words, perhaps I hit a nerve somewhere.

If you read my post AGAIN... You will see that I said "What is the point of wasting a year in an MSc IF YOU HAVE THE BACKGROUND AND KNOW-HOW to do a PhD". I did not say doing an MSc is wasted altogether. IF you are going to do a PhD which bears relation to what you did in your undergrad, and if it is not a requirement to do an MSc, THEN you would be WASTING time doing an MSc.

Of course I realise that some PhDs require an MSc and some doctoral candidates want a PhD in something different from their basic background. It is just common-sense!

No doubt you will comeback with some clever oneliner again, but I think I might just ignore it since it might just be the hormones. What you gonna do? Hit me?

Undergrad and then straight onto do a PhD. What is the point of wasting a year in an MSc if you have the background and knowhow to do a PhD??

Why not talk to your other lecturer and see what he thinks about recommending you for the place. In which case you might be able to set up a collaborative project with him as your 2nd supervisor?

Tell them you have finished!

Nope age is not as much as taboo in academic circles.

We had Dandruff-like pretend snow for a few seconds in London. But we have sunshine so I am not complaining. I might get a Tan by just walking to the underground!

I don't understand why you wouldn't want to move to Bristol. It is a good place. I would move location to do be a PhD in a good place and have done. It was good. Exciting new place, new friends, new way of life!

Having said that I do understand that I should respect people's feelings and opinions. You should do it where you would be happy esp. with the depression I suppose. I can't say I really understand it though!