Dear all,

I recently had an interview for a Research Assistantship in my department as part of a large new project one of my supervisors has just undertaken.

Anyway, I felt the interview went really well and the last thing they said to me as I left was that they would be making the decision by the end of that day, but due to the project and the number of positions available it was a bit of a complicated procedure and therefore 'if you don't hear after a week, don't worry, but if you don't hear after 2 weeks, then start to worry!' Rather strange bit of advice, but nonetheless..

Anyway, it will be 2 weeks tomorrow and I still haven't heard anything. If I haven't heard anything tomorrow, do you think I should send my supervisor (who is also the principal investigator) an email to see if I have been successful or not, or would that be inappropriate?

Any advice would be much appreciated (as you can imagine I'm becoming all-consumed waiting to hear, can't even concentrate on doing my PhD work!).

Best wishes,

Thanks guys, you've all been extremely helpful. Much appreciated.
Best wishes,

Halo

Thanks guys!

Well the application is split into the following: CV, cover letter, and 2 answers to questions in regards to the research project. So should I not be banging on about my degree/MA/conferences/publications if they're already on my CV?

Best,

Halo

Hi all,

I'm currently applying for a position in my department. I've been in academia so long, however, that I've forgotten a few simple truths of job applications! One of which is: how many pages can a cover letter be? It's clocked in at 2.5 pages. Is that too long? I'm going to try and narrow it to 2, but even then - should I be keeping it at 1?

Aargh! This used to be so simply. Damn you academia for turning me into a pathetic shell of myself!

Best,

I am doing a Humanities PhD.

7% of my time is spent at home, reading and writing. The other 20% is spent conducting research in archives, mostly in London, while the remaining 10% is spent at university. Since I've started teaching this term, I'm now at Uni once a week (long day - first lecture at 9am, last one at 5pm).

It takes me 2 hours to get to the university, and 1.30hrs to London, so this is the main reason I spend most of my time at home doing my work.

This allows me to have a very accommodating and flexible work/life balance, which means that, if necessary, I don't have to do any PhD related work if I wake up one morning and can't be bothered / rather spend time with my wife / have a non-academic activity planned. However it also allows me to maximise my working opportunities. For instance if I'm working on something special, or have a deadline, etc, I can work from 7am right through to 9pm.

PhDs really are what we make of them. Many of my friends/colleagues prefer to be 'on campus', even if they don't need to be. But then many of them live by the University or still embrace the student lifestyle which compels them to be part of the 'scene', so to speak.

I however have a mortgage, a wife, and a baby on the way, so the format of my work-day is obviously geared more towards my home life.

So to give you an idea, my general week right now is: Teaching all day monday, working at home tues & wed, visit to the archives thurs, and working from home friday, and also at least half a day at the weekend. On average, my PhD work consists of about 30 - 35 hours, teaching about 10 hours, and research about 10 hours. So a respectable work week, if I do say so myself!

My article was actually a converted MA dissertation, so the good feedback I received from that motivated me to do the article in the first place. Then, when I received a Revise & Resubmit, I was motivated to put the work in as I was so happy not to be rejected straight out! My patience and energy levels slumped as the months drew on, but, as my supervisor advised me, even top academics have articles rejected from time to time, so in a macabre sort of way it made me hang in there.

The success of this one has again spurred me on to begin writing another article, based on one of my completed PhD chapters.

Hope that helps.
Best,

You need to take control. I can understand years of this kind of exploitation has undermined your confidence and sapped your motivation, but only you can change the situation.

What you are currently doing is not a PhD; you're currently serving as slave labour. Take your supervisor to task, make an official complain, and bring the university's failings to the attention of those who will listen and do something about it.

If all that means leaving the PhD - well, it will probably be the best thing you could ever do.

Ha - two weeks sounds like bliss! Well I heard it was common for this journal to take 6 months, so I figure a year is exceptional. God only knows when it will actually be in print!

Congratulations to you - very well deserved!

Best,

Thanks tt_dan! Well I must admit, it was an 'interesting' introduction into the publication process. For the past two months I had virtually written it off as I hadn't heard anything for months on end after the R&R. I was moaning to my supervisor, and he suggested dropping them a very curteous line asking for a rough update. And walah - I received the formal acceptance.

Now I've gone from being very excited this morning, to be extremely anxious this afternoon about the world scrutinising my work - eek! But hey, I guess if you don't put yourself out there and hear what people think, then you can never improve your ideas, or on the other hand gain validation.

My supervisor is quite chuffed as I'm only half way through my PhD, so to have one in the bag feels great, especially for Humanities.

Thanks again.

Hi all,

Just had the official notification from the journal that my first ever submitted paper has been accepted for publication! The whole process has taken about a year, and I was originally asked to revise and resubmit about 6 months ago. Just wanted to share as often we all moan about the negatives of PhD life, rarely the positives!

I'm high as a kite at the moment!

Best,

If I'm honest, I would say approaching a PhD with the idea that it's something you'd like to do just to have done it, is probably a likely method for failure. Embarking on a PhD is a serious, serious challenge, and one should rarely go into it unless there's a topic they're dedicated to, or passionate about, enough to spend years of their life attempting to uncover truly original research. When the going gets tough - and oh boy, does it get tough - sometimes all you have to motivate you is that serious need or thirst to solve the problem or issue you're tackling.

Most people - myself included - go into a PhD straight from another degree where they've been studying or research a related problem or topic area. Of course I'm not saying don't, nor am I saying you'll fail, but it's not going to do you any favours down the line when you have thousands of words to write, data collection to complete, deadlines, reviews, etc, unless you are absolutely dedicated to your research area.

Do you even have one in mind?

Best wishes,

Well done - so great to hear such a positive experience. You deserve a well earned rest and look forward to a good career with those kind of results.

Best wishes,

I resubmitted a revised article at the end of July - still heard nothing so gave them a very polite reminder the other work and they replied that still waiting final approval from the editors.

The whole process has taken 10 months so far - pretty unacceptable in my opinion. The systems needs serious re-organisation.