Hi - just want to know what people's experiences/thoughts are with regard to very late PhD applications.

I applied to several unis over the year for PhDs, all funded and very competitive. My latest few have had some results. Three PhDs had an application deadline of the 7th August. I've already interviewed for one and been informally offered the studentship and am waiting on the official offer. The other two have offered me interviews next week (so much travelling!), and one of them is one I really really really want. The other was a back up choice with an interesting project but in a so-so place for me. These other two fit well with my research interests and both are good. Just Uni B is so much better for me than Uni A for several reasons.

So, with it being so late in the academic year (these are all to start in October), how long do you think it will be following the interviews for me to hear from them? I don't want to mess Uni A around - it feels wrong - but I know that I'm gonna need to respond quickly once I get the official offer. How quickly, I don't know yet - I'm hoping I will hear from the others before I accept/reject the offer. And since I've not really seen Uni C yet at all, I don't want to completely discount it as an option.

I'm currently writing up my masters thesis and I have nothing but hate for it. There is a large chunk of my research that is being cut out and I'm stressing more about that than the actual writing.

I love the part I'm including. Most of it is written now, but it's so demotivating every time I realise how much I'm not including. It feels like I did so much work for nothing. That then stops me from continuing and frustrates the hell out of me.

Basically, I know I'm staying over nothing and I know it's not gonna help, but a) I need to let it out - I've struggled to portray this to my supervisors - and b) for those of you who have finished the write up, how did you get through it?

Weirdly, I struggle more with the wiring in the day than I do at night.