Well done Lara - all's well that ends well :-x

I'll be in my 50s by then :p and the mother of a teenager :p:p

I can't move for work (wish I could) so it's extrememly hard to know whether I could ever make tenure given I have to stay here. I'm not sure that I will be able to put in the hours and committment that seems to be required and be around for my daughter. I would like to do a couple of postdocs at least but I just can't really see beyond that. I've already said that I want to work 4 days/week (so that I can pick up from school 2 days/week) and people seem fine with that - but for a tenured post - I suspect they would not be. I have a feeling I might make one of my occaisional diagonal career moves by then.

I'm in a similar position but with my actual PhD :p which I finished in the summer. I need to do a lot of reworking for the analysis. My supervisor thinks it's fine (although he has no input at all) but my co-author in another dept doesn't accept it and I think she has valid concerns. But redoing analyses after submission is so incredibly tedious and quite soul-destroying. I am also as yet unsure just how to go about it. But it's my actual PhD so I must get the papers.

If your supervisor wants to go ahead either he does it on his own or I think offering to deal with the reviewers comments is a good solution - although it will be a total PITA when the time comes. If he goes alone and you have contributed data (or anything substantial) you must be a co-author. I got a second paper out of my masters by just conributing the data and absolutely nothing else - no question though of my not being a co-author.

I'm definitely finding this problem and I am also in neuroscience. Unfortunately, I have to stay at my institution and can't move. The only way I can get a postdoc here is to write the grant myself with a principal investigator. I need a couple of good papers to do that - so that's what I'm working on now (had viva in July). It means a year of unpaid work bar some dept teaching but I don't see any other way that I can 'tick all the boxes' for a position unless I create for myself.

If I could move, I might look into RA positions that provide experience in specific skills/techniques (such as fMRI or in person assessment for example).

Perhaps it varies by subject but I have seen a lot of rather aggressive/ruthless and/or eccentric behaviour at presentations! Well done for keeping calm and defending yourself. I have a mental catalogue of past presentations by people who I felt did really well under attack and I try to model my stance on that. Professional behaviour among academics is not held accountable as it is in many other professions. That can be a good thing - as eccentricity is well-tolerated (almost obligatory even!) but as you have found - can also lead to downright awful behaviour being allowed without consequences.

I've gone the other way, from genetics to psychology. My PhD is a combination of both and I did a masters in between - but that was in anthropology! You might be able to get a PhD place for a topic on psychological genetics - but not otherwise. If you want to leave psychology completely you will need a masters (unless you can self fund maybe).

Hi Lara - I passed with minor corrections. I still have a ton of work to do to get publications out in order to write a postdoc grant though - so it feel like I have another year to go. It has taken a while to chill about the whole thing but I have slowed down and feel very relieved. How are you doing?

Since the 7th of July - that isn't all that long. I'm sure many of us have downed tools for much longer than that. But why are you feeling desperate? Is it just that you've got behind in your work or is the work itself or something else? Ask to see a uni counsellor and talk to your supervisor - I can't imagine he will be shocked. Getting a funk mid-PhD is so common - as you can see on these boards!

Yes, I am shocked at the amount of homework kids seem to do these days. I used to be an educational publisher and the A level materials in my field (sci & maths) didn't seem to be getting any easier. It seems that students are really crammed for exam performance these days.

It's been nearly 30 years for me! I was mildly disappointed (ABB) but in those days a standard offer from a good uni was never more than CCC. School was a breeze - much too easy and I just took it for granted. I had intended to go into research since I was about 13 but things started to go pair-shaped as an undergrad and although I got my 2.1 things went very downhill from there on. Dropped out of postgrad twice and couldn't seem to hold a job either - had a complete breakdown at 25. I kept thinking I had hit bottom - but I was wrong... Started to get back on track in my late 20s but never thought I would get back on this horse again!

This time around I am more stable (though I will never win any mentally-stable-of-the-year awards) and extrememly tenacious. I could never have been this tenacious and bloody-minded when I was younger. The downside is that I have a family to wrap this around - but my family give me the stability I need so it's all swings and roundabouts. I know there are a lot of you out there in your 20s doing this - well done you!

Definitely check your regulations carefully. Usually there is some paperwork concerning submission and appointment of examiners required before you can officially submit. Over here, the student is responsible for that paperwork although the supervisor is required to sign it. I didn't entirely realise this and my examiners were appointed a bit late - and consequently I waited longer than expected for my viva (about 4 months). I have frequently had to chase paperwork through the system for signatures.

I think your supervisor should be contacted by you or your head of dept and told/reminded of your submission deadline.

I did and had very little supervision throughout. I did not see my supervisor when I submitted. I passed my viva 2 weeks ago and still no word from my supervisor who is on fieldwork. Has anyone checked your work? This is the real issue. You need to have faith - and to get as much other input and checking as you can.

Well, you must have chosen those variables for some reason surely - you must have had some reason to think they might have some kind of influence on something?

In quantitative analyses, if you don't start with any kind of hypothesis or predictions of any sort, then you usually have to have much more stringent standards (i.e. levels of significance) before interpreting e.g. correlations between variables as being due to any other than the chance of finding anything significant given you are doing a lot of tests (this is generally referred to as 'going on a fishing expedition'). Just something to bear in mind.

The fact that you think x has an influence on y is in itself a hypothesis and the null hypothesis to be challenged is that x has no influence on y.

I did my undergrad at UCL and loved it! London is expensive though. If you want to be near college you will need to be in halls. As a grad student you would probably be better off going for a self-catering place. Otherwise you will need to rent further out and come in by bus/tube/bike. I started out using the tube then when I worked in London I switched to the bike - much more flexible. For UCL a lot of people rent in the cheaper areas of north London. You will probably have to houseshare as rents for single occpancy flats/studios are high. You can get bedsits in the same price range as house chares but they are very small and facilities (i.e. small cooker/sink in the corner) are very basic. I had two different bedsits in London though and I quite liked the cosy self-contained feel of them. They might suit you if you don't want to share and don't mind being a bit cramped.

Loot is a good source of rentals - you have to call and view really quick to get anything decent though.