I want to do a PhD in English but wanted some advice on my undergraduate degree. I graduated from a top university (UCL) several years ago with a degree in English and got a 2:2 - just a couple of marks off a 2:1. I'd like to say that it was due to extenuating circumstances but in honesty it was down to pure laziness and rarely doing any work. I'm surprised I managed to even get a 2:2 with the lack of effort I put in. It's doubly frustrating as I was told by tutors that I was one of the more gifted students they had seen over the years and could easily have achieved a first if I'd put in work. I know it wasn't empty praise. I then did an MA in English from the same department and got a merit. Again, I could have got a distinction but I wrote my dissertation in less that a week. Unfortunately my lack of focus is now coming back to bite me as I realise just how much I love my subject. I know it sounds ridiculous with my track record, but I've always wanted to do a PhD and would love to start one in the next few years.

I'm confident things are different now. In short I've grown up and I know that I would sucessfully complete a PhD. I'm not the same person I was and have very different values and a different way of living now. My question is this, how difficult would it be to get into a top university, perhaps even Oxbridge, to do a PhD. I've researched my area extensively and have a good idea.

My work ethic has done a complete turn around which is very clear in my current job and the way I currently live my life. Will I be paying for my youthful foolishness for the rest of my life? Or is there something I can do to combat the effects of the 2:2?

Maybe all is not lost....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yfcteT_0ec

Hi Rian

Your most relevant qualification is usually your most recent. With that in mind, it could probably be an idea to try to complete a Masters Degree first. Your aim could be to find a suitable Masters Course, which you could then follow up with a PHD.

Remember to seriously consider finances - how would you pay for your studies? Grants are like snow in summer.

Also -will it be financially worthwhile? How will you make a living? What job do you want to get at the end? In Academia, there are going to be fewer jobs - and pay rates and conditions are going to get worse.

Outside Academia, sometimes having a PHD can seriously hamper your job prospects!

If you want something badly enough though, and try hard enough , you can often get there - please just be aware!

Angelette

I think it's not so much getting a place (although I think you'd be unlikely to get a place at Oxbridge tbh from what I have heard from other people) that is the problem.The problem is that you are very unlikely to get funding for such a competitive subject anywhere without an immaculate academic track record these days, let alone at a top university. Unlike in the sciences where people with 2:2 degrees are still getting funded, humanities funding is so scarce that it's unbelievably competitive.
Self-funding a PhD is very risky (for most people - obviously if you have a trust fund or a wealthy partner this might not be the case) and something that you should only do with your eyes wide open to the realities of what doing a PhD is like, and an understanding that very few people who complete a humanities PhD will get an academic job (and as Angelette points out that it can be disadvantageous in a non-academic job search). There's quite a good chapter in Phillips and Pugh's book 'how to get a PhD' on the reasons why you should and shouldn't do a PhD, that would be worth reading. Academia is pretty cut-throat, as the many deeply disallusioned posts on this forum will show you, and doing a PhD without funding is IMHO only worth it, if you have such a passion for your thesis topic that nothing else will make you happy than to spend (assuming you go part-time like most self-funders) at least the next 6 years of your life researching. http://chronicle.com/article/Graduate-School-in-the/44846/ US-focussed but might be worth a read as many of the problems described are the same here.

Hi there! I don't know much about doing a PhD in English as I'm in Psychology, but I do have a couple of friends who got fully funded PhDs with a 2.2 and a pass at MSc level- one in health economics and another in dementia studies. But they didn't get straight onto the PhD- both of them worked as research assistants first in the teams that they went on to do their PhDs in, so I suppose they both had the chance to prove themselves and get people to see past the 2.2. To be honest, you'd probably struggle to get into Oxbridge, but then with PhDs you need to think a lot more about the department and the supervisors rather than the reputation of the university as a whole- these things are more important for a PhD. Unlike your undergrad degree, where you may be judged on which university it was from, for your PhD it will be the department, your supervisors, and your publications that you will be judged on (or at least in my discipline it's like that- as I said, I don't know much about English). And there are some excellent departments in some universities that would be judged as being pretty average overall- my PhD came from one of these 'average' universities but from a department that is in the top 10 in the country, and following my PhD I immediately got a job at a top 10 UK university. So maybe have a think about that! Best of luck with it, KB

You won't get funding for a PhD with just a 2(ii). You will need a Masters or some relevant works experience before you will be considered for funding.

I touch on this in my blog.

http://www.wearthesis.talktalk.net

The relevant text from it is as follows.

As has been said, its likely that you could get accepted to do the PhD, but very unlikely that you would be able to get any funding. In our faculty every single applicant shortlisted for funding had a first class BA and a distinction at MA and only one was offered the funding. Its been the same in humanities for a while - when I started I missed out on AHRC funding to another girl with a similar first and distinction. I was fortunate enough to get a uni scholarship and dept bursary - both dependent also upon academic ability. You may be lucky, but I think you need to consider whether you can afford to self fund - many do, but its tough.

Thank you so much for all you replies. I really do feel a bit better as I felt I was flogging a dead horse to be honest! I'm completely aware of the funding situation and tbh I'm not even going to apply. I know of many people at my old department at UCL who had top academic records and didn't even get a look in for funding. I think I'll be able to make ends meet by working part-time and a bit of help from family so I think I'll be with for funding myself.

My real concern I had was if I'd get into a top university to do a PhD in English.. I wonder if anyone knows of anyone who has got into Oxbridge for a humanities PhD with a 2:2 and a merit at MA level? Or is it almost a definite no?

I'd have thought that it would be nigh on impossible - if only because so many people seem to confuse 'top university' with 'top supervisor' at this level (as you yourself are doing :-)) At PhD level the university does not matter - the only way in which it would is that it is unlikely that the ideal supervisor would be working in the very lowest achieving institutions. I think others would agree with me when I say that FIRST you need to decide exactly what you want to do, THEN you find the perfect supervisor for your work. It doesn't matter if they are at Oxbridge or Exeter or UEA or anywhere else - it is the quality of the supervision and the expertise of the supervisory team that will be noted. You want, if possible, the guy (or girl of course) who wrote the book to supervise you - that means far far more than the location of the post grad office. You want somebody who is going to give you time, who will support you, and who is known to be a world leader. Go for that - not for Oxbridge (unless they are there of course).

The advice shared by everyone on this thread is top dollar and I'm glad that you can see a way of funding yourself. As you say, there are so many strong candidates and so few funding opportunities. I'd do the PhD sooner, rather than later, as they'll probably be putting up the fees soon (if they haven't already started...).

======= Date Modified 18 Jul 2012 09:48:51 =======
============= Edited by a Moderator =============
*Removed by Postgrad Forum team - spam*