Hi all!

After months of hard work and stress, I finally got an offer for a place!! (the one that I wanted most) (Btw, thanks to everyone answering my delirium questions at that period, esp. Keenbean once again!) BUT, I am an international student and in an area (humanities- modern languages) where funding is rare and competitive and all that... I had interviews at two universities and both of them went great, although I haven't applied formally to the other two yet, I think my acceptance is guaranteed.
I thought acceptance would give me some confidence in the funding issues but it's weighing me down even more now. I really want to do this phd and seems like I should as I got incredibly positive responses from all the potential supervisors I have contacted so far! I have full faith in my project and I want to stay in academia. Cynic that I am, I know what I want to do with myself for the first time in my life but I just don't know how clever it would be to self fund in the worst case? I'm hoping to get at least a fee-waiver, so I guess I can self-fund my first year but how are the chances to find funding the second year? I know it's a nobody-knows situation but are the chances slightly higher with publications and conference papers and a good record of first year?


Thanks for your comments!! Good luck to everyone,

leaf.

I self-funded the first year of my part-time humanities PhD. I was rather expecting to self-fund the whole thing, but won funding from AHRC for my second year onwards. Would you be eligible for AHRC funding? They have certain residence requirements. See their website. If not, what other funding options might you be eligible for? The universities you are applying to should be able to advise.

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Hey Leaf! Really pleased you have got your offer, glad to know that your perseverence has paid off- in my experience it usually does and you just have to keep going until then! I don't really know about your chances of getting funding after the first year- I know some people on here have managed it but everyone that I know of in my department has been fully funded all the way through so I'm not sure about your situation. But my advice really would be to really push for funding from the start- your potential supervisors are clearly keen to have you on board so they should be happy to support applications for funding. I would try to get it sorted asap- if you agree to leave it and self-fund your first year people might put less effort into getting the funding for you if they think you are prepared to struggle on without. Ask your supervisor for ideas about where to apply, and put in as many applications as you can- lots of my mates got turned down from one source of funding and then succeeded with another. See if the university has any scholarships going too, and don't be afraid of applying to places/sources that seem a bit unliklely- my PhD funding came from an email about a random scholarship that was available to anyone in the country for any subject, based on academic achievement alone and nothing to do with the proposed project. I didn't think there was any way that I would get but I applied and I won it! So keep going, hopefully you will get there in the end. Good luck and keep us up to date! KB

I think you really need to ask your potential supervisors to be absolutely upfront about whether they think you've got any chances of funding either for the first year or ever. Ask what other people like you have done. My suspicion from watching friends is that unless you get a full studentship from the start, (as most of the full studentships are only available to people at the start of their PhD) then it's just little pots of money here and there that are available, and that chasing them can be dispiriting and timewasting. Just wondering as it's Mod Lang - any chance of getting one of those lektor (native speaker running conversation classes for students) jobs, and doing the PhD part-time? Always assuming you are a native speaker of a language taught at that university. I know a couple of French people who did PhDs this way.

I am self-funding my first year with savings, part-time work and by living at home - I'm applying for AHRC funds, but if I don't get those, then I'm just going to have to stay at home etc.

One unofficial benefit of re-applying for funding AFTER enrollment, rather than before, is that you presumably have a better chance of being awarded funds by tutors who have had the chance to get to know you and your work. It's supposed to be impartial, but I'm sure that 'continuing students' have an advantage when it comes to funds doled out by the institution (like the AHRC funds now!)