it's always worth looking. if you find a project that interests you and that you are enthusiastic about, contact the supervisor and explain your circumstances.

i would guess biochemistry is a field that gets a fair amount of funding, so would have thought there will be studentships available at universities with slightly lower entry standards and that may be something to consider.

thank you. those are both useful replies.

hi.

i have just been told i will receive an offer for one of the studentships i applied for, which i am very pleased about, but i haven't yet received the official offer and i am slightly anxious about whether it will have conditions that i might be unlikely to meet.

i am currently doing a research master's, so already have my undergraduate degree classification and provided this transcript when i applied. the requirements for the studentship were a good first degree, which i have, and there was an indication that a master's would be considered beneficial but was not a pre-requisite.

what am i wondering is whether phd offers in these circumstances are often or tend to be conditional upon master's classification, or whether the offer is only made once an applicant meets the required criteria, and is therefore usually made without further conditions. i know that i can't expect you to know the specifics for a studentship you have very little information about, but i suppose i'm asking in general whether offers in these circumstances will tend to be conditional upon, for example, attaining a merit or distinction for the master's degree.

of course i could just wait for the official offer, but i have no indication of how long that will take and i'm currently very stressed about both applications and my research project, and also where's the fun in that.

also, briefly, i imagine you may think that a lack of confidence in receiving a good grade for my master's might be an indication that i am not suited for a phd, so just as an explanation i felt i should add that i (misguidedly) chose a master's project based on funding, which was not in an area that particularly interested me, and is also not an area i'm very familiar with. the phd is in a subject much more closely related to my undergraduate degree, and an area i am much more confident and interested in.

thanks