I have got a First Class Honours degree in computing and I graduated from my MSc in Computing with a very good Merit in Oct 2010 and been looking for a PhD for the past year. In that time only two suitable PhDs funding opportunities have come up in the wide research areas I want to study. I applied and got to the interview stage for them both and just missed out by one other person beating me each time.

I am really restricted in the geographical area that I can apply as I have got a wife and child that do not want to move (and mortgage on a house) and it just seems like another opportunity may never come. I am willing to commute quite far and there are about 8 unis within daily commuting distance but at least half of them seem to concentrate on reserach areas I have not studied before. I considered living in halls away from family in the week and going home at weekends but I am certain that I need to see my wife and son everyday as I do not want to be apart from them.

I have always wanted to do a PhD but could only afford to do this with funding. At the minute I just feel like giving up on it all. One part of me thinks I am quite young (in early 30s) and an opportunity will come one day (perhaps in a few years time). Another part thinks I should give up on looking and try to get some sort of career as I am out of work at the minute.

I have thought about doing it part time but it costs too much for that as well. My wife and I have been together all the way through my uni and we have always struggled by financially. I can't expect my wife and son to be seriously disadvantaged finacially to pay for six more years of university fees.

It is just so hard to wait :-(

where exactly you want to do your PhD?

Hey Zakbrown! It sounds like the two funded positions you have applied for are advertised positions. Have you thought about designing your own project then looking for funding to do it? You could contact an academic at a suitable (nearby!) uni with an idea of what you want to do, and see if they would be interested in supervising the project that you propose. If so, you could go ahead and apply for funding with that supervisor on board, and if you get funding it's yours- you wouldn't have to compete with others for it. That's the way I found funding for my PhD- I told my MSc supervisor I was interested in a PhD, came up with a proposal (with a bit of support from her) and then applied for funding. In the end I had two offers for funding for the project! It might be worth thinking about whether that would be an option. Best, KB

Hi KB - Thanks for the advice I had not thought about that option and it is certainly worth a try. The other two positions were advertised.

I live in the East Midlands Charly.

I'm going through a really tough emotional time at the moment waiting to hear about funding )in a totally different area) and I really feel for what you're going through.

Having said that reading through this thread has given me a bit of hope. I have managed to get supervisors behind me before I made my applications and according to this thread that is the best way to go. So even though the next few weeks will be a difficult waiting time I've got another little bit of god news.

Best of luck mate. Hope it all works out.