Dear all, firstly thank you to everyone who has helped me so far with thinking about my application - I have come to the decision to apply to the department where I have done my UG degree and am doing my MSc now, I really wouldn't want to be anywhere else and they are perfect for what I want to research.

I have emailed the director of the postgraduate research degrees, a member of staff who hasn't taught me and so doesn't know me. She took a few days to reply then sent me a positive-sounding reply that thanked me for my email and my interest and that I hadn't left my application too late, I was concerned about that. She said quite clearly that there were no funding opportunities that she could offer me at the moment, and that she wanted to hear more about my proposed research in order to check supervisor capacity, I imagine this would be to check that the relevant supervisors are available? She said that there were still vacancies but that she wanted to get my application going properly.

I am pretty sure that one of the tutors who would supervise me does not have any PhD students at the moment, and so she should be able to supervise me, the other two who I can imagine will supervise me have a few each (I think, I'm not certain), but I don't think they are the main supervisors for anyone. How namy PhD students does the average academic supervise, or is that a silly question?

I emailed her this morning and still haven't had a response, I'm not bothered about that though, she took a few days to reply to the last one. In my opinion this all sounds quite positive at the moment, but this is the most formal enquiry that I have made so far, apart from a conversation with a professor from another university, so I have nothing to compare it to. How do you all think it is going? I probably sound a bit neurotic, but this is so important to me, as you can imagine.

Thanks, Natassia xx

It sounds very encouraging, but do bear in mind the funding issue. If you need funding, then that must come from somewhere. Will there be other options for you at your local uni? You've mentioned self-funding. Is that something you'd be happy to fall back on if needs must?

My own supervisor seems to supervise about 10 students, and accounts for a large proportion of our department's research students! I believe the normal numbers per supervisor would be much lower. Also policy on numbers may vary by university. It's good that you're bearing this in mind.

Good luck!

Hi Bilbo - nice to hear from you what have you been up to after your wonderful viva?

Self-funding will be a last resort although it is possible, my parents have some savings that they are happy to invest into my future, so that I can do it full time. I have done a lot of thinking as I don't really want to take the money from them, but it will be a definite last resort; the main thing that having it there allows me to choose where I want to go based on the department rather than the funding. My field is new and therefore good departments are few and far between, I really don't want to move from where I am.

I will still chase any funding that becomes available - there were three studentships available last year and they weren't advertised until September, there is a possibility that will happen again this year. Unfortunately I am not in a position for research council funding as I have not finished my Masters degree yet. Thanks for replying, Nx

Good luck with everything. Another option for you might be to self-fund the first year, and apply for research council funding during your first year, once your Masters is safely in hand. That's what I did, after starting my PhD very last-minute, and I got funding for the remaining years of my PhD.

I'm doing ok thanks. I did my few typographical corrections within a week, then ordered (by long-distance: no local binderies here any more) hard bound copies. They should be finally signed and submitted next week, and that's it. And I've been sleeping and recuperating an awful lot.

Hey Natassia! Glad to hear that you're managing to battle on after you've had such a tough few months! I think this does all sound positive, and it sounds like you are now in the position to start formulating your ideas more precisely and getting going with a formal application and so on. Supervisors vary a lot with how many PhD students they supervise. My supervisor is currently primary supervisor to 6 PhD students and second supervisor to another couple (and in charge of several post-docs, research assistants etc), but I have some friends who are the sole PhD student for their supervisor, so it does vary a lot. I don't blame you at all for staying at the same uni- I have stayed put after my BSc and MSc for similar reasons to your own and I don't regret it one bit. What's more, if I can stay for a post-doc, I will! The main thing is to be in the best place to research what you want to research, and if that is where you are then great! It might be worth thinking about different sources for funding- departmental funding is one way forward but there are lots of others as well, so when you speak to your potential supervisor it might be worth exploring those options a little more. I know of nobody in our department who is having to self-fund, and there are over 80 PhD students across the 3 years, so I think with a little perseverence you will stand a reasonable chance of getting funding, especially given your excellent undergrad result etc. Anyways, sounds like it's all going well at the moment, well done for staying on top of things and keep us up to date! Best, KB

Thanks Bilbo and KB for replying,

Bilbo - it must be so lovely to have your PhD completely finished - I'm sure you can't wait to get it back from the binders! Enjoy your recuperation..have you got a holiday planned for the summer?

It all seems to be progressing quite well, I might have a meeting with the PG research director next Tuesday, she asked me who was supervising my MSc dissertation as she said he would be a good starting point as a possible supervisor, so I told her who was supervising me, as well as who I'd been speaking to about my application. She said that she is going to speak to them first then I would have a formal interview with her and the supervisors. I'm a bit concerned that she hasn't asked me to fill in a form yet, or provide an actual written proposal - I guess she will in due course, hopefully.

I was talking to another tutor who I get on quite well with today about it, and said that I was worried that the supervisors would be expecting me to move on to a different university rather than staying, and think I was in some way 'outstaying my welcome' by staying there. She said that I should "banish those thoughts" (her words!), and that its a good thing for the department to have students that stay with them. When one of the potential supervisors told me that she would supervise a section of my PhD I asked her whether it was negative to go from UG to MSc to PhD at the same place without any gaps in between (as I want to do), and she said it wouldn't look bad at all, that it was rare to do that at my age but not damaging for a future career, providing that I publish and network to be recognised outside of that department. I know this all sounds a bit jumbled - but do these signs look positive??

Natassia xx

Hi Natassia,

That all sounds very positive to me. I was in a sort of similar position to you this time last year - I went straight from graduating with my UG degree from my department to starting my PhD there in the space of 3 weeks. I never had to submit a formal proposal (this could be different in your case), I simply expressed an interest in pursuing postgrad studies (I was considering a research-based masters at the time) in a specific area to one of the lecturers in the department. He directed me to a different staff member who had a couple of projects lined up which were fully funded. I had a chat with him and then with the guy who would become my co-supervisor. Then they went away, had a chat to each other and then to the head of the department about me, submitted some sort of official thing (I have no idea about the procedures involved) to the graduate studies board for approval. A couple of weeks later they offered the PhD. I have two friends who also graduated from the same department who have also gone on to do a PhD and the procedure they went through was slightly different but equally as informal. So I wouldn't worry too much about not being asked for a written proposal yet.

Best of Luck(up)

Thank you Ev - its really useful to have a little account of your application, and its reassuring to realise that informality is not necessarily a negative thing! The meeting has been postponed until next Friday now, she is keeping me informed via email and she seems really nice; apparantly she has begun to contact possible supervisors - scary! Will keep you all updated, whether its good or bad news, Nx

Just as another thought, it might be worth enquiring not only how many students your proposed supervisors have, but how many they have taken through to completion successfully - some students can be 'on the books' for years without being any nearer to completing, so its always worth taking a look at the supervisors' records (also, for any 'drop-outs' as well). I think, given the importance of the supervisor-relationship, this is really important - prob more so if your are self-funding, so will want to complete in as quick a time as possible!

Thanks Zelda - it is quite awkward for me to ask questions like that directly as I have been at the university for four years now, so I do know my prospective supervisors quite well already, one of them was my personal tutor for my undergraduate degree. I don't know where I would be able to see their records online, I do know of a few PhD students that have completed however I don't generally have much to do with the research students as I'm only at MSc level. It is a very small department, only about 15 PhD students in total, I think that is actually quite nice, it seems to be a friendly department where the supervisors really care about their students.