hello. hope you guys can help me. am an international student in England. Before coming here, i let everyone know that i wanted to do a phd at some point. now thati am completing masters my parents are putting me under a lot of pressure to work instead of pursuing an academic career. i have even had to apply for professional courses here and at home. since my parents cannot support my studies anymore i decided to work hard & try to secure funding for my PhD. so far i have had offers but no success with funding.

Hi jerry, if you are non-EU student it will be very difficult to get funded PhD in UK. you could try ORSAS at http://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/ors/ Or, depends on the subject, try other country such as germany (language is not a problem as they will be Englih educated). Best luck.

which country ur from jerry! for this year, the deadline are over long before...better you should try applying next year or better take GRE wherein you are bound to have lot of funding opportunites in USA

Your parents are right.

You are right. It's your life and it's only up to you to decide how to live it. Your parents worry that you haven't got a profession yet. It's understandable. They know the way as it has to go, and can't see that there are other ways and longer ones perhaps!

As for funding, have you ask the univesities you got offers from if they are considering you for funding. I got two offers so far, and I will know about the results of funding only at the end of June and in August. Perhaps the results are not known yet at your programmes too. Also you can ask the PhD office if there are any Research or Teaching Assistant positions available for next year. Also if you know who will be your supervisor, email him asking if he has any research work you could do for him or others.

thank you Alex for your thoughts. I will do that as am not planning to give up my ambitions for my parents.

jerry,
You will be a loser. After 4 years and a PhD, you will realise how right were your parents.

mm, whatever your problems are, don't think that you can foretell people's future. if a phd did not work for you, it does not mean it won't work for Jerry. Jerry, don't listen to people like mm. ask for advice and take it selectively. all the best. follow your dream Jerry. you'll succeed in the end.