Hi,
I'm not sure whether anyone can help. I am 34 and the main wage earner in my household. I love my job (although just occassionally I don't!) but I have seen a PhD advertised which is exactly my area of interest and I would really like to do it. It's a full time funded PhD. I'm hoping someone can answer these questions:
Exactly how much time do you have to spend at your university doing a PhD?
Do I have to give up work completely?
How much can I expect a stipend to be? (This seems to vary widely)
Can I do consultancy work while doing a PhD to make up my income?
I have asked the university if I could do it part time and they have said no. Even if I apply I may not get it, but I would appreciate some advise.
Thanks very much
Leafy

Hi, Leafy! :-)
In your post I recognize myself year ago. And I have some words to say in general.
First of all I'd recommend your to accept this PhD advertisement. May be it's the right way and good chance for you to do the things you really like to. I do believe that you'll manage to make up your income even doing your PhD! As for me I've done it even in my problem country!
You should understand that everything depends on the situation. And no one will tell you any information in advance. You should try it at your own risk and see what'll happen.
May be it's not good to tell you so...but if the situation went out of controll you can quite anyway.

So, I just want to say that you should't miss this opportunity!

P.S. Sorry if I was out of line!
;-)

======= Date Modified 23 Jun 2009 23:34:36 =======
Sorry to sound more negative, but a lot of full-time students are expected to be at the university full-time, Monday to Friday 9-5, do have to give up work, and have limitations put on how much extra work they can take on (usually based around teaching undergraduate students, restricted to a small number of hours a week). Also PhD stipends are much smaller than wages in general which will be a concern if you are the breadwinner for a family. Say around 12,000 pounds (assuming you're talking about the UK) or a bit more for a full-timer. They are tax free, which helps, but they're still nowhere near many wages.

I'm kind of with BilboBaggins on this one- there is no way I could manage a part time job whilst doing my PhD. I could probably fit in a few hours of teaching for a little extra cash if I was really stuck, but I think that even this would comprimise my PhD study. I don't know of anyone doing a PhD in my department who also has a part time job, other than doing a few hours of teaching and taking on some extra undergraduate marking, but maybe this is different across different subjects. I know some people doing PhDs in other departments here who have official work hours (e.g. 9am-5pm Mon-Fri, 5 weeks holiday per year), but a lot of people don't- as long as the work gets done on time then it doesn't matter so much when you do it. So there could be some flexibility that way, depending on how flexible your consultancy work would be. I don't have official work hours but the nature of my work (testing NHS patients) means that I need to work between those hours anyway (and many hours on top of that most weeks). Stipends seem to be a minimum of £12,940 at the moment, some funding is slightly more generous and goes up to around £15,000. I don't think many people get more than this. Best wishes, KB

the amount of time you will be expected to actually be in uni varies from subject to subject, but if you are in the sciences then they will pretty much expect you to be there every day (in my experience anyway) and obviously if you have any lab work to do then you will need to be there anyway. i could probably fit in a part time job around my phd at the moment (i am just finishing my first year) but only if it was in the evenings, as i am far too busy during the day. consultancy work may be possible occasionally but i don't know if you'd be able to rely on it as a regular source of income as i just don't think you could dedicate much time to it.

as for money, it depends on who is funding the phd. i am funded by the BBSRC and the stipend is £12,940 per year (tax free, and you get more if you study in london). i am very lucky in that i get a 'top-up' from an industrial sponsor taking me up to around £16,500, and i have never heard of anyone getting much more than this. if i were to pay tax, this is the equivalent of a salary of about £21,900, so is plenty for me to live on but not that high compared to many people's salaries. if you have family/kids to support then it would be pretty hard to live on £12,940 (equivalent to around £17,250 as a 'normal' salary) a year i would imagine!

sorry to sound so negative, i am not trying to put you off! if you still feel you can afford to do it, and it is what you really want to do, then i say go for it! you could probably contact the uni in question and ask how much the stipend is before you apply. if you know which research council is funding it, then you could look on their website to find out.

hi Leafy
You've got great replies here! I'm older than you, going to be 40, have a family etc. so I completely understand.
As you already know, life comes with great risks.
If you have made your decision, go for it. Don't look back, just look ahead.
Best of luck. Love always satchi