Still nothing for me today, although it obviously seems like panel 5s are coming through now (well done Hannah and BagofNerves!). Hopefully tomorrow is the day! Am I the last one waiting then?

I just spoke to another Panel 5 PhD who received an offer of funding at the end of last week.

======= Date Modified 28 Aug 2008 16:27:10 =======
Hi FingersCrossed,

I phoned them last Tuesday and they said my letter hadn't been generated yet. Someone else who rang them last week was also told that it can take about a week between generation and posting, and since they send them second class it's not really surprising that mine hasn't shown up yet (although very annoying!). It also seems like quite a few panel 5s here are still waiting. I will phone them on Monday if I don't hear by then, because last week they told me to phone back if and when I hadn't heard by the end of August. Also, I believe someone who received a positive response said you have 3 weeks to respond this year.

P.s. BagofNerves, I know one person who has heard from Panel 5. She had a negative response early last week.

Also Panel 5 Doctoral, STILL waiting :(

Hi Pete,

I got the e-mail, but it wasn't a problem with logging in. I couldn't actually get to the site at all. Each time I tried to go to one of the pages a load of funny code came up instead. In any case, no worries, it was just a comment, not a complaint!

Ah, OK, sorry I thought you had said you were panel 5 earlier in the thread but I must be confusing you with someone else.

Hey all,

I haven't been able to access this forum for about 5 days. I assumed it was completely down, but obviously everyone else has still been posting. Anyway, I'm still waiting, but if you've heard GoingNuts, then maybe panel 5s are starting to come through (yours is the first I've heard of). Well done by the way!

Panel 5 for me. Having been told yesterday that my letter hadn't even been generated yet, I'm enjoying my first panic-free morning in a while!

Arrrrrrrrrrrrrggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhh. No post again, so I caved in and rang them. I asked the person who answered if she could tell me if a letter had been generated and she put me through to the awards officer for my institution. She agreed to check (although she sounded pretty annoyed about it). No letter has yet been generated, but 'they will all be sent out by the end of August, so you should hear in the next two weeks.' Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhh why did she say that as if it would be a comfort????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!! Two more weeks! The reason I caved in and phoned today was because I'm ALREADY at the end of my tether. I can't handle another two weeks. She also said 'We're still in the process of working out who we're going to be able to fund.' WHAT??? I know some people turn down their awards and those have to be reallocated, but surely that only applies to a tiny minority. Only one person from my panel turned down their award last year, and it must be much the same across other panels since internal university and college scholarships are generally offered to people on the basis that if they get AHRC funding their scholarship will go to the next person on the list.

OK, well at least I can stop getting so worked up for the rest of this week, but the fact that it could be another two before I hear is a killer. I'm also tempted, since she said they're still making decisions, to rationalise that whilst I still might have a chance of getting it, it's probably only a borderline chance, as if the decision were positive they would have just sent the damn thing already. My more rational or, rather, less hysterical side is telling me not to read anything into it (especially since it was the representative for my institution, not for my panel, I spoke to). Please tell me the rational side is right!

I know, Miss Hopeful, it really is soul destroying. Since my RPM rejection came on August 23rd last year, and it seems like they tend to notify doctoral applicants first (although, of course, I know there is no real rhyme or reason to it), I was hoping it would come quite a bit earlier this year. But no. And the worst thing is that we're being forced to hold out hope for something that probably isn't going to happen. I just don't understand how the process can take so long when they have different people working on every panel. :-(

I can recommend exercise for working out the frustration though. When my letter hadn't arrived, again, this morning it was very hard to drag myself to the gym, but I'm glad I did because I managed to get rid of some of my anger and nerves. Not that the effects lasted very long...

Yes it seems to depend very much on who answers the phone when you call. Last year I phoned up on the 23rd of August and they wouldn't tell me anything, so I've been too scared to ask this year. In any case, I actually got my rejection letter that very same day.

I'm going mad.