Hi Rubyw, thanks for your post above, that was exactly the kind of detailed explanation I was looking for. Yeah I know it probably seems premature to be thinking about a PhD at this point, but my university allows students to skip the masters stage provided the bachelors they have undertaken has a large enough research component, and as I hope to stay at the same university and in the same department I will hopefully be allowed to do just that. So I really would need to think about these things relatively soon.... Just wanted to gather as much info as I could from people in the know before even thinking about making any kind of decision. Cheers again for all your answers!
P.S. - and this is more out of interest than anything - how do people prove that they have 'the ability to attract funding'? I have seen this mentioned several times in job adverts, sector profiles etc and don't understand it; is it based on past performance or on specialism? Just curious....
P.P.S. - one final question - is it really seen as a bad thing to stay at the same university for both undergraduate and postgraduate degrees? Even if that university is one of the best (or the best, depending on the league table) in the country for that subject?

Phdbug - I am in the middle of my undergraduate degree and am currently a mature student (as I am over 21). I didn't mean to suggest that I would consider myself 'mature' when going for my PhD, in fact I was kind of hoping to be one of the younger ones after three years of feeling ancient amongst teenagers! I just mentioned it as I have already returned to education at an older age than normal after being in a succession of rubbish, worthless jobs - therefore I feel slightly more anxious than the average 21 year old graduate about not taking the wrong direction now

Hiya - cheers for your replies. I'm only in my mid-twenties so am not concerned about it being 'too late' to do a PhD or secure an academic job, I'm just loathe to spend an extra three years struggling by on loans etc then end up in a similar job to one I could get after I finish my first degree. However, as you have said, there's no point just not trying, especially as I really can't see any other type of job making me happy. I'm not interested in FE/ secondary teaching etc - like most people wanting to get an academic job in HE, it's the research aspect which interests me most, and I would be hoping to secure a job in a research intensive university. Really I just wanted a bit of first hand experience of the academic job market i.e. level of competition for jobs, frequency of suitable jobs becoming available, how long it took you to find your job if you have one etc. I look on jobs.ac.uk and other sites occasionally, just out of interest, and there very rarely seems to be jobs advertised in my field (social policy), which worries me slightly...

This question is mainly directed at those studying arts/ humanities/ social sciences... Are you and most of your fellow PhD students all hoping to get into academia? If so, do you ever find the idea of so many similarly qualified people going for a finite number of jobs daunting? I know that all job sectors only have a certain amount of positions available, but lecturing/ research positions seem particularly limited - are you all fairly confident of getting work when you finish your PhD? Do you have a back-up plan? Have any of you secured jobs in this sector, and if so, how? I'm still only considering going for a PhD - being a lecturer is the dream, but I'm a bit concerned about putting three extra years into something only to find getting a job impossible. I don't want to sound like getting the PhD would only be a means to an end as I love my subject and know I would enjoy the challenge academically, but I'm already a mature student and don't want to use up another three years and several thousand pounds only to end up in a similar position as I would have been with an undergraduate degree. Any advice/ shared experiences appreciated....

Just wondering how any of you decided on a topic for your PhD? If you did your PhD directly after a masters or first degree, was the topic something that you became interested in over the course of your previous studies? Was it an obvious decision, or did you have to really think about & investigate possible subject areas? And did you come up with the idea alone or did you have help from tutors/ lecturers? Sorry for the barrage of questions - I have just finished the first year of my bachelors degree, know I want to go on to do a PhD but have no idea where to begin deciding on a subject. Thanks!