My advice would be to apply for the PhD as planned, start trying for a baby as planned, and then discuss maternity leave etc with your supervisor only if/when you're pregnant. Don't frame it as bad news - it's not! Just say you're happy to share this exciting news and would like to start making arrangements now about how best to balance your research with pregnancy/parenting. Good luck with everything!

Native Brit here. No, you have no reason to worry - she's just saying the department should be friendly and supportive. Perhaps she knows people who study or work there. Either way, it's an innocuous phrase with no deeper meaning. So enjoy your place - and congratulations!

I wouldn't worry about bulking it out too much - it is what it is, and whoever is looking at it will see that you've been outside of academia for a few years so it shouldn't count against you (it's not like normal CVs where gaps are suspicious). Just list all the info from your bachelors and masters, including any prizes or extracurriculars, etc, and then put a "professional experience" section and list your work exp - it might be unrelated, but it shows you have people skills, which are handy in sociology! If you've done any volunteering that's relevant to your PhD topic, you can also mention that, and language skills and other qualifications can have a section..

Of course, if you've got time before you apply, you could always look into attending some conferences or workshops or even writing some conference papers or blogposts beforehand - but obviously that's quite time-consuming and might not be feasible. Try not to worry too much - the CV is only a small part of the application. Best of luck :)

I'm about to start a part-time PhD working approx. 20 hours per week as well. I wouldn't consider full-time plus 18 hours working if I were you, it's asking for trouble, even without health problems! I think what people were pointing out is that, even if you're part-time, if you're working 18 hours a week as well, between the PhD and working, you'd still be working a full-time week, which might be a bit much? Perhaps it might be better to do the PhD part-time without working (or working less) so you don't get ill?

It's worth noting that, given your health problems, I imagine you could apply for full-time funding and programmes and then, if it proves too much, switch to part-time without any issues. Universities and funding bodies tend to be pretty accommodating about this kind of thing, so it's something to look into.

On a side note, if you get tired easy, definitely don't do a PGCE and go into teaching! That's one of the most tiring jobs there is! So many of my friends have burnt out and left after only a few years, and one who absolutely loved her job had to leave due to health issues which made her weak and fatigued. Plus, you don't want to be a teacher, so probably shouldn't :) Follow your dream and go for the PhD, I say!

Honestly, if you're miserable and don't like your job, you might as well apply for some courses this year and see what happens. Sure, work experience is useful for finding a job afterwards (unless you want to go down the academic route, in which case it won't matter that much unless its related). But it sounds like you won't want to go back to the same thing anyway. In future interviews, when employers ask why you left, saying "to pursue a master's" doesn't sounds bad. Plus, working January to September is a decent stretch - enough to say you gave it a decent go but it wasn't for you.

If you're really worried about future employability, you could also consider do the master's part-time and working/volunteering alongside it, perhaps doing something more aligned with what you want to do afterwards? That way, you'll be accruing relevant experience at the same time as studying.

Good luck! Keep us posted x

They matter a little, but not as much as the master's. I'm applying for PhDs this year and have been told outright that my 2.1 means I've ranked lower for funding than I otherwise would've, even with a distinction in my MSc. But nothing to be done about it now, so no use worrying about it!

I'm very sorry to hear about your dad. Due to your family circumstances - and quite possibly the strike action too - I imagine you could get an extension. It would probably be wise to talk to your university about it sooner rather than later too. For one thing, they need to be informed because it's possible your father's health will deteriorate very close to submission, which could well mean you miss the deadline anyway. My mother-in-law passed away in January in similar conditions (after being given a few weeks to live) and I couldn't even contact my employers for a few days because it was all so fast and there were so many more important things to do - it can really send you off the grid when these things happen.

Anyhow, best of luck and I hope everything works out. It sounds like you've made great headway on the PhD and are so close to the finish line! Take care.

Speaking as someone who works in science communication for a living, the people who write for essay mills are really... not great. Sure, there are a few talented writers among them. But generally, people who take themselves and their work seriously - either as writers or academics - do not get involved with this kind of thing. These companies will hire pretty much anyone, but since no one credible gets involved (why would they write for them when they could do legit work - like proofreading or actual SciComm - instead?) they're typically scraping the bottom of the barrel. If nothing else, I wouldn't recommend putting your course in these people's hands. Use the money to hire a writing tutor or legit proofreader instead.

Also, as an editor I've got to add that, when you read a lot of people's work for a living, it becomes SUPER easy to spot when something is off - I reckon I'd be able to spot an essay written by someone else a mile off, if I had other pieces of work by the author to compare it to. So don't underestimate your tutors.

TL;DR - essay mill writers are generally pretty bad, and it's unlikely they'll produce something that you could seriously pass off as your own if your work came under any scrutiny.

My friend has just got into the University of Amsterdam's neuroscience masters course, even though her undergrad was in a different subject (biochemistry) - so it certainly is possible, at least with some courses. I'm also about to start a masters in a subject that is pretty different to my undergrad - it's more common than you think!

I'd advise that you check the course requirements for different courses you're interested in and see which accept people with different backgrounds - contact the unis directly if it's not clear and ask. Also, anything you can do at this stage to demonstrate your interest in the new subject won't hurt your application - for example, attending open lectures or writing a few relevant articles for your uni newspaper.

Good luck!