Hi, I know you asked this a while ago but have you tried BookBoon.com, they have free books in pdf form that you can download, the only thing is that they have advertising in them (well they are free) but I think they have some basic statistics type things there. Alternatively I can always highly recommend speaking to those you will be working with/university as they have generally all been there as well :-) hope that helps a bit

Thanks Keenbean, actually to begin with it was something similar, I took the year out because of mental health problems and then when I came back had major personal problems and in addition more health problems which resulted in an operation a few weeks before the end of year exams after months of pain.  Hopefully I will be able to put a positive spin on it all, and the comment of showing remarkable resilience is a good one and very true. It is reassuring that at least someone has been through something similar and managed to come through it all as well.

Does anyone have any experience or advice about applying for a PhD after having problems in their personal lives which affected their degree?

More specifically, has anyone had to intermit from their degree, then came back (had a separate lot of major problems) and so got a lower mark in their second year than they were capable of (but still a good 2:1).

I really want to go on and do a neuroscience 3+1 PhD but am worried everything I have been through will mean that universities won't even look at me as a potential candidate.