Thanks, it's good to finally have that cleared up. I've now emailed the prof with my CV and research interests so now it's just a case of waiting to see if he gets back to me. I'm hoping to apply to the Carnegie trust or EPSRC for funding....feeling a bit daunted by the long road ahead of me!

Thanks again for you help :)

P.S. Juc, An undergrad MA is just a normal first degree. Some of the Scottish unis call their honours degrees that, don't ask me why. It's equivalent to a BSc, not a 'proper' masters!

Thanks for taking the time to reply guys - much appreciated :)

Juc, I don't have an MSc, just an undergraduate MA (four years, with honours). What difference do you think that would make to my situation - application-wise or funding-wise? I know I have the necessary qualifications for my chosen uni, so I didn't think that would be an issue (am I being really naive?)

Jk, I wanted to enter Astrophysics too, so it doesn't sound strange at all! Sadly I think my undergrad degree was far too pure for a straight switch, and to be honest most applied maths makes my head a bit numb :$
The open-day thing sounds good, but I'm pretty limited in my choice of uni. I basically have to live in/near Edinburgh so that leaves me with only a couple to choose from. Still, I'll try and visit all the contenders.
Can I ask if your applications were for specific projects that had funding attached? Or did you get your offer of a place in May, and then have to go through the whole funding process?

From my (limited) experience of Edinburgh Uni I'm pretty sure that's where I want to go, and going through the website I've identified someone I'd like to approach as a supervisor. Is it OK to just email a prof out of the blue and ask them if they have any areas they'd consider supporting a PhD in? Obviously I'm willing to put the work in to put together a good proposal, I just need somewhere to start!

Thanks again for your replies, and good luck in your studies :)

Hi everyone. I'm beginning to think about applying for a 2010 PhD. I've found a lot of useful advice on this forum so far and hope someone can answer a few specific questions - hopefully I'll be able to pass it on when I start my studies!

The situation: I Graduated in 2008 with a first in maths. Since then I've been travelling and temping, basically doing nothing to do with maths (apart from tutoring high-school pupils part-time).

The Plan: I'd like to do a PhD in computational number theory (CNT) at Edinburgh University.

The Question: Basically, I'm a bit confused/nervous about contacting a potential supervisor. I've identified a guy who I think might be suitable, and now I'm just wondering what the next step should be. Since I'm not applying for a pre-set topic, how specific do I have to be? Can I email him saying "I want to study CNT and thought you might like to supervise me - how about it?" and then take it from there, or should I have a specific title/question in mind?

I guess the main problem I can't get my head around is: how much am I supposed to know about the field so far? Obviously a PhD is about solving something that hasn't been done before. But surely you have to know EVERYTHING before you can even find out where the holes are? All I know is I want to research CNT, think I'd be good at it and would love someone to suggest a specific place for me to start.

Thanks for taking the time to read through that rambling....any help is much appreciated.

PS - forgot about these other questions:
1) Is my aimless (at least maths-wise) time out likely to look bad to funding bodies?
2) What time of year do people generally have everything (place, funding etc) 'sorted'? My PhD will involve moving cities, buying a new house - will I have to sort all that out between June an September? (Also, I want to do some more travelling before the start, so the sooner it's all sorted, the better!)

Hi everyone,
I'm new here....found the website very useful so far and would be grateful if anyone could help me with a few questions.

I'm planning on starting a PhD in September. I originally wanted to leave it until next year but a whole lot of factors have made me want to bring it forward. I'm really just wondering how quick I can expect the whole application process to be? I realise it'll vary from uni to uni (I want to go to St Andrews), but a rough idea would be useful as it could mean there's no point in me applying this year. I'd like to apply for funding from the Carnegie Trust, but their deadline is a lot sooner than other organisations, the application has to be in by 15th March. I know what I want to research and pretty much have my proposal sorted, but haven't made any contact with the uni yet (although I'm planning to over the next day or two).

I'm having difficulty figuring out how to approach any potential supervisors. I did my undergrad at St Andrews so know a lot of the staff and could 'choose' someone I know I could work well with, but as far as I can tell there's no-one there who has done any research in the specific area I'm interested in. It'll be a PhD in maths, and the mathematics involved is something they will all be familiar with (and perhaps researching), but my applications are completely different. The only person in the UK I can find who's active in this area is in Aberdeen - his CV reads like my ideal supervisor but moving isn't really an option (and I'm not overly keen on the whole long-distance thing!) Is this a big issue? I've been trying to rationalise it by saying that the whole point of a PhD is original research, so surely as long as there's someone who can supervise the maths behind what I'm doing.....

Finally, my PhD proposal is basically an extension of my undergrad dissertation. Would this be a problem, an advantage, or neither? If it makes any difference, I was given a prize by the uni for my dissertation so it does seem they recognised it as at least a semi-worthwhile piece of work. I'm just wondering whether the fact that I've already studied it a bit might be a problem. Obviously my PhD would be infinitely more detailed and I realise you can hardly compare the two, but it's just something else to consider.

Sorry for the ridiculously long post, I'm starting to get a bit worked up about these issues so any help anyone can offer will be much appreciated!