======= Date Modified 02 Oct 2008 20:17:41 =======
Don't be worried at all, 'imposter syndrome' seems to be something a lot of us get at some time or another, for the first time in my life I think I'm finally overcoming mine by slowly realising that most other people, even the supervisors and lecturers that I have the utmost respect for, are much the same as me but older and with more years or experience.

Have a look around on google,
us PhD 'imposters' are not alone.

"The Impostor Syndrome, or Impostor Phenomenon, sometimes called Fraud Syndrome, is not an officially recognized psychological disorder, but has been the subject of a number of books and articles by psychologists and educators. Individuals experiencing this syndrome seem unable to internalize their accomplishments. Regardless of what level of success they may have achieved in their chosen field of work or study, or what external proof they may have of their competence, they remain convinced internally that they do not deserve the success they have achieved and are really frauds. Proofs of success are dismissed as luck, timing, or otherwise having deceived others into thinking they were more intelligent and competent than they believe themselves to be. This syndrome is thought to be particularly common among women[citation required] who are successful in their given careers and is typically associated with academics. It is also widely found among graduate students."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impostor_Syndrome

This won't be much practical help,
but read this
http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive/phd052206s.gif
it might make you smile!

"explore" is my favourite,
but that might just be because I'm a geographer and so an adventurer at heart....

======= Date Modified 27 Aug 2008 11:01:16 =======
Cheers Pete,
nice job with the column integration on the front page, looks a lot cleaner.
Will be nice to have private messages soon too.

Another feature I thought would be useful would be to have peoples subject, institution or achieved education level instead of the nice looking but essentially pointless info that says:

"Member Type: Standard
Total Posts: 43
Joined Date: 14 Jun 2008 16:53:18
Last Login: 10 Jul 2008 22:41:33"

How about some boxes to fill in on the 'Account Info page' so that it read something like

"Member Type: PhD (Current)
Total Posts: 43
Subject Area: Human Geography
Institution: Uni of Bham"

or just make the Last Post column read something like
Soarous @ 16:38, 26/08/08

J.M. Barrie the author of Peter Pan was the first to coin the female usage of the name 'Wendy'.

Yes I'm watching Hook.

Thanks for all the support guys, it's quiet touching. I'm sorry not everyone can get it and hope that this long weekend goes quickly for those still on the awful wait.

If it's any consolation the rumours of the AHRC favouring cross-diciplinary subjects, and those that are linked into money-making entertainment industries ring true with my application. I'm not complaining, but I imagine I ticked their boxes, rather than stood out on academic merit.

miss hopeful, don't worry, that's just me again.
now you can put a face to my name! heh.

======= Date Modified 22 Aug 2008 09:19:58 =======
got it!!!!
never ever seriously thought I would, but someone must have pulled my name out of the right hat.
panel 7 phd dated aug 20th!
I'm too excited to sit down!!!

Is anyone else playing the game where you try to work out who is who on the multiple AHRC forums from the facebook group? It's strange putting faces to (pseudo)names.

And I think the LoD/J are white from what someone said, white with a little plastic window for your address (god forbid they have to splash out on labels).

nothing on my doormat today...

Panel 7 for me, looks like quite a spread of people still waiting...

nothing for me today,
anyone else have any more luck?

two more TLoDs spotted over on facebook
:-(

Thanks stressed :-), I'm glad to hear you are coping. I think I am, but I'm not sure I (or my masters dissertation) can take much more of this!

Misshopeful I wouldn't worry about them on the other end of the phone. I decided not to call them up till the end of the week. If it's in the post I'll get it soon, and if it's not I'll have to wait.... Knowing where it isn't going to make it any easier. It just moves the tension around to someone or something else.

Good luck to you all still waiting with me, I hope it's going to be a good week with plenty of T/FLoJ