Well said DanB!! Your answer applies to alot of the problems people have with there supervisor, too many people want to be told what to do alot...

Obviously the reason you are being asked to show the new student the ropes is due to your supervisor being busy due to the increasing amount of students. I believe that PhD students need more than one supervisor even if they are not that strongly involved, have you tried getting help from them (if you have one).

I think you have a right to complain about there being too many students and you feel this is inpacting on the quality of your supervision. however, I know it must be annoying that you feel the new students are being treated better than you feel you were but I dont see what you will gain by complaining about this (except annoying your supervisor, no one likes critisism), It looks like he has realised the mistakes he made with you and is learning from them, I think you should just take solace in this.

If you really do feel you are not getting the supervision you feel you deserve then you have the right to complain and should do. Regarding you showing the other student what to do, that is you supervisors duty and what he is paid to do if he cant cope then he should not take on so many students, if you have too much work to help this other student then your PhD should take priority over the other students. If you can help out then it would be a nice thing to do but you are not duty bound to do this, however, your supervisor is.

Why were you doing it for 10 years? Was it part-time?

matildal what dictation software did you use?

Oh and if there is not much to do there then use this as an oppertunity to socialise and get to know the people presenting/attending the conference as if you are presenting then I assume that everyone there is in your research area so im sure it wouldnt hurt your career if you got to know fellows in your research area.

Get a taxi there... Once you find the building you can make your own way there...

Are all the other numbers in the table like this? If so you can just list them like 8.23, 8.38, 7.14 ect, then in the table name write that they are all E-5...

if that helps

Hi,

I'd advise to start looking april onwards and applying then, the applications tend to be fairly time consuming and you will often have to write a fair amount of stuff for applications. A word of caution though you will be very busy at this point with finishing your write up for your project and revising for your exams and it would be unwise to pick up too many distractions at this time, it may be best to focus on your exams and achieve the highest possible mark in your degree then look/apply in the summer once your exams are over as you will have all your time to focus and write your applications.

Your area may have alot of competition so a high degree class help you a lot. You could try looking at phd's at cancer research UK they have a number of organic chemistry phd from what i remember plus they pay very well (20k i believe).

At my interview my supervisor was very impressed with my enthusiasm as I emailed her a bit prior to applying (I personally thought I was being annoying). remember that a supervisor is not just looking for the candidate with the most/best qualifications but also that you are enthusiastic, friendly and will complete the course.

Oh and advice for your project... write up as you go along esp. methods as if you get to the end and havent done this it will be hard remembering what you have done, plus it will lower your work load at a point when you will have lots. Your project does sound quite interesting, my background is in pharmaceutics and my undergraduate project was synthesisng novel compounds to treat yeast infections.

Buy a dog

This seem quite a horrible situation. Your action, i suppose depends on how likely you think it is to sell within the near future. If you can afford to keep paying rent and morgage in the hope it will sell in say six months time then its best to carry on in the hope it will sell. if however your overdraft is getting larger and larger , then you will just get deeper and deeper into debt and it may be the case that you have to cut your losses, take a hit on it and sell it in negative equity.

You could rent it unoffically to family/friends cash in hand... though as mentioned this may be a little naughty...

When I was an undergraduate we had quite a few 2 hour lectures and a break in between was always nice, some of the lecturers would sometimes ask us if we would prefer a 15 min break in between or to finish 15 minutes early and not have a break. For the later lectures it was normally decided to finish early, perhaps you could ask the students.

Regarding giving out your number I would strongly advise you to not do this, some students (especially first years) get very anxious about work/exams and you will end up with numerous late night phone calls; plus it is not totally professional, as students you are teaching are not your 'mates' they are customers in a sense. do you have a university email? if so it would be best to give out this email, rather than a personal number.

The film is a good idea, this happened a few times when I was an undergraduate though it didnt tend to be anything realted to what we were learning more just something funny that the lecturer had found. You will find that most people will go out to the toilet or get something to eat/drink and generally talk, just put it on and see how it goes.

With regards to, as you put it 'being down with the kids', i know you want them to like you but dont try to hard as i have said they are not your mates. They will be very happy with you if your lectures are well presented so they understand what you are teaching them.

Short answer, No, a PhD is to teach you 'how to research', you will pick up invaluable techniques that I am sure will be applicable in many areas, even beyond genetics. The only question you should be asking yourself is would you enjoy doing genetics of an animal other than that of humans? ( though I am abit perplexed as to how these would differ as genes are genes are they not??).

Plus even by waiting a year you may not find something related to humans anyway and you would have just wasted a year. Perhaps you may find you enjoy working on another organism anyway.

It's good to be a bit nervous, the most important thing is that your excited to start (despite this problem), which i assume you are?
what is your topic by the way?

I'm in a very similar situation, my undergraduate degree is is pharmaceutics and I'm starting a PhD in dentistry so quite different. I'm just looking it as a bigger challenge and that by the end I will be have more knowledge in a larger subject area.

Regarding there not being many papers, this is bound to be a problem to some people and I doubt your alone in that respect. There will be some relevant information you may just have to broaden your search so the papers are perhaps less relevant than your initial search.

It may also be the case that because you have not studied this topic as an undergraduate you may need to read in the topic area (some basic things) to be able to know what is relevant when you are searching, is this makes sense??? Just be calm and don't worry you are not alone and your knowledge will rapidly increase until in a few months you will be wondering why you were even bothered about this in the first place.

Hope this helps

Regards