Calling PhD students past and present

[ecoboy]

Mr Paw is applying for a post-doc to start this sept. It's £28k. They told him that's the starting wage for a lecturer so that's the price they pay for a post-doc. Perhaps it varies across institutions/disciplines?

wow thats awesome. yeah thats about 5-6 years post-doc before that level in my area

 

[Vintage Paw]

wow thats awesome. yeah thats about 5-6 years post-doc before that level in my area

Hmmm, I'm going to get him to check again. The way he told it was that it was a more universal sort of thing. He might have well got it wrong then.

 

[equationgirl]

Some unis are notorious for paying lower salaries for certain subject areas. Sometimes you do get a reasonable person who realises that they won't get a decent person until they pay decent money.

 

[The Black Hand]

Not from our place. Still kinda interested in it despite what I said in my previous post ...

If you don't do it you'll regret it for the rest of your life perhaps? I know i would, that's why I took up the suggestion.

 

[equationgirl]

Yes, I got to te stage in life where I could either regret not having a phd or I could do something about it.

I went back as a mature student and got it. I self-funded for a year (and my parents paid the mortgage for six months of that), worked 60 hour weeks for 4 years to get it done, and it was the best thing I ever did.

Sure, I've got a large debt mountain now, but it was worth every penny.

 

[The Black Hand]

You may be registered for a PhD, but I don't think this is necessarily the same thing as being a registered full time student.

When I did mine, my grad student funding ran out in Oct, and I submitted the following March. In between I carried on doing exactly the same thing everyday but paid as a reseach assistant (I was lucky that my boss had money), and I think I paid council tax, and income tax as a normal employee. The fact that I was going to submit the PhD in the future was irrelevent for employment purposes.

So why not go down the job centre and claim money. You wouldn't be lying if you told them you were not a registered full-time student, and that you are writing up a PhD part time (don't mention how big the part is), and you are actively looking for a job that you have been training for (i.e. extremely specialized postdoc of which they won't have many vacancies crop up at the local job centre.).

In the days before signing on was as difficult as it is now it was common for people to complete PhDs on the dole. Now people complete them on the sick.

In my experience it is better to tell the social as little as possible. Thus, there is no way they will findout you are registered for a PhD part time if you are funding it yourself, so you are better off NOT telling them. Cos if you tell them, they may ask for a letter the UNi asking for the hours, so then you have to forge them... You get where I'm going...

 

[The Black Hand]

Yes, I got to te stage in life where I could either regret not having a phd or I could do something about it.

I went back as a mature student and got it. I self-funded for a year (and my parents paid the mortgage for six months of that), worked 60 hour weeks for 4 years to get it done, and it was the best thing I ever did.

Sure, I've got a large debt mountain now, but it was worth every penny.

Nice, and well done.

 

[equationgirl]

Thank you, appreciate it

 

[jbob]

research councils pay something like ~12K outside london and ~14k within, thats tax free, and you get your council tax paid as well. its the equivelent of about £20k per year paid employment. therefore about the same as teaching starting off...but the clincher is that PGCEs now cost you to do at 3K fees and you can take a loan on that, so in effect the 1st year of teaching you will be less off than doing the same as phd. The thing is teaching rises about a k a year for first 5yrs, so 6 years after starting PGCE you are looking at 26-27k with inflation where as a postdoc (in my area of research anyways) will be looking at max £24K after 6 yrs from starting phd. plus in teaching you can get your SEN and management points to boot, so 5 years after teaching you could be on £30K quite easily ( a mate of mine is 3 years out of PGCE and is already a head of dept earning over 30k b&stard).

Depends what you want in life, research interupted by having to teach spoilt, hung-over, arrogant 18-21 year olds or babysitting and hitting govt targets.

Thanks for this, really puts things in a financial perspective (which I admit I'm not very good at!), and your final paragraph spells out upon what the decision should rest.

 

[jbob]

If you don't do it you'll regret it for the rest of your life perhaps? I know i would, that's why I took up the suggestion.

Straight to the point and fair!

 

[xconorx]

our mate's writing-up and just signed on, even though his money ran out in Oct.

He said they gave him a way longer interview (nearly an hour) compared to last time he signed on before his phd.

Can't you register as part-time while writing-up so you can technically say you AR available for fulltime work, whether you intend to or now?

 

[ecoboy]

Thanks for this, really puts things in a financial perspective (which I admit I'm not very good at!), and your final paragraph spells out upon what the decision should rest.

sorry Im cynical about what jobs acctually are, and thats what I see both academa and teaching as.