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The PhD (+ mature student + other postgrad) thread II

god all you lot talking about PHD's. Im doing the final year of a degree ( over 2 years P/T) and cant wait to see the back of it all. Im thoroughly pissed off with it and never ever want to see the inside of a uni again after next june never mind the one after :(
I wish i;d never started it
 
have just applied to two masters course in history (UCL & Manchester) and one in history & politics (york). In the mean time I've got to work for a living to pay for the bloody thing (unless the AHRC rides to the rescue with some funding, unlikely given my high 2:1 even if I was a gnat's whisker away from a first).

Anyone got any tips for chatting up humanities funding panels?

Would have been much easier if I'd done Manc's Economic and Social History MA ('cause I'm led to believe that ESRC funding is easier to get ...)
 
Nice thread guys - Handed the beast in on 1st Sept, just waiting for a Viva data now.....all good fun whilst I'm p/t lecturing. I'll get a proper job in the new year .....maybe ;)

It all came at a cost though...I was living with someone for 3 years. In the last 6 months she couldnt handle the long hours I spent at the office, we split up and I'm now living in a shoe box. In a way its a good thing and I'm happy I've got my life back.

For those of you doing phds with partners I cant offer advice - but I reckon if you can survive a phd then you can survive anything.......
 
Sorry. said:
have just applied to two masters course in history (UCL & Manchester) and one in history & politics (york). In the mean time I've got to work for a living to pay for the bloody thing (unless the AHRC rides to the rescue with some funding, unlikely given my high 2:1 even if I was a gnat's whisker away from a first).

Anyone got any tips for chatting up humanities funding panels?

Would have been much easier if I'd done Manc's Economic and Social History MA ('cause I'm led to believe that ESRC funding is easier to get ...)
Click to expand...

AHRB aren't interested in giving funding for Masters courses anymore as I found out to my utter dismay. I'm told [though don't take this as gospel] that they will only fund a PhD either with a MA to begin with or unless its really really unique. If you want to get funding for the PhD you need to have a very clear plan for what your PhD will be in and to be able to demonstrate to them that you have the research skills and that to be able to do it. IF your doing history and politics it might be worth trying the ones that fund social sciences [is that ESRC?] even though it's a longshot if you can demonstrate that further study beyond masters will lead to siginifican't social science research you might be in with a chance. Also try your LEA, some of them have limited funding available for postgraduate study, though if they are anything like mine they again don't want to know if its for a masters. Good luck!
 
well I do want to do a PhD, when did you find out that the AHRB weren't funding masters?

'Cause their website says they are Research Preparation Masters Scheme

Would I have to demonstrate that I already had the research skills? Isn't that what I'm doing the masters for?

(research proposal I can do, I've already got loads of ideas for what I want to do for my thesis)
 
I really sympathise with anyone working and doing a full-time course (or the other way round). I had to work part-time through about half of my masters and I started getting my PhD stipend five months early, so I know it will definitely run out before I'm done. I'm hoping I'll be employed as an RA in the lab...

Hovis, about jobs in industry - have you tried your university's careers service? One of my labmates wants to leave science altogether and go into finance. Apparently our careers people have been very helpful on how to seem suitable for a 'proper job' instead of a looking like a geeky academic. :D
 
Mation said:
Hovis, about jobs in industry - have you tried your university's careers service? One of my labmates wants to leave science altogether and go into finance. Apparently our careers people have been very helpful on how to seem suitable for a 'proper job' instead of a looking like a geeky academic. :D
Click to expand...

They are helpful, but have never heard of the particulate - oopps, see what studying fluid suspension flow does to your brain! - I mean particular field I want to go into. It is quite specialised. I will go and have another chat with them soon though, even if it is just as a novel type of procrastination technique!!
:)
 
We have a person who is on the AHRB board at my uni,that's how I know. Sorry I maybe didn't word myself correctly [postgrad English, pfft! :rolleyes:] They aren't not giving funding for Masters but if it's a taught one you have little chance, if its a research one you have more chance but it still has to be something fairly impressive. They really do want research skills nowadays, saying that the MA will teach you research skills simply isn't enough anymore.

If you have a proposal though, go for it, you never know.

Sorry. said:
well I do want to do a PhD, when did you find out that the AHRB weren't funding masters?

'Cause their website says they are Research Preparation Masters Scheme

Would I have to demonstrate that I already had the research skills? Isn't that what I'm doing the masters for?

(research proposal I can do, I've already got loads of ideas for what I want to do for my thesis)
Click to expand...
 
I have been thinking vaguely about doing a PhD. Can anyone recommend a good source of general information about what is involved? (nb. it would be a social science subject)
 
Teejay,

Read "How to get a PhD" by Estelle Phillips.

Then have a good long think about why you want a PhD.

It can be long, boring, isolating, depressing (to name just a few of the unpleasant side effects).
And your reasons for doing a PhD are the only things that will keep you going, so they had better be good ones.

I'd launch into a rant about why noone should ever do a PhD unless they want to be an academic, but I heard that all too before I started and blithely ignored the advice of people who knew better.

You should also have a look at www.phdcomics.com
It's a more humourous approach, but it captures the PhD experience quite well.
 
E.J, I am very sorry about your Mom. I will be going through it soon which I'v finally accepted.


I only get to see my brother maybe three times a year, and miss him. He is my only sibling. He, his wife and daughter have moved so many times.

I know I can always ring him up but don't like to take his time. Although he doesn't see it like that. He always takes time with me. It is weird. He is an ex-biker and drug importer from the 70's. It took him five years just to get into America.

He still does the "wheeling and dealing" always getting around and rebuking "the system". Though now; for unselfish reasons. :)
 
Sorry. said:
well I do want to do a PhD, when did you find out that the AHRB weren't funding masters?


When I was an undergrad someone from the AHRB gave a seminar on MA/PHD funding. He made it quite clear that it was highly unlikely you'd get funding but a taught MA. There is more of a chance on a research MA but the lion’s share of the money is for funding is for PhDs. Oh, and they won't fund you for a PhD unless you've got an MA.

Despite all this I applied, and was put on a waiting list (but didn't actually get the funding in the end). One person on my MA managed to secure funding for the course so it is possible, but the odds aren’t good.
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Wish me luck please :)

I've got to do my MPhil to PhD transfer talk this afternoon. Gulp.

One more run through with my lab before lunch as I have to leave out some of the detail, and I should be ready. (Thanks lots Hammy for some really constructive comments on Sunday :)).

I'm the last (of four) on, just before the drinks. Roll on 4:15...
 
Well done Dr fuckwit!!, oopps I mean... :p

Good luck Mation!

I didn't have to do an MPhil to PhD transfer talk :confused:
 
Thanks guys :)

It's the all-new, get motivated, fill in log books and write reports instead of work UCL! (The talk is a good idea, I think, but the rest of it is just an annoying waste of time.)
 
hovis said:
I've heard that most people take 3.5 or 4 years to finish a PhD. Is this right? What are the postgrad facilities at your uni like? Ours are pretty crap,
Click to expand...

lol at facilities. The uni I did mine has the initials MMU, which as far as I am concerned stood for Mickey Mouse University.. :D
 
Yay! Talk over! Got lots of good feedback and people asked questions that I could answer, mostly. :) Now I just have to write my report.... :(
 
Here's a tip if you're starting a phd.:

Get hold of at least one of those 'how to do a phd' books, or 'how to do a literature review' books.

And read them and follow them (up to a point).

I'd have saved myself a whole lot of extra hassle if I'd done that.

Be clear about your methodology and consistent in your work habits and you're less likely to have a huge pain in your backside by the time you finish.

(you'll still have a pain in your backside, mind).
 
Rua said:
Teejay,

Read "How to get a PhD" by Estelle Phillips.

Then have a good long think about why you want a PhD.

.
Click to expand...

This is something that would have saved me a lot of hassle if I'd done it.

Could it be because you're still in your 20s and not sure if you can hack life outside the university? I am honestly not trying to be snide or hostile when I say that, and I'm honestly not trying to have a go at you personally. I think that might be a wider motive for taking up doctoral work than is usually assumed.

What events in your upbringing and life history have led you to the idea of doing a phd?

Both my parents came from families where they were treated as inferior because they were the youngest children in the family.

I think this may have had consequences for my own generation. My eldest cousin has just had her book published by Cork University Press . . . it's about Anglo-Irish big houses, and apparently doesn't take the sensible 'burn them all' line it should (I am not trying to be funny when I say that, btw).

So that's another thing I have to compete with . . .
 
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