Oh, and congratulations for finishing yours, by the way!

Thank you, that's really useful! I really appreciate you taking the time to provide me with such a comprehensive response. Also, it's at a Midlands university!

I was recently offered a PhD Studentship and have accepted it. I'm really excited to start in September! This is a pretty generic post really but I was just wondering if any current/past doctorate students have any tips for the road ahead? It's a joint teaching and research position so any advice from GTAs would also be appreciated! I only have a gap of around two weeks between my Masters finishing and my PhD starting, so I'm thinking ahead to see what I might expect. I'm just looking for any generic advice really regarding organisation, time management etc. Thanks in advance!

Congratulations :). I was also offered a place on a PhD programme a little over a week ago and it has been quiet since, but when I did chase it up they said they were preparing my contract. I know how you feel as I've been having the same worries thinking they might take the offer away, but then I suppose that academic departments have so many other things to do aside from this! Hopefully you should receive something written in the post soon, though, or at least an email to update you on the next stage. If not, it wouldn't harm to chase it up, as at least it shows that you are proactive!