Hi all,

I have been offered a teaching position, but for only one day a week and only for 3 hours! Brilliant hourly rate, 15-27 minutes drive from home...BUT:

I do not think the institution is well organised, before confirming that I got the job, they were meant to have rang me last Monday, but did not. However, I received a phone call offering me a possible personal tutor role for one of the interviewers children (mind you all, I was never interviewed for this role, neither had I applied for it). Then of course, there was a slight mention of the job I had been interviewed for, but I wouldn't find out until the following day whether or not I'd gotten the job!

Then the phone call came, I got the job, but I could only do 3 hours p/wk. I would have to come in and see a member of the HR. Then the meeting was cancelled and rescheduled for yet another day...

Now I'm beginning to have a rethink! Shall I take the 3 hour p/wk and accept to be a personal tutor to my potential boss' child or shall I say 'no thank you' and wait for a better prospect?

The job will of course be my first experience of teaching in my field and will prepare me for when I finally finish my PhD, but I'm beginning to doubt whether this institution is the right one for me?

All suggestions very welcome!

DG

Hi ACM,

With your MBA you can of course apply for a PhD!! With most UK universities, your first year PhD year is classed as an MPhil, irrespective of whether or not you have a prior Masters. When you register for a PhD, you would technically be applying for an Mphil when you show an interest in pursuing a PhD program, the only exception to this (I stand to be corrected) is when you already have the Mphil, that's when you can apply straight for the PhD itself. Perhaps this was what your friend meant?

DG

Bat, if it is ratio it is parametric, not the other way round!

D

Hi Bat,

Just looking at the intervention program, I would have thought you had a parametric data? In which case your test statistics should not be using Mann-Whitney U?

Anyway, Mann-Whitney U is the same as Wilcoxon-rank-sum test, this is used for non parametric data. As your data is non-parametric and examining the difference between two groups, then it sounds liket the right one to use.

D

Hey Orch, I think you should contact your department for a handbook. There are ways to go about these things and they are usually on the Rules and Regulations (usually in PhD candidates' handbook).

From a Toxic viewpoint:  It may also be possible to CC in your head of department and head of graduate school to an email to your supervisor, so at least if it gets to that point where you need to dispute decisions, you can gladly point your fingers at your 'non responsive' supervisor. But do not do this until you have told your supervisor that the next email you send will include these people.

Best DG x

TPK, things are a bit different here in the UK and you may not have the same system as us:

The first year of your PhD is technically an MPhill year. You will have to meet some certain criteria towards upgrading to a PhD by the way of submitting an 'evaluation report'. The evaluation report comprises your literature review, a structure of how you intend to progress with your PhD; a timetable for completion, what you are planning on doing; what you have done so far and how you would visit other possibilities. This report is at least 6,000 words and if things go smoothly, you will be invited for a 'viva'. Decisions will then be made as to whether or not you should upgrade.

Sometimes this upgrading takes time depending on how long it took you to establish a first study ( which could sometimes mean carrying out experiment, surveys etc. It could also be a pilot work you have already presented in any conference), how long it took the department to find your report reviewers and the time it may take to arrange your preliminary viva. As a typical example, in my own case, I didn't get to my upgrade stage until the 21st month after my initial registration. This is because I passed my initial upgrade pending a major revision and finally got to 'upgrade' following restructuring of my initial evaluation report.

Mind you, as rightly said on this thread, you should create time for reflexion. Again in my case, I had initially planned on doing 3 studies, but after a good few months of reflection, I realised that to actually make sense of what I am proposing in my field, I would need more than the initial three studies. I have now ended up with 6 studies. Although I can make do with the 6th one and finish at 5.

In a nutshell, it is a good thing that you want to finish within two years, this is do-able! HOWEVER, there are other factors that may stand as constraints which are worth putting into consideration.

Good luck with the optimism, it is no doubt the right attitude to have.

DG x

Hi all,

It is nearly 21 month into my PhD and I have only just managed to crack an 'outstanding' title for my PhD research project!! Yippee!!

Mind you, this is the fourth of few titles that I have had to use.

Is/has anyone experiencing/experienced this sort of problem nearly into their final year? Please share your experience.

DG xx

You can type in research funding in the UK on google. It also depends on what area your prospective PhD lies: social sciences? etc? The ESRC is more profound in social science funding.

All the best

DG

I think some universities have College Research Training programmes (this is different from departmental programmes) that first year PhD's 'must' attend and Nvivo workshop, seminars and lectures are part of such prerequisites. Check with your college and see what sort of research training they offer for their research students. Hope this helps.

D x

I agree it's very rude!! Not just to men but women also! Phew!!

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Hmm

What a nightmare!!! Has your initial supervisor said anything so far or he's completely out of the radar?

DG

AQ how many chapters did you have in the end?

Ha ha JC!! I think she wouldn't relent if she weren't banned! :-)