You must also have lived at your last address for a fair amout of time, you must also be on the electoral roll.

You can get more advice from checkmyfile, moneysavingexpert.com, nationaldebtline, and Alvin Hall books.

Good luck!

P.S. A masters cost an aweful lot more than the max CDL! To do a masters you realistically need £140 a week to live on. By the time you have paid your fees out of your loan there won't be alot left! You might need the uni access fund also. Apply as soon as you start masters. Also some masters are so demanding eg law it is very difficult and unwise to work without jeopardising your grades, so doing a full time masters and for money heaviliy not advised.

I got my career development loan with the first bank I asked. I already had a credit card with them. I pointed out also that I had kept up repayments with that (they profile your behaviour). I got less that I asked for. I didn't dare to apply to any where else as I knew how lucky I was to get what I got!

Every time you apply for credit this goes on your credit file. If you apply for credit more than I think three times in three months this looks bad. It looks like you are applying for credit because you are desperate and already have alot of debt.

Choose when and to whom you apply for credit wisely!

If you have a default and have already been turned down for credit three times and have outstanding debt, then you will certainly not get a personal loan.

In terms of late payments for any credit record you should have no more than...I can't remember if it's two or three late payments in the last twelve months. This will bring down your score.

I applied to a bank that I only have a credit card with (most banks are so wary about debt now that for most people they will only cross lend ie sell you a product if you already have a product).

I also put in my letter about the jobs I was expecting to get afterwards plus the earnings. I printed off jobs off jobs.ac.uk with adverts for people with my area of masters and included them in the letter.

You wil find that it is almost impossible to get a loan with defaults. Almost every bank told me this. However, if you manage to pay off all your debts and show that you are a 'reformed character' or that your bad money management was for reasons beyond your control, but that you take debts seriously and have paid them back, you MIGHT get one. Plus if you include your expected earnings post masters this is good. Banks are companies and want a return on their money.

I was in a similar situation to you. It took much time to sort out!

I needed a CDL but had two defaults (as a result of student debt from my first degree). I owed £2,000 to a bank, £500 as a loan for a computer, and another £500 for something else (credit card?). To get my CDL I paid back my loans and updated my details with checkmyfile.co.uk (they are brilliant!). It takes ages companies to update your details so checking on there makes it easier to chase them up! (Use the see your file monthly service). They had to mark my debts as satified. I then wrote a letter to my CDL bank saying that although I had a poor credit record in the past, I got into that situation through loosing my job (I did loose my job), and was unable to keep up my repayments. I think I put something in there also about taking my debts seriously and that I had paid back all my debts. (Some people don't and they make IVA's instead).

Can anyone tell me are most PhD's advertised all the year for October? How likely is it that they are advertised throughout the year with other starting times?

Many thanks!

Maybe you could ask the Environment Agency? They may not pay for all of it but they could give you a contribution.

It says this on their website:

''In doing our work, we are required by law to take care of the environment and promote conservation. To achieve this, we need to understand the ecological needs of many species, some of which are vital in highlighting the state of the environment around them.''

I have been told that one of the great benefits of going to conferences is that you meet lots of people and later on they might be interviewing you for jobs! Apparently when it comes to post doc positions it's more 'who you know' than what you know. I think when it comes to post doc people will always prefer people they have common ground with over people that they don't. 'Better the devil you know.'
Also alot of positions might be available but unadvertised, so you will probably be able to find out through asking the right people the right questions.

I would say if it's what you want to do then go for it!!!

However it is very difficult to get funding for arts/social sciences PhD's these days as it appears that funding has been cut back by the government, as the government think they are less valuable to the economy. Well that is the case for ESRC these days. Maybe with the AHRB you would have more luck.

You might want to check with the funding bodies.

Sometimes departments have their own pot of money they can use so you might have a better chance of applying for that?

Sorry I can't be of more help.

Why do a PhD? You get to carry on or start researching what you love doing...and getting paid for it!

My motto is 'education is never wasted.' Any education will ALWAYS come in use to you..and sometimes in ways you least expect it!

Can anyone tell me what kinds of jobs a PhD would lead to?

Can anyone tell me what kinds of jobs a PhD would lead to?

Take up some sports and other interests to keep you sane, constant thinking about your topic with no variety is unhealthy. Go away and do something exciting and hopefully you can come back to it with a fresh mind.

Vary your work eg spend your morning in the office and the afternoon collecting data in the community, observing children schools, marine mammals..whatever your PhD is in or related to.

Go to confernces. Talking to others may inspire you with their enthusiasm and you can bounce ideas of them.

Relate your work to things that interest you. i.e. if your are not very interested in the physics of how dolphins communicate, think about how useful it is to man's understanding and conservation of dolphins.

Are you altruistic generally speaking? If so, how can your research help people and in what way?

Do you want fame and status? Think of your work being published in say 'Nature' magazine or 'Science'.

Read 'The Motivated Mind' by Raj Persaud - all the answers are in there. There are three reasons why people do not achive their goals a) goal conflict b) inadequate resources c) lack of tracking progress over time. One of the handy tips if say loosing weight is to broadcast to friends and family what your targets are, then very difficult and embarassing to back out of them!

I am sending a friend my weekly thesis timetable (for each bit) so he can hold me accountable if not done! This way hopefully no more time dwardling!

What could the third PhD lead to? Occupational psychology and job profiling?

I know this sounds materialistic, but I have been really poor most of my life and I have been in insecure jobs. I have spent most of my life struggling to pay the rent and living on the poverty line. I know I should really focus on what most interests me, but I just can't stop wondering if any of these things will lead to a well paid job and fulfilling secure career?

Can anyone tell me what people normally do after a PhD? Can anyone advise on what they think is the best option? (If you need any more details let me know).

Hattie

(continued)

The computer science degree is more broad as for a career I could study anything under the sun as long as it was related to computers.

As for the Health (exercise physiology - the influence of exercise on health) PhD I am not sure what career it would lead to. I am intested in disease (epidemiology) and health, especially mental health. Not so interested in sports science, coaching, studying elite athletes etc. I have no science background (would this influence by job prospects aftewars if I was competing against GPs and biochemists to do epidemiology research?). I was thinking of taking it in order to go and do medicine afterwards. I think I might like to do medical research (as I know I wouldn't want to be a GP and work with patients). Would this PhD be helpful in getting into medicine or would a medical course not accept me because they don't see it as traditional life science? Is there much demand for epidemiologists?