I think they are confusing funding for undergrad where you would be eligible for student loans for living expenses (and which takes usually 3 years) and postgrad where there is no eligibility for funding or living expenses. Most people who are not on a studentship have to work while they are studying - people do a variety of jobs and many of us are doing our job full time and the PhD around that. I know the economy is tough at the moment but there are still jobs around - esp temp / part time jobs. Does your uni have a student job shop? Often they have jobs working in the unversity (eg in the library / on a heldesk) - no usually very well paid but very convenient and fexible.

Hi Chuff

I would include all conference presentations you have done and any papers that at are in preparation - for me that includes those where I have done a fair amount of actual work (collected and analysed the data, got a draft that is fit to show someone else) - I don't put a target date as for me they are usually imminent (and may well have been submitted prior to the interview); I don't include the vague ideas of "I really ought to write a paper on x".  If you have a target journal in mind - mention it but be realistic - don't just put down the leading journals in your field.

Good Luck

Every university is different but all those I have had recent contact with (2 masters and the one I teach in ) do not allow appeal against academic judgement.  The uni I work in doesn't allow for mitigating circumstances in performance either - mit circs can be applied in requesting an extension or a deferral but if you are well enough to attend the assessment then the mark applies. It also depends on what the actual marks were - if the lower grades were low and the higher ones were only just the higher grade then you may be quite far off.

I would echo what others have said - in the real world (ie outside academia) no one is interested in what classification you got at Masters - most people don't even understand that there are classifications - they think it is a pass / fail.

Don't dwell on it - you passed.

I've lost track of how many times I have come a "really close second" and how many times I have heard "if we had 2 jobs youwoudl have got one". In my case it has always come down to lack of publications so even though these are teachign jobs for which I am more than qualified (in fact feedback from two interviews said from that persepctive I was the best candidate) they still go with someone who has no teaching experiecne but has some publications. So my objective is to get more publications. I don't get why people are allowed to take two years post-appointment to meet the requirement to have HEA / PGCE but a similar allowance isn't made to get publications.

Hang in there - keep applying - one of them will come your way.

I got up at 6am hoping that there would have been either no more snow or a ton of it. As it was there was about another inch. So I left home at 6.45 and drove for 6 miles on ungritted roads so was driving on compacted snow which is pretty scary and VERY slow - that's the trouble with living in a rural area - the roads are hilly, narrow and ungritted and there is no public transport and while I admire those of you who walk to work there is NO WAY even in good weather I can be expected to walk 43 miles each way. Had to take my husbands car (4 wheel drive) which meant he had to phone round to get a lift for the children to their school (6 miles away).

Made it in ok and had 12 students (out of a class of 55) in my first class (but the student who is 30 weeks pregnant made it) and 7 out of 17 in my second class so not sure it was worth it. Meant to leave early but it didn't really work out like that. Am working at home tomorrow (no classes).

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Last year we were completely snowed in (but we didn't have the 4x4 then) & I didn't go in on one day and felt as though no one believed how bad it was - the next day the university was closed for a few days so it was OK. Trouble is the uni is in a part of the country which doesn't get much snow so everyone over there (who are also in a city where the roads are clearer) doesn't really get what it is like in a rural (and hilly) area. If we had a bit more snow I wouldn't be questioning it.

I live in a rural area 45 miles from the uni I work in (which is on the outskirts of a city near the coast and so doesn't get really bad weather). I live down a single track country lane and the track to my house is long and goes down a fairly steep slope to cross a stream and then back up the other side. My car got stuck on the first day of the snow at the bottom of the slope but my husband has managed to put snow chains on it and move it to a neighbours a mile or so away which is nearer the "main" (ie proper) road. He has a 4x4 which he needs to take the children to school etc. which he can use to ferry me to my car. For the past two days I have used his 4x4 (went in later today asfter he had taken childrne to school). Tomorrow I have teaching 9-1 which on a normal day means I usualy leave at 7.15 to arrive by 8.30. We currently have 9.5cm of snow (my 12 year old son went and measured it) and coming home tonight the last 4.8 miles I was driving on snow/slush (about 15 mile sof the 45 is on country roads , the rest is on morotway)

My question is should I be going to work or is it bad enough to stay at home. If I go to work tomorrow I will need to leave at 7 and get my husband to drive me the mile or so to get my car. Am I being stupid thinking about going in? (I have visions of there being an accident adn the news reporters saying how stupid I was for travelling) What counts as essential journey anyway (clearly undertaking a heart transplant is probably essential and going to the cinema is probably not but where are the lines drawn)? Will any students turn up anyway? Thie nearest 5-7 miles are the worst. I have a stack of marking (and a load of PhD work to do).

When I lived in London I always used the bus rather than the tube - I always found it to be more civilised and in London it is very democratic (everyone uses them) unlike other parts of the country where it tends to be students or old people. I live in a rural area now where we are lucky to have one bus in any direction every two hours so not practical (but my kids think it is an adventure if we do go on teh bus)

You need to look at the regulations for the university for your proposal - at mine there was a maximum of two pages so i had narrow margins and short headers and footers which meant I crammed my 1500 words plus 36 refs onto two pages

You should go to the conference (not just because the university (assuming they have paid) may ask you to repay the money if you don't go) but as others have said it is a great opportunity to get feedback on your ideas. You will get to network with more people and you will find (r at least it has been my experiecne) that people at conferences are less harsh than people who you may work with. When you get there go an introduce yourself to the conveynor or chair of your session ad say it is your first presentation - they will help you feel relaxed.

I don't think you can put funding from studentship or research council if you have not been granted one. "Applying for funding from..." woudl be more honest. Most universities understand that accepting a place may be conditional on you receiving funding. Have you spoken to the prospective supervisors?

Don't pull out of the conference - you will regret it. Try contacting him but look for other people to look over the slides (I'm sure if we knew what field you were in someone on here could look over them- or even someone from a different field could look over them for structure etc).

I tend not to have people look over stuff for me (except my husband) but I am a mature student (44) so maybe it is different.

The general consensus is that the first author is the person who did most of the work (ie the PhD student) and the last name is the PI. Anyone else who did something goes in between.

I already have publications in my own name and my PhD has been entirely self conceived and directed so I feel a bit miffed that I have to put my supervisor on publicatiosn but that is the convention.

A lot depends on your subject - if you are in hard or life science then you will be sending time on experiments etc; similalry in psychology or health subject you may have participants to work with. If you are in history or similar then you may have to travel to archives. I will have fieldwok to do which will be very intensive.

It also depends on what other commitments you have. Many of us are part time and are doing full time jobs in whcih case our PhD fits in whenever (esp if we have children to factor into the equation) - I do more on it out of term time as I am not teaching then but then if I have a deadline I work like mad on it.

The best person to speak to is your supevisor as they will have more experience - they will know whether it is suitable and which journals would be suitable. Your supervisor may rewrite parts to make it more suitabel for publications - they will usually give you first author on a shared author basis.