Hi Bosdami

You may have already seen this, but we've put together a guide to the forthcoming loans scheme over at FindAMasters.com:

This is based on the information released with the 2014 Autumn Statement, but do bear in mind that the details of the loans scheme may change subject to further consultation.

If you're under 30 and have UK citizenship in 2016, you should be eligible according to the guidelines provided so far. Residency can sometimes be taken into consideration when determining eligibility, but, if you're paying (or are eligible to pay) the domestic rate as an undergraduate, you should be fine.

Again though - things could change. We'll be keeping things updated as we find out more.

Hope that helps!

Mark

Another piece from the new 'procrastination zone' over at FindAPhD, postgraduate superpowers:

Can anyone think of a few more?

Some comic hypothesising over at our new 'Procrastination Zone':

What do you guys think?

Ian,

Many thanks for asking him anyway and of course I completely understand. If it makes any difference he's very welcome to participate anonymously (as is anyone else) and the information I'm looking for isn't extensive - brief comments and advice, really.

Contacting student support services is a good suggestion, thank you. I'll certainly consider it if I feel the piece could benefit from more student stories than I gather otherwise.

Grateful for the help!

Mark

Thanks BilboBaggins - as it happens, your guest post at Dr Nadine Muller's blog was one of the first pieces I came across when looking into this topic. It's a very helpful resource and an encouraging story - one of several external resources we'll be referring readers to.

Would be great to have your advice included in the article itself too - I'll be in touch.

Thanks HazyJane - That's an excellent resource and certainly one we'll be directing readers to.

It's great to see so much existing support for these issues - I've been very encouraged by it whilst researching the topic.

Cheers to those who have got in touch with me so far.

There's still time if anyone else would like to be involved - you're very welcome to contact me anonymously using the forum, or via the email address in the post above.

Hi Folks

I'm Mark and, as some of you may know, I look after the advice and information content over at the Forum's sister sites, FindAMasters and FindAPhD. I'm also a PhD student myself, wrapping up an English Lit' thesis part-time.

Anyway - we're currently doing a little bit of research into postgraduate study with a disability or chronic illness - with the aim of producing a summary of some helpful advice re. common conditions and directing students towards other sources of information (including the very helpful folks who hang out here).

With that in mind, I was wondering if any of you would like to share some experiences or advice with this topic? It would be great to offer future students some tips from other postgraduates. Any level of postgraduate study is fine and I'd be happy to include contributions anonymously if preferred.

You can get in touch with me using the personal message function on the forum, or by emailing me via mbennett [at] findauniversity.com.

Thanks in advance!

Mark

Thanks for the feedback - it's very much appreciated.

In fact, one of our sister sites, www.postgraduatefunding.com, lists a wide range of scholarships and other funding packages available to postgraduate students.

If you're looking for advice on finding funding in specific countries you can check out the country guides in the Study Abroad sections on FindAMasters and FindAPhD - all of these provide information and online contact details for major funders in individual countries.

Many thanks!

Mark

Thanks to all those who've been in touch so far - we're still keen to hear from other students with experience of postgraduate study in Germany, so do send a message (or reply here) if you'd like to be involved with this survey.

Hi Cocobrack

For the time being we're just interested in learning about students' experiences of postgraduate study in Germany, but we'll be looking at other countries in due course.

You may be aware of the different postgraduate study guides and advice articles on FindAPhD.com and FindAMasters.com.

You can see some examples of our Masters advice content here:

We hope you find them useful, but we'd also love to hear from the community here if you've any suggestions for future content or advice you can't find on our sites.

You can get in touch by replying to this thread, or by sending me a personal message.

Thanks!

Mark

FindAMasters.com and FindAPhD.com are looking to enhance our guides to postgraduate study abroad with information from students who have direct experience of university systems and student life in different countries.

Right now, we're looking to get in touch with students who have studied in Germany.

So, if you've studied (or are studying) for a Masters or PhD in Germany, we'd love to hear about your experiences and perhaps include some of them on our sites.

If you'd like to get involved and help future students considering study abroad, you can get in touch by sending me a personal message here. It would be great if you could also let me know which university you were based at and what your programme of study was.

Many thanks,

Mark

Hi gc1

I'm in the final stretches of a part-time PhD myself and have tried both approaches due to a shift in registration part-way through.

These days I live in the same city as my institution and can be "on campus" quite easily when I want to be, though I tend to do most of my research in a home office (I'm in Humanities, so labs aren't an issue). However, when I started I lived in Gloucestershire whilst registered at a university in South Wales. I still managed to get plenty done, but I felt very little connection with my department and it was easy to get side-tracked if I wasn't careful.

Teaching was also a challenge when I started it. I was 'lucky' enough to have charge of a whole cohort for a core module during one year, but this meant two big commutes and a 5am alarm clock on one morning!

On the other hand, there's something to be said for having the ability to find space apart from the research from time to time - that's healthy, I think, and easier to do if you're not living right on top of it.

Best of luck with it

Mark

Hi Rina

Myself a few fellow students at my institution were also emailed by LAP a month or ago - clearly a bulk-mailing, with my surname and forename comically misaligned. I don't think their operation is a hoax as such - they probably will publish a thesis on a print-on-demand basis, but their offer isn't based on any assessment of the recipient's work and is effectively akin to vanity publishing, with the added risk that you lose the rights to publish "properly" elsewhere. I'd be pretty wary, but there was a bit of readily available feedback / discussion of them when I googled.