Overview of pm133 on PostgraduateForum.com

Overview of pm133

Signup date: 08 Jan 2016 at 12:02am

Last login: 30 Mar 2021 at 8:40pm

Post count: 1246

Recent Posts

Will my literature review be read?!

pm133 1246 posts
7 years ago

Quote From acecard:
I'm my supervisors first PhDer and to be fair he is very enthusiastic so i do believe he will read it. But do you think my examiners will??!!

That is irrelevant but it is safest to assume that they will.
It's irrelevant because you should not be writing the literature review to pass a test or an exam.
You should be writing it to provide yourself with the background you need to succeed at a career you have committed to. As a result you should be trying to produce an excellent piece of work regardless of whether or not anyone else reads it.

Going forward???

pm133 1246 posts
7 years ago

I was made redundant at the end of last year and looking at my CV, mooted returning to Uni. for a year and retrain to break out of Quality as a career. However, a former colleague said quite bluntly that I should be looking at professional and not academic qualifications at the stage my life is currently at (now late 40s).

Thoughts?

Ian

You need to ignore your colleague. With respect, anyone talking to you about late 40's being too old really should be ignored. It isn't too old. This is just an utterly ignorant and outdated view which wouldn't be out of place in the 1970s. Unless you plan to be a professional footballer your age is irrelevant.

The only thing that matters is what you want to do. Decide on the career and that will dictate the path you need to take. If that requires another degree then you should consider doing it.

Examiner Disagreement

pm133 1246 posts
7 years ago

Congratulations. I can't imagine how it must have felt to go through that nightmare.

submitted today

pm133 1246 posts
7 years ago

Quote From butterfly20:
And I feel strangely empty and lost!

Thank you to everyone on here who was there to answer my queries and read about my woes. The 'cyber-support' has been just as important as the other types of support.

Its taken. me a few drafts to get ready for submission but it looks like I will be submitting next week.
Funnily enough, now that I am just fixing a handful of typos and choices of word I also feel starngely empty and a bit lost.
All the intensity of 3 and a half years has just vanished overnight.

Anyone with two PhDs?

pm133 1246 posts
7 years ago

Quote From powili:
I did PhD in Public Health and I'm currently doing PhD in Environmental and Occupational Health in Taiwan, out of my interest to learn. I must admit, it's a totally new and interesting experience. Some may think it's time wasting but that relatively depends with individual's viewpoint and it's very subjective. Mistake to avoid: Doing it because someone else is doing it.

Agree with this. There are, depressingly, too many people with too much to say about the life choices of other people. You only get one life. If doing two PhDs is what gets you out of bed then you are free to do exactly that without others making you feel bad.

Feeling really embarrased after bad interview and have to see panel again

pm133 1246 posts
7 years ago

Quote From TamaDP:
I really did not know which title to give to this post. I had an interview this morning for a funded position. The project I interviewed for would be based at the centre where I am currently doing a MSc and all 4 interviewers in the panel have been or still are lecturers in the masters.

I feel like the interview went really bad even before it started: taxi cancelled on me twice, I had to call in to say I was going to be late... I think that the presentation went Ok, but then the interview started with 2 strong statistics questions (not my background, and supervisors knew this), which got me really nervous and for the rest of the interview I was really blank... I think I gave 2 really coherent answers, but the rest were really bad (one of the supervisors "helped" me with one, leading me to some options to answer).

So, after what I consider to be a really bad interview I don't expect to get the position. However, this is people that I really respect and would like to work with in the future, and I really feel like, not only didn't I show my potential but also like I have shown myself as incompetent. What to do when I am seeing most of this people on a daily basis? I really don't know if I should address this or let it be...

Does anyone have any experience like this?

Bonus: One of the interviewers asked what would I do id I got stuck with research; to what I started answering things like revise the literature again, test some new methods, blablabla... When suddenly she looks at me with a weird face and says:" I mean... wouldn't you ask your supervisor?" So yeah... that bad (and asking supervisors for help is obviously something anyone would do and I have done before... so don't know how that looks).

(Apologies for the rant)

As far as your last paragraph is concerned, you gave exactly the correct answer. Your first thought at the first sign of trouble should not be to run to your supervisor. I may have completely misunderstood though. She was testing you to see if you would be dependent or independent.
As far as interviews are concerned I have had more than my fair share of disasters including one where the guy asked me a question and as I was answering it he turned his back on me and flicked through a magazine. 10 minutes later he terminated the interview in the middle of me speaking. Today I would not tolerate such a thing and would assertively terminate myself. In fact I have stopped interviews myself when it was clear the job wasn't for me.
Don't sweat these things. It's all part of life and will give you great stories to amuse your kids in the future.

PhD Reserve lists

pm133 1246 posts
7 years ago

Quote From tr1992:
Hi everyone

I applied to 8 PhDs in total. I was nominated by the supervisors for 4 but was only offered an interview for 1 project that I didn't apply for and another that I did. The interview for the project I actually applied for felt like it went very badly, it was my first interview but I was sure that I wouldn't get any offers. The 2nd interview felt absolutely perfect, couldn't have gone better.

However, I was rejected from the 2nd University and I am on the reserve list for the 1st University.
I don't know my exact position on the list due to an overlap in projects in the offer list and reserve list.
Overall they make 15 offers. Does anyone have any idea roughly how large a reserve list may be?

The university told me they expect about 40% of the initial offers to be rejected, so people on the reserve list shouldn't worry, but of course that depends on the length of the list.

Any ideas?

I would imagine the length of the list will depend on the position, the supervisor and the university.

Unfortunately getting a PhD can be as difficult as securing employment.
You have no choice really but to keep looking, keep applying and wait until a firm offer arrives. I would certainly advise you not to rely on the reserve list emptying and I wold never trust anyone telling me that it would be fine until I got a firm offer.

Graduating in 3 months and I don't know anything about finance; how did you all learn?

pm133 1246 posts
7 years ago

Quote From TreeofLife:

Quote From pm133:
I wouldn't touch a pension scheme with a bargepole.

Even if your employer is paying 18% on top of your salary into your pension? It's free money. You'd have to be a bit mad to opt out of that in my opinion. I happily take that extra 500 quid every month.

Yeah that might persuade me. 18% ??? That is crazy!!!! No wonder companies struggle to afford to take on more employees!
I spent a lot of time working for myself so I have forgotten what it is like to have someone pay into a pension scheme for me.

Its probably more tempting now that in th UK we can cash in the entire pot so that when I die, my family get what cash is left rather than the pension company. I value freedom more than security in that respect. I hope to never retire anyway. I will always want to work and if I dont I have saved some money and the state pension will supplement that. I dont want to spend my good years obsessing over my retirement years. With my mortgage paid off and me intending to spend my latter years drinking tea, reading and writing books, my outgoings will be negligible. I reckon I will be OK.

Feedback on your work

pm133 1246 posts
7 years ago

Quote From TreeofLife:
I agree, I would rather be told it as is, I don't like people dancing around the point either. By less intense, I guess I'm thinking if it's written down I can go back over it later, with verbal feedback I will probably forget most of it and there isn't usually time to write it down as they are talking.

Oh I absolutely agree with that.
I have never been afraid to tell the other person to stop for a minute while I jot down their comment. I could never remember anything without doing that. That would be a nightmare.

Feedback on your work

pm133 1246 posts
7 years ago

Quote From TreeofLife:
Oddly, this is what I am being taught is the 'best' type of feedback in these lovely training programmes I have to attend in my job. Personally I think it's a bit of a joke. Feedback should be tailored to individual preferences. I prefer to have written comments on my work, then the chance to discuss these comments later. At that point, it's less intense because I've had time to reflect on those comments, not have had them all trust upon me at once. My supervisor gave me this type of feedback so I was lucky. If you just want written feedback, then that's what they should give you. You can then ask questions on it if you don't understand, or if you keep making the same mistakes then they can discuss it further with you.

We are being encouraged to do audio recordings of feedback for undergraduate students, rather than writing anything or having face to face conversations. I'm told that research backs up this preference, but I'm yet to have been provided with any such research, and it seems too much effort to find these for myself since this educational research is so far out of my field. Apparently this is also quicker to do, but again, that's a personal thing in my opinion.

In an ideal world you are correct that feedback should be tailored to the individual. Unfortunately the working world outside academia can be brutally harsh so it is good for people to be exposed to ot as early as possible. It isnt about whether this feedback is the best type or not. It just seems to be prevalent in the workplace. It is personally the best method for me as I hate faffing about. I dont have the patience for people who try to dance round an issue to "protect my feelings". Just get on with it :-) If I am giving feedback I want that feedback to be precise and efficient because neither of us has all day. If I had to consider the feelings of the other person it would drive me insane. Just keep the feedback free of abuse, keep it constructive and keep it focussed.
I am not sure what you mean by "less intense". All I do during these sessions is write down my supervisors comments. I then go and consider them afterwards. After I have considered them I may well go back and argue against some of the points or seek further clarification.

Supervisors and feedback

pm133 1246 posts
7 years ago

Quote From skyisnotthelimit:

Quote From pm133:
I send updates from time to time to my supervisor but it's out of courtesy to keep him up to date. I don't expect a resonse and I don't get one. If I have a specific issue I request a face to face meeting which both of us prefer but that is pretty rare. Things have changed in the last few weeks now that I've had feedback on my thesis draft and we've met more often as he remembers things that I should add or change. The whole PhD has been largely hands off supervision though and that's how I personally prefer it. Just need to dig myself out of the pile of crap I have landed myself in with some changes I put in this week and then I can relax a bit.......
I would definitely expect more supervision at your stage of your PhD though and it sounds like you are getting it.

Yes that sounds familiar. Some friends of mine doing their PhDs have a similar experience. Not me though. It seems like maybe because it is the beginning - my supervisors are really involved. Which is great because I am also at the learning stage myself. But sometimes it makes me wonder if I am not good enough and that's why they're always giving feedback? But then again the feedback is never the same, it is always something they want to add or remove so I guess that's ok. Especially after reading here that it is such a common experience - I feel better :)

In fairness my situation is not too common. Being a lot older I knew exactly what skills I wanted to achieve during the PhD and I really only wanted pointers from my supervisor. When I was 21 I dont think I could have succeeded in this way. Now I am using the PhD to prove to myself I can become almost completely independent. I found that in reality I need specific types of support and for that support to be given in specific ways. Found out a huge amount about myself. It has been quite a journey and I wouldnt change any of it. You will have your own set of skills you want to have by the end. As long as you get most or all of them you will be fine. It is good that you care. Dont underestimate the importance of that. It means you are trying to self improve. If the feedback is varied then this is excellent. If the feedback starts to tail off once you start getting published then this is brilliant. Just play it by ear and see where it goes. There will come a time when you care less about your supervisors feedback and start to realise that you are capable of assessing your own performance. When your own assessment starts to match that of your supervisor then you will be ready to graduate.

Feedback on your work

pm133 1246 posts
7 years ago

Quote From Lydia:
Thank you for your answer - yes this is exactly what I mean!! I find it really odd- I've never experienced this in any other area of work. I guess I need to develop a bit of enotional distance from my work and take it all a bit less seriously, I'm in defence mode now before I even get through the door!

I used to be like this but then I learned the value of honest feedback. I now actively seek it out. All I ask is that there is no nastiness or deliberate attempts to undermine me behind that feedback. TBH finding people who genuinely believe me when I ask them to be brutally honest is the biggest problem because most people are scared of causing offence. They mean well but dont understand how damaging their reticence can be. For example if my supervisor fluffs my pillows to protect me I risk being crushed by my external at viva time. That wont do me any good at all.

In my opinion this is something you really must learn to overcome. It will benefit you in the long term.

Re-developing the research proposal

pm133 1246 posts
7 years ago

Quote From Tudor_Queen:
Hi Experienced PhDers

For about a month now I've felt stuck. Basically, I am in a position where I really need to redevelop my proposal. I am well into my 2nd year. My first study (of an anticipated 3 studies) is done, and the results of it though interesting mean that the original plan for the next few studies can no longer be carried out.

My supervisors are expecting 1) an updated proposal and 2) detailed plans of the next study. There are time constraints (my research is with children in schools and I need to get ethics submitted so I can recruit and get in the schools and collect data before the Summer holidays). The idea was to develop the proposal... come up with some new ideas.

The problem is - I've spent over a month what feels like "messing around" and accomplishing nothing (in reality I've read a fair bit, been working really hard at trying to do this, and come up with a few research questions that seem interesting/rubbish [depending on my perspective that day] - but still have no a broader plan for the rest of the PhD).

If anyone can offer me some words of encouragement and/or advice I would really appreciate it.

Tudor

If you are reading up on current research and trying to come up with ideas then it sounds like you are doing exactly what you need to be doing. Are you trying to come up with one mind blowing idea? If so you might want to try and either break that down or come up with smaller ideas while you allow your brain the time to come up with bigger ones. It could be a patience problem or it could be that you are starting to worry about your deadline. None of those are ideal places to be mentally but it can be impossible to ignore them. Does any of that feel familiar?

Graduating in 3 months and I don't know anything about finance; how did you all learn?

pm133 1246 posts
7 years ago

Quote From davidb0ne321:
I'm a senior (philosophy and history major) in college and I'm graduating in a few months. Like a bunch of my friends, I don't know anything about personal finance (loans, mortgage, budgeting, credit etc) and I (we) all need help!

I wish I took a finance class but it's too late now. Everything I find online is way too dense and it's hard to sift through unnecessary information. Does anyone know of a place where I can find CONCISE information (in layman's term please) regarding personal finance?

If you are just leaving university then you really shouldn't even be thinking about mortgages, credit and loans. As ToL says above, things only get complicated when you allow them to become complicated and that happens when you spend more than you have brought in.
All you need to worry about is making sure you budget and quite frankly you should have already been taught this by your parents and by your teachers.

The advice given by ToL is good but I wouldn't touch a pension scheme with a bargepole.

Advice needed: grades for PhD

pm133 1246 posts
7 years ago

Quote From Kseno:
Hi, folks.
I'm applying for multiple funded PhDs in Neuroscience in the UK as an international student, and I get multiple rejections.
I'm 26 and I have BSc in Chemistry (Ukraine), MSc in Chemistry (Ukraine), and MSc in Membrane Engineering (International - France/Czech Republic/Portugal/Scotland,UK).
First two are 2:1 (GPA ~85/100), and the last one I consider as an equivalent to 2:2 (GPA 15.8/20).
My last master thesis was closely tied with neuroscience, and I got A-grade for it.
I also have some research experience in neuroscientific research (~1.5 years) and membranes (5 years along with my studies in Ukraine).
I have visited two international conferences, one with an oral report (Istanbul, Turkey), and other with poster one (London).
I don't have any publications yet, but I have multiple abstracts published.

Can anyone give me a clue what am I missing for a successful PhD application?
Where are my weakest points here?
Do I have really low grades for this purpose?
Should I do the third master's in Neuroscience to gain better grades and have higher chances for PhD? (Although, PhD adverts tell me that this field is highly multidisciplinary and they accept applications from a wide range of degrees in Natural Sciences)

Please, help me, I'm so confused...

Without seeing your application it is impossible to advise you on what you are specifically doing wrong (if anything). Having a 2:1 or a 2:2 is not a great start though if you are applying for highly competitive positions although it is difficult to know how to equate your grades with UK equivalents. I may well be criticised for this but in my personal opinion nobody should be undertaking a PhD without having excelled at undergraduate level first and by that I mean achieved a solid 1st class degree. I just don't think it is fair on the students who are underprepared for the PhD as a result of not having a solid foundation in their subject. This is my personal opinion only and I know many disagree with me. Plenty of people do go on to do PhD's with a 2:1. My point is to ask you to seriously consider whether you truly are ready to start research or whether you are going to have to spend months gaining the basic undergraduate knowledge you should have had on day one. Only you can know this.

You already have three degrees so I don't know whether a Neuroscience specific Masters will help or not. You would need to ask. You should try and see if the person you applied to is willing to give you feedback on your application.