======= Date Modified 07 Sep 2008 18:42:13 =======
I can't speak for Canada as I'm in the UK and only understand the way that UK universities work, but I would have thought that you would stand a chance. It really depends what you class as a 'good' university. All of them are different. I'd imagine with a good Masters degree that would to a certain extent counteract the fact that you only scraped a pass in your BA - after all, research degrees are more akin to a Masters than a BA. You'd have to contact universities that you were interested in and see what their admission criteria is - most of them have details on their websites and telephone numbers so that you could speak to someone in postgraduate admissions to ask them direct.

I wish you luck in your search and hope that you find a good place to carry on your education

Hi GoingNuts, I'm ok thanks :-) feeling a bit stronger now - still have the odd wobbly moment but I'm so busy with the dissertation I don't have much time to think ;-) I will start the Phd in Oct, not sure how we'll manage financially but we'll get there somehow - I haven't been through all this to drop out lol. Only just over a week now til submission - well, I plan if possible to get the diss to the binders this time next week so its ready in good time for Monday, but its like argghhhh - the stupid little things take sooooo much time, I spent 4 hours yesterday just putting the captions on figures, tables etc and then word crashed! Would be good also if I actually had a proper title lol lol lol sob. How is everything going for you? I feel strangely calm still, but I think come next week when its just days to go and still too much to do the panic will set in lol.

It looks as though its all done with now, although I'm still concerned about impending doom - any news yet?

I just want to thank all of you for being so incredibly wonderful this august and for the support and help over those difficult few weeks. Massive congrats to those on whom the monkey smiled and commiseratons and best wishes to those who were not so lucky. I do hope we'll all keep meeting up on the other boards, we get pretty close during this time and it would be a shame to not speak to you all again.

Enjoy the next year, best wishes for your studies and here's to all of us becoming academic geniuses who turn our respective fields on their heads 8-)

Yep, bit difficult when you don't say what field you are in. If its humanities based then so unlikely as to be virtually impossible, if its science then possibly, although its late on in the year - most of these things are sorted out earlier than this!

Of course you're not too old - I'm older than you! Not that I was successful this year lol, but everyone has the same chance and actually mature students statistically get more funding than younger students so I wouldn't worry. Go for it!

Thanks CeCeF :-) We did have a discussion about AHRC vs ESRC - I seemed to come down somewhere in the middle - too humanities based for ESRC and a bit too quantatitive for AHRC so we changed it a bit to fit the AHRC more - obviously not enough ;-) At least now I can go back to my original plan - focus on the census and the employment records and actually directly address the debate (in which I hope to prove my supervisor's thesis wrong ;-) - its ok, he's happy with that lol) Sigh, it was so nice last year getting awarded - but hey, swings and roundabouts! It will work out somehow - I will continue f/t - I have to as I have a uni scholarship to cover my fees and a bit of maintainence - but I will have to do some work too to survive - hmmmmm - exhaustion here I come. I hope it will all be worth it - there is that fear sometimes that I'll work myself to the point of collapse for nothing - but nothing ventured, nothing gained and all that!

Really glad to hear your news Bobnic - am I the only Panel 4 who didn't? :-( sigh, at least some of us did, and I really am genuinely happy for you and GoingNuts! I do think part of the issue with mine is that I had to work hard to show qualitative stuff, its a heck of a lot of quantatitive work (census work and cross referencing with employment records from 1840-1900) and that's just not their thing is it! At least in a way I have a lot more freedom now and can do what I want to do rather than what they want me to do if that makes sense.

MissHopeful - what can I say hon? I'm so so sorry sweetheart - that is just gutting :-( I'm really pleased you're going to go ahead - contact Alice on the AHFF forum and she will help you - she's amazing and knows only too well the pain of rejection herself! Its just all completely f*cked up! (sorry about the language) people who will do bloody amazing things for other people get rejected, while others who still don't have a clue what they want to do get it! That doesn't apply to anyone here btw - I'm really pleased so many have been successful, its really nice to see, I'll get off of my downer sooner or later lol. I just think so much of this is what will sell a good book, or make money in the future. I don't know, I'm being a bit cynical right now lol - call it sour grapes!

That is brilliant news!!!! :-)(up) so so pleased for you!!! At least now you can throw your application for royal mail in the bin ;-) and who knows, maybe you won't need quite as much therapy 8-)

Miss Hopeful, stay hopeful!! You may well be one of the lucky ones - there's been so many damned rejections that there simply HAVE to be some more awards out there somewhere ;-) It ain't over til the fat monkey sings hon, and he isn't singing yet 8-)

Oh heck, this wait is just crazy!! You must be going nuts now :-(

Hi Manolo

Its difficult to say as all unis and courses are different. For my MA I did 8 hours tuition a week, but then there were all of the research hours, reading, writing essays, and then of course the dissertation. They reckon on you working about 35 hours a week for a f/t MA - in reality its more though - but on average, from what I can tell, only 8 of those are contact hours.
I hope that helps :-)

Awww thanks GoingNuts :-) Hmmmm yes, a life as a postie is calling - agree about the exhaustion though! I know exactly what you mean about shaky confidence - the one thing my sup is always ticking me off for is that - I just don't have any. You'd have thought with a first class BA, dist level so far on the MA, that I'd begin to trust myself, but i'm still convinced I just don't have what it takes and that I'm cr*p - not helped by the AHRC lol!;-) He keeps telling me that I am THE expert in my field and I just look at him like he's totally nuts! Ok, so maybe I am - but only cos nobody else has researched it lol lol lol lol.
Hmmm, maybe there is something in this cognitive behaviour stuff, I'll have a look at the link. As you say, a nervous breakdown is simply not conducive to ending up with the headstone with Dr on it! I'm more likely to end up with - oh so close but no cigar lol lol lol. Damn that, I want to be able to stick my hand up when the questino goes out as to whether there is a doctor on board!

======= Date Modified 25 Aug 2008 15:21:25 =======
I think you'll find its more than that GoingNuts - the pretty shiny blue books are not longer produced either - hmmmmm saving of maybe 2-3K??? nice little mini-scholarship there..... giz a scholarship AHRC... lol lol

Will think of you in your therapy session on Wed - is your therapist good? I could do with one to convince me that I'm not a worthless loser and just not good enough.... lol. Sigh, my poor ickle brain is completely mashed - destroyed and trampled upon by the AHRC - bless their cottons!

This is what bothers me so much - many of us are busy completing our dissertations due for submission in the next 3 or 4 weeks! I'm not sure what conditions the lovely AHRC place on those they give awards to who are completing their MA at present, but with all the stress and worry there is a very real chance that they may not be what they could have been! Had they got these stupid results out earlier then there would be time afterwards to get your head together, whether successful or not, and turn out your best work rather than spending a month hardly able to concentrate due to anxiety. I feel very concerned that those of us who are 'lucky' enough to be considered are actually damaged by it through the wait and the way its done. They should all come out together, very quickly, no messing, no fuss. Its all just wrong!

Moan away GoingNuts - you know we all agree with you 100%!!! All I can say is that thank God the situation should change next year - the way it is now is just pathetic, there's simply no excuse for it. They've had the damned applications since the beginning of May and the PR and DR forms since June - its now the last week of August - ludicrous!! They must understand that we have lives to plan and sort out - courses to accept, houses etc etc etc - it simply puts those who are gifted enough to be able to apply at a huge disadvantage to everyone else and that is not fair! It ruins the summer, a month of our lives down the toilet - its just not on!