I applied to do a studentship (deadline 7 September) and haven't heard back from them yet. Admittedly, it hasn't been very long! But my problem is that I'm leaving work to continue my studies, and I've just been offered a promotion! I need to know whether the supervisor has reached a decision, but don't want to seem pushy.

Any suggestions?

Thanks!

Work out what you would choose if offered the studentship in addition to the promotion - it sounds like you'd still go for the studentship? I don't think there is any harm in sending a polite e-mail to the prospective supervisor saying something along the lines of 'hope the application was received safely...wondering when you might hear about short listing...looking forward to attending for interview...blah blah'. Meanwhile, would it cause huge problems if you accepted the promotion and later turned it down?

Hi, I had a similar problem when I was awaiting the results of one of my PhD interviews. I had applied for 3, two of which were equaly matched in terms of their desirability (If that word can be used to describe a PhD!!) the other was one recommended by my undergrad uni. I had the three interviews within a week, heard from the poorer one in the same week offering me the post but neither of the two I really fancied. Any hows I simply sent an email to the supervisors explaining that I had been offered a post however, I couldnt make the decision until I heard from them (basically saying I was more interested in what they were offering). They were great about this and got back to me within three days - subsequently I got the better post!! In my limited experience, just being straight up and laying your cards on the table works and supervisors are humans after all (well most of them!!) Hope this helps.