Hi Shaun,
Just to reassure you - HEFCE statistics have revealed for the last 5 years completion rates for PhD students with an MA (or equivalent) and those with just an undergraduate degree are virtually identical. Any potential supervisor worth their salt should know this and this therefore shouldn't impede you at all. I personally did get an MA before my PhD which I felt was really useful in terms of training and preparation for me, but I have friends who have completed a PhD without wasting a year doing an MA.
Hope this info helps,
Corrina

Thanks for the replies so far everyone and please do keep them coming. I really value the variation in our PhD supervision experiences.

======= Date Modified 22 55 2009 22:55:58 =======
Hi Everyone,

I finished my PhD last year and am now embarking on becoming a supervisor.

I'm undertaking a qualification to help with this and part of the assessment is to write an assignment related to supervision.

I want to investigate what the most common issues / problems PhD students face with their supervisors.

It would be great if you could reply to this thread and say anything all about any issues/ problems you've faced i.e. negative feedback, publishing, personality clashes - absolutely anything! All responses will be anonymised. Please reply before July 6th in order for me to use your feedback.

Thanks so much for your help with this - it will all contribute to making me a good supervisor! :-)

Corrina