No, it's bioinformatics. It's meant to be a very promising area workwise but seems like if you don't go into a PhD you're on your own, at least with my uni.



I feel you. I don't live with my boyfriend, he lives - literally- on the other side of the country but I took a loan to cover my fees and he covers everything else. We made the decision together because we were both stuck at dead-end jobs and we hated the town where we lived, so something had to change.



That is a really brave thing to admit. I think I just started realizing this now. I got 2 scholarships to study fashion design but I dropped them to study science, cause my mother put in my head that I wouldn't get a job if I studied fashion. The irony.. I studied science and look where that left me.

Have you considered forgetting about academia and doing something you really enjoy? I came to learn in life that if you love what you do and you're good at it, you can make it into whatever you like; you'll always have work and won't feel like work. I'm considering other options. Life is short to waste it away just for a title so you can be constantly unhappy and feel inadequate (that's what senior academics make me feel like).

I could almost say you're inside my head, apart from the fact that I'm not trying to finish a PhD but a Masters. Everything else is exactly the same. Let's hope it won't last much longer :-)

I totally agree with Satchi. Life's short, find something you enjoy doing! I'm going through the same; After years of studying I'm considering leaving it all behind and doing something that makes me happy.

My life exactly! I'm just finishing my master and my class was very small, only 10 of us but half of them have PhDs, 10+years of experience and some of them have even academic jobs to go back to. How can I compete with that? And not to mention, no entry positions for people like me.

I spent a lot of money that I didn't have and have worked extremely hard but my marks are not the best so I'm worried I won't get a job through this masters :-(. So I'm considering applying for different jobs.

What kind of job are you looking for Satchi? What area? How are you surviving without a job at the moment (bills/rent etc)? You mentioned you're far from a uni, maybe the trick would be to get any job that can support you and move closer to a uni or a bigger city.

Good luck! x

So far everything is fine but I really don't like the way PMs are displayed. It's very confusing. I would prefer if messages for each post were grouped.

Thank you Pixie, you've been very helpful. It's really scary taking a loan but if it means I'll get a better paid job that I actually like, it will be worth it.

Thank you, I tried that but because I'm received a small amount of funding already, I'm not eligible. Personal loan will have to be. My masters is meant to be very popular and I was told that bioinformatics are in demand so.. fingers crossed i'll get a good paying job afterwards, to pay off the loan.

Hi Pixie

Unfortunately I don't have the option for part-time, the course ia full-time only, but I still intend to try and find a job.

I need to speak to the bank because they didn't offer me the Personal Development Loan, they only offered the Personal Loan and what concerns me is if I have the money to survive and pay the loan. Was it difficult for you? Mine would be about £120.

The othet option is to work for a year and save the money myself. Which is the less stressful thing to do and the safest but will take ages and will delay my masters by another year.

Has anybody taken out a bank loan to pay for their postgrad? I'm missing about 5,000 and was thinking of taking a loan. The other option would be to work for a year and save the money.

I'd rather not have a loan obviously, but I've delayed my masters 2 years already and all I ended up was badly paid admin jobs that didn't allow me to save absolutely nothing.

What do you think?

Hi,

I checked two days ago and it said that the deadline was 30th of July. I even put it in my diary but now it says that applications are closed.

Is that correct?

thanks

Thank you guys, you are very encouraging. I really appreciate all the input. I'll update you as soon as I've made and they've made a decision. (up)

Hi Ian,

I was offered the place for Bioinformatics at Edinburgh University. Postgrads used to get funding for Masters in Scotland through SAAS that you didn't have to pay back. From this year they have changed this to a loan and have reduced the amount so it only covered about 70% of the fees.

I've applied to Imperial and I got an interview but the experience was dreadful and I'm glad I wasn't offered a place because I would have turned it down.

I've applied to a couple of others but I'm still waiting to hear, as some of them make their decisions in July.

At the moment, Edinburgh is my only choice.

Hi Ian,

I was offered the place for Bioinformatics at Edinburgh University. Postgrads used to get funding for Masters in Scotland through SAAS that you didn't have to pay back. From this year they have changed this to a loan and have reduced the amount so it only covered about 70% of the fees.

I've applied to Imperial and I got an interview but the experience was dreadful and I'm glad I wasn't offered a place because I would have turned it down.

I've applied to a couple of others but I'm still waiting to hear, as some of them make their decisions in July.

At the moment, Edinburgh is my only choice.

Unfortunately since I finished my degree I haven't been able to get a job in the field, despite my constant applications so I'm still working as admin for the NHS - which is another reason to stress, cause I feel completely disconnected from my field.



That is true. When I had my meeting with the course leader for the MSc in Bioinformatics he actually told me that there's huge demand for Bioinformatics grads.

You are right :) I'm just worried that 35 it might be too late to get into a career in research. Not sure how ageist research is :-)