Hi everyone,

A bit late in the year, but here goes. I'm currently doing an MSc (cognitive neuroscience) part time and love it. It's a big change in direction for me and I want to do something with it, but hadn't been sure that something was academia and looking into other options.

With all this dithering, I've missed a lot of deadlines (like ESRC funding) because I didn't want to apply when I wasn't sure I really wanted to do a PhD. Then my MSc supervisor sent me a link to TA positions at my uni which are linked to a PhD application (you apply for both and get funded by your salary and fees paid); I'd provisionally discussed PhDs with her in the autumn and she encouraged me to apply as she thought I'd be a good candidate (though have to say, now I'm doing the proposal and application I feel like I keep putting my foot in it and saying really stupid things and she's going to regret suggesting it!).

I've now really got into the idea of doing a PhD, but realise it's too late for most funded places (I have made an approach to another supervisor I'd like to work with). If this one at my current uni doesn't work out and (as I suspect) I'm too late to try for funded places elsewhere this year, I was thinking of trying to find a research assistant place (hard, I know) and trying next year. I could technically do it part-time but have been told it generally only works if your job is relevant which my current one is not.

Does this make any sense or is it a massively bad idea? And does anyone have any experience of/ideas about the pros and cons of the kind of set-up at my university with the TA position (eg - I'm wondering if I'd still be a student for council tax, travel purposes etc).

Thanks for any advice.

A belated question - sorry but I'm still feeling my way in and finding out more:

-I've really enjoyed studying where I am and they do have the research areas I'm interested in but the admin can be pretty terrible. Case in point: I was informed yesterday - my supervisor who was helping me with the proposal had only just been told - various key points about what should be in the proposal and about its length etc, none of which has been said elsewhere, and the guidance provided is pretty useless. The application is due Monday so I could very easily have submitted it already. Is this kind of thing (there are other examples from the MSc) par for the course with most universities and just something I have to put up with or, if I do get the PhD/TA job, is it a bit of a warning signal that I might have problems in the future if I stay here?

Hi,
I am pretty sure that if you are a part-time student then you still have to pay things like Council Tax (discount only for full time) .. but you will get a NUS card and student card so other discounts e.g. on cinema and shops will still work. With regards to travel it will probably apply to some but not all...e.g. young person's railcard specifies you must be a full time student.

So, although being an TA too means you get less discounts, you may earn more than on a studentship??, and there may also be options such as extra teaching & marking that you could do at your institution for extra cash! You also 'may' get a better deal with regards to office space as an TA, i.e. you should get your own desk/comp etc. whereas sometimes as a PhD student you could be put in a large open plan area and expected to 'hot desk' which is not always ideal.. though this depends from university to university.

With regards to your current application and admin issues... in my experience admin delays and issues happen everywhere and it shouldn't put you off applying at the very least. If you are happy with the university generally and your potential supervisory team and resources available to you there that is the main thing! I would suggest you stick in an application and then at least you can still decide later if it's not the right decision for you. Good luck!

Thanks psychresearcher! (I'm guessing from your name that you might possibly be in a similar area to me... ;))

I wasn't very clear - sorry - it would be full time PhD, part time TA with this, and actually since I posted I have discovered that as long as I am a full-time student on the PhD it doesn't matter what job I might have - relief as the travel discounts and council tax reduction will help. As far as I can tell the salary (15k) is about the same as a full scholarship/stipend would be, at least for London, but taxable. It's livable on but London is an expensive place so any extra help like student discounts is welcome. (Have discovered that I'm in the wrong subject area hehe - Durham law school is offering basically the same deal as I have here with the same number of hours' TA work for at least 10k more! I wonder what the catch is mind you, but in any case I'm not about to switch to law).

A part-time PhD would be an option in theory but not with what I'm currently applying for; however I really think I would need a new job as well as it's starting to get difficult that my current job is so different from the Masters.

Not heard back yet from the other supervisor I contacted. It's not been that long but was wondering: does anyone know if generally potential supervisors you contact will get back to you even if it's just to say 'thanks but no thanks' or if it's like job applications where they don't bother a lot of the time if it's no?

Ah I see! that sounds better then! At least with the increase in personal allowance to around £10k means you wouldn't have to pay a huge amount of tax/NI on the rest :) ... and as I mentioned earlier you may get the option to do extra for additional payment - e.g. if a member of staff is unwell and there a pile of scripts to be marked. I did loads of marking and teaching during my PhD - was good experience (and the extra cash helped!).

I would chase up the other potential supervisor with a polite email. Not sure how long it has been, but the academic may be away over the holiday period, especially as teaching finished 2 weeks ago! Definately worth chasing up to remind them... if no luck there then maybe best to persue other potential contacts... n.b. some lecturers would reply and some wouldn't - there is no fixed rule on that.. depends on how interested they are and also how busy they are at the moment!