Ehm, just curious, since I'm submitting a copy of mine to my prof tomorrow (the paper's due in a few weeks). I've never had a professor require a rough draft to view before, and mine is still 1,000 words short, footnotes aren't finished, and I haven't inserted photos or expanded certain sections. Am I going to get slammed? Are you expected to have a near-complete copy submitted? Sorry, I'm kind of anxious here. Oh and happy new year. Stupid paper.

I'm not feeling the cheer yet either. Probably because I can't afford to go home for the holidays and have no family here... and can't afford the gifts either (or even a strand of fairy lights!).
Maybe we all need an afternoon off to walk around the xmas markets and watch some cheesy old movies. Sometimes you just have to force yourself to get into it...

This is a bit of a rant more than anything... anyone else having trouble connecting to other postgrad students due to their inherently competitive nature?
I chose to enter my program because I genuinely love the subject. Most of the people I'm socializing with though (and we know how hard it is to befriend/socialize with people in school as it is) can't seem to get beyond this know-it-all veneer. They're not competing with me academically- our work is all pretty separate still- but there seems to be a constant one-upmanship in their general conversation (talking about the cool jobs they've had, the stuff they've done, research, etc).
I'm not feeling threatened because I'm very content in my personal life, I worry about finding a good job after graduation of course, but I don't feel the same need to self-promote and I'm feeling alienated from these hyper-competitive, driven people (I know, I know, this is the nature of a lot of grad students).
So... maybe this is a pointless thread... but anyone else having this problem?

Oh, I know. I just completely geeked out over my upcoming first conference. I'm not even presenting. Me? Nerd?

In terms of funding- Loans, loans, loans. They're sort of inevitable, and as a non-EU student who is not independently wealthy I've had to take out my fair share of federal (never private) ones. Will I be paying them off until I'm 50? Probably, but I'd rather shell out a little money each month than not go to school. There are studentships available to all students, but they are competitive and- I'm not saying this to sound bitter- will probably be given to home students.
If you have your over-6-month student visa, I believe you are automatically approved to work in the UK. Most universities will only allow you to work a limited number of hours as a full time student, though.
Good luck...

Of course, getting ANY job after completing will be an uphill battle, regardless of where I get my degree, right?;-)

I'm an American currently getting my MA at a British Uni and would love to stay here to get my (art hist.) PhD. However, I've heard that American universities will shy away from hiring British PhDs (consider the education either too different, or inferior? which is crazy IMO) for teaching. Anyone know anything about this?