But please don't be 'concerned' for me.

I know there's no point talking about the student debt or my general poorness, but if I wasn't poor I wouldn't bother my arse applying for the bursary and that is really the only reason that I want it!

Hi,

I have an offer from York Univeristy to study on one their sociology MA courses. They have a number of bursaries on offer (£1,000) which can be taken as a fee-waiver.

In order to be considered for a bursary I need to write a letter 'outlining my case for an award'. 'In this letter [they] would like me to explain how the degree will help in my future'.

I'm guessing it's not enough to say.. I have £12,000 worth of student debt, no income for my MA year as I am doing the MA full time, no real way of being able to pay for food, clothes or rent and no real chance of winning any huge amounts of money before October, so I need all the help I can get!

So, what the hell do I say? This letter isn't meant to be any shorter than 300 words, but I'm struggling to fill that! I was wondering whether anyone else has had to do a letter like this? And, if so, what did you write?

All help is greatly appreciated. Thanks

You could go on the dole.....

Hey, I'm a sociology student. To get started you should have a look at a book by Christopher Pole and Richard Lampard (2002) called 'Practical Social Investigation' (published by Prentice Hall). I'd imagine your uni library would have a copy if they do sociology or something similar.
Its a really easy book to follow and great if your not really sure where to begin with research. If you have to use 2 methods, you could just use surveys- stopping people on the street and ticking boxes and qualitative, semi-structured interviews- devising a list of 'topics' or 'areas' that you want to cover in an interview then just letting your sample talk all they want about these areas.
I'd definately recommend having a look at that book because it lays things out really simply with examples!!

Hi,
It depends on whether bluetooth's partner has a phd and whether they are willing to give up/take time out of their postdoc or career.
Have you thought about taking statutory maternity leave to which you are entitled and then looking at daycare thereafter?
I know daycare can take quite a lot of your wages before you've even seen them, but if it means keeping your career, I think its worth considering.

I've been put through to open competition at the uni where I am just finishing my undergrad degree. However, I want to move to a different uni and apply for just +3 funding once I'm doing a masters. I want, however, to send off the forms from the current uni as I have put a lot of people out and I don't want to annoy them by pulling out at this late stage (bearing in mind these are the people that will mark my assessed work!!). Once I have my undergrad marks back, can I then contact ESRC directly and pull out my application? Or does my uni need to do this? Will it tarnish my name with the ESRC? Will it affect my later +3 application? I'd appreciate any advice