======= Date Modified 22 14 2010 11:14:51 =======
Hi Everyone

Thank you in advance for your time and advice.

Although the title of my post gives it away (I’m sure this is a question often raised) I have finally been given the required boot to sort out my career.

I’ve been working in industry for the last 7 years since graduating with a 2:1 in Biochemistry and Microbiology from The Nottingham Trent University in 2003. I have attempted a number of times to make the move back into academia but have not had the financial security. I now feel ready but am not sure on how best to approach this. There is a lot of information out there on the web but I realised the best source comes from people who have been or are going through the process.

What I would like to ask is how best should I go about preparing and applying for a PhD? I’m conscious that 7 years is quite a time to be absent and wonder whether I should be consider a Masters first to bring me more up-to-date?

Kind regards

Alec

If you have an excellent first degree from a Top university then leaving job perm at this stage is not going to do much harm. The job market has changed much since you got employed and is much difficult now to get a job of your own choice due to fierce competition. If you already have done some research and spent time reading on active topics in your areas (no prob if it's casual) then I will prefer direct entry to PhD. However you need to be very specific and should have a refined topic b4 start.