Phd Funding :cry:

melancholly

Barcode wrote:

A PhD is a job. Everybody I know doing one spends at least eight hours a day reading, writing etc.

too true - although if i only did a 40 hour week i'd be a lot happier!! it's way above that most of the time!!

melbury

Thanks Barcode, Melancholly and Flossy_Splodge, it is nice to know that some people understand that not all higher education students are just spongers on society who can't be bothered to look for a job.

My son really wanted to be a university lecturer, which of course means getting a Phd, so it a big slap in the face for him.

He didn't get any funding from the AHRC last year (despite getting a first class degree, which lots of people seem to think counts) to do his masters, but by using his life savings (and some of ours) and working through the summer, managed to get enough money together to pay for the year.

He is not doing it to avoid work or because being at university is such a laugh, in fact he has always worked very hard and taken his studies very seriously.

For Tr3mor to say that studying history is not going to benefit anyone is ridiculous and I would like to know what reason he/she has for saying that. There are so many degrees taken nowadays in so many outlandish subjects it is a joke and makes a mockery of higher education.

funschine

Funding is available at https://www.rgu.ac.uk for MSC courses if you study fulltime. Have a look at this http://www.rgu.ac.uk/stud_finance/general/page.cfm?pge=35851

tr3mor

melbury wrote:

For Tr3mor to say that studying history is not going to benefit anyone is ridiculous and I would like to know what reason he/she has for saying that. There are so many degrees taken nowadays in so many outlandish subjects it is a joke and makes a mockery of higher education.

It's not the subject that's the problem really. It's most of the arts departments in the country, they have no idea of what hard work is.

I'm at Manchester doing Computer Science and Maths, which is a fairly intense course. My girlfriend is also at Manchester doing History.

Speaking from experience her modules are half the work but worth twice as many credits as mine.

Eg in her second year she had a whole module devoted to a "long" essay, which was 5000 words, and worth 20 credits in itself. For 20 credits I'd have to do 2 modules, each with 22 lectures, a selection of labs and coursework plus an exam. All in all I'd spend about 4 times as long as her working for every credit.

Another thing that really pisses me off about her course is the hours. The department don't do any lectures before 10am, aparently the lecturers can't be bothered to turn up that early.

All this is at supposedly one of the best red brick universities in the country, not some polytechnic!

melbury

tr3mor wrote:

It's not the subject that's the problem really. It's most of the arts departments in the country, they have no idea of what hard work is.

I'm at Manchester doing Computer Science and Maths, which is a fairly intense course. My girlfriend is also at Manchester doing History.

Speaking from experience her modules are half the work but worth twice as many credits as mine.

Eg in her second year she had a whole module devoted to a "long" essay, which was 5000 words, and worth 20 credits in itself. For 20 credits I'd have to do 2 modules, each with 22 lectures, a selection of labs and coursework plus an exam. All in all I'd spend about 4 times as long as her working for every credit.

Another thing that really pisses me off about her course is the hours. The department don't do any lectures before 10am, aparently the lecturers can't be bothered to turn up that early.

All this is at supposedly one of the best red brick universities in the country, not some polytechnic!

All I can say is that my son's history course was quite onerous - he had to turn in an essay a week plus attend lectures. Didn't have modules, whatever they may be. He was at Oxford - also one of the best red brick universities.

By the way, good for you doing computer science and maths, you certainly shouldn't have any problems finding funding if you want to carry on.

cupid_s

i would suggest that if you really want to do a phd, get a job (any old job for him to live off) and apply again next year for funding.

A PhD is a full 3 or 4 year thing so putting it off by one year to get funding might work out. Money is something you really could do with not having to worry about with everything else you ave to contend with when studying this hard.

In my lab I was offered funding at £8000 a year. I was considering not taking it and re-applying the year after. In the end i accepted the 8k. Now a funded position has become available paying £14k a year. I am well and truly !!!!!! off I can tell you.

I wish I'd held out and just got a job until some better funding came along.

Obviously the more times you apply the more chance you have of getting funding and good luck to you.

One thing I would add. I have more than once considered leaving my PhD. I have had crying sessions with my supervisor telling him how I hate my work, can't do it, am not good enough and I want to leave and how rubbish I am. It all seems funny now. But I can honestly say that if I was funding myself it would have been even more incentive to give up when things got difficult - which they do in any PhD, and I wouldn't be here now.

hostie

Thank you everyone for your advice. This is turning into quite a heated debate, something that I didn't expect.

I am sorry to hear that your son has been rejected melrose. I know how it feels as I felt the same when I received my first rejection. I haven't received my AHRC one yet but no doubt it will arrive soon. I am now making plans for starting without major funding. I don't think it is a good idea for humanities students to hold out as cupid suggest above. Better funding may come along in science or more vocational subjects, but is unlikely in arts subjects.

It is reassuring to hear people say that if I fund myself my PhD will be no less valued. That was the main question that I wanted answered. On the strength of that advice I think I will start the PhD even if my AHRC application is unsuccessful. I can always re-apply next year. For the benefit of others who may be in the same situation as me, I would just like to point out that you can only apply to the AHRC for PhD funding twice in your life. If you are unsuccessful on two occasions, they will not consider you again.

All your advice is truly appreciated. I have started to act on it and since writing the first post I have been provisionally offered 200 teaching hours at one of the the universities I applied to. I would have to continue with my part-time job (because 200 hours wouldn't be enough to live on), prepare for the teaching work and begin my research. Quite a lot to take on! It would be tough juggling it but I am inspired by the post about the woman who brought up children at the same time as studying and also managed to win a nursing award.

I will now go and look at the links people have provided for information on teaching positions etc Thanks again and good luck to everyone who is in a similar situation.

Barcode

Hostie: I've been reading that a lot of rejection letters have already been sent out. The positives tend to arrive after the negatives. I am trying to construe this as hopeful news since I am still waiting to hear from the AHRC.

I am not that confident. I missed a 1:1 by (wait for it) 0.25%. The rounded mark puts me in 1:1 territory, but because a 1:1 is only signalled if the unrounded mark is 68 + and 40% of module marks must be a 1:1, I missed out.

I'm working on the assumption I won't receive funding. Hence I've been saving like mad. I'm a bit more optimistic when it comes to my PhD application next year since more PhD's are successful at funding than us lowly MA's.

Sobraon

..or see http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/main.jhtml?xml=/education/2006/08/09/eddutchfee09.xml&sSheet=/education/2006/08/09/ixtetop.html

'Dutch universities are the first in continental Europe to offer a full range of postgraduate courses taught and assessed in English.
.
.
Andrew Mackay adds an interesting twist. He is an external PhD candidate living in London. He uses the British Library but flies to the Netherlands every few months for supervision, as well as communicating by phone and e-mail: "I knew that to complete a PhD in the UK I would need up to £4,000 a year for at least three years just for fees, which I couldn't afford. But as an EU citizen I pay no fees to undertake a PhD in the Netherlands."'

If I were staring again I would certainly go this route – 35 ish minute flight to Amsterdam via Humberside!.

Joey_3

Barcode wrote:

Hostie: I've been reading that a lot of rejection letters have already been sent out. The positives tend to arrive after the negatives. I am trying to construe this as hopeful news since I am still waiting to hear from the AHRC.

Interesting, I too had heard about an unsuccessful applicant but haven't yet heard from AHRC myself (I'm not holding out much hope tbh, I have a 1st and I have a year's experience in my field, but the University I will be studying at have never met me - it's a distance learning course - so I doubt their input will have been very strong). I had presumed the successful would have heard first, but interesting to hear you say that.

I am in the very fortunate position that I have recently been able to apply for a permanent job (which I got) at my workplace, and during the interview I asked about the possibility of receiving fuding from my workplace (I work in a University library and am registered on an MSc Information and Library Studies, which I need to progress in my career). At a recent Senior Management Meeting earlier this week, my case was discussed and they have allocated some of the new year's budget for my funding. I am over the moon but I do resalise how lucky I am, I have been trying to find sources for funding since last December and I know how tricky it is!

Best of luck to anyone else waiting to hear from AHRC, and best of luck to the OP with their offers of teaching experience. My friend recently completed her PhD and hers was achieved via help from the department in exchange for teaching responsibilities.