Need some advice (postgrad study)

pug_in_a_bed

Well I still haven't made my decision. I'm not sure I can face yet another year of skint studentlife. Normally I 've managed pretty well as I had a great part time job during my studies which was really flexible. Anyway, that's dried up now, so would need to be finding something else.

This sounds so bad and I'm embarrased to say it but I also feel a bit like people will be shocked if I don't do it. Like yesterday had a chat with a friend who was saying but you're so clever, you can do anything you want. This was after I was saying how hard it is to get a job after phd. This kind of thing makes me feel under even more pressure.

My mum just keeps saying that she doesn't want me to not do it this year and then next year think damn i wish i had given it a go. I hate that feeling I had all the way through my MA, the buterflies I would wake up with everyday when I had essays or such in the back of my mind. Another four years of that...?

Same friend, who has just branched out from her ordinary life into some very exciting stuff, also said why didn't I do something for me and just go crackers and do something no one would expect. That sounded great for about a minute but I've no thoughts of what else I could do. This year out I've had since my MA has not exactly been brilliant, no job for starters.

I think that might be why I am so torn and feeling so up in th air and all wrong at the moment - because when I realised I didn't have the funding, the bottom just fell out of everything, and I realised I didn't have another plan.

Yesterday I was feeling more positive but this afternoon am feeling negative!

Gah! clock's ticking!:rotfl:

melancholly

you know, you can do a phd whenever you want!! there's no time limit! i did a degree, had a year out, didn't get funding and did a masters..... a lot of people only start phds in their late 20s. if you don't do it now and realise in a year's time that it is what you want, then great - go ahead and apply to lots of places...... then at least you'll be sure what you want..... because if you're doing it for other people then you will find it very hard!

it's also so different from an MA - you have to do all the motivation and deadline setting yourself.....and i think people who have part time jobs that are more than a few hours (like 2/3 days a week) find it difficult to do all the work - it's possible, definitely, but if your heart's not in it then it will be very difficult for you

and also if you want a very high income then academia is not the best option!

pug_in_a_bed

I'm 25 now! when i finish i'll be thirty! right i'm going to go off and make a list...

melancholly

if you get funding it's only 3 years!
i'm unlikely to get mine before i'm 27.... i'm almost disappointed that i won't manage to stay a student until i'm 30!

pug_in_a_bed

what are you be studying if you don't mind me asking?

melancholly

i'm doing psychology............... so more science based (or in funding terms, more likley to fall between the cracks of neuroscience and arts funding bodies!)

hostie

I am 30 and only just about to start my PhD. I had to interrupt my first degree and then go back to it after a few years then when I went on to do an MA I had to defer for one year as I didn't have any money at all to start it. The next year I started it and left because a family member got ill. Finally I started it part time (I was turned down by the AHRC twice for funding for an MA) and worked part time. If you really want to do it you will be able to. Last year I was struggling to find my fees so I spent two weeks doing nothing but funding applications to trusts. This worked for me and I got enough to help me to finish the MA. I suggest that if you are both keen that you go for it. You can also apply to the Access to learning fund for help, and to the AHRC again next year having completed the MA/ done the first year of the PhD. The IGRS also have a good training programme which has seminars on how to get funding / write a good a research proposal and other things like theory. https://www.igrs.ac.uk

So don't worry about your ages - I will be 33 when I finish! !!!

DrFluffy

Also worth a try are the Sir Richard Stapely foundation...

So a search on google for 'Educationa and charities' or 'education and bursary' - you should pull up a myriad of lists of potential funders on the web pages of different universities, from memory, Cardiff had a fairly complete one....

Also go to the local library and sit down with the Educational Grants Advisory Service's 'Guide to Student Learning'. Make a list and start applying!

I doubt you will get everything you need from one source, but might/should be able to cobble together enough to start 2007...

DrFluffy

hostie wrote:

The IGRS also have a good training programme which has seminars on how to get funding / write a good a research proposal and other things like theory. www.igrs.ac.uk

So don't worry about your ages - I will be 33 when I finish! !!!

You've missed the .sas. out of that address. Should be www.irgs.sas.ac.uk - it's part of the School of Advanced Studies...

pug_in_a_bed

Thanks Dr Fluffy and Hostie for your suggestions.

Hostie, read on another thread that you're an arts student like me, congratulations on getting funding! (jealous!) Even if I'd got mine I don't think it would've helped me to decide what to do lol