Tomorrow I find out if I've got a PhD position

Duff-Man said:
Ha! On what planet? Book me a ticket would you?
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It does. I went out in freshers week, and you'd be surprised girls that are interested when you say "I'm doing a PhD".... certainly in Manchester anyway. I'd expected them to run, but they stay.

int said:
Just out of interest, how much have you been paid for the last 3 years? I know university funded projects are horribly underpaid (ranging from 9-13k).
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9-13k tax free though.... so it's more than that. Besides, I've rarely seen a science PhD under £12.2k, most are £12-14k.
 
Good luck!

I have looked at a PhD myself as a potential option after my degree with the OU, but currently the OU dont have any fields of research that would interest me. Its bit of a shame realy, because there is a Msc that realy does interest me with the OU, but they dont provide any financial support for a Msc (which is quite expensive), yet a PhD which takes longer, is more advanced and costs more they can provide full financial support for.
 
meghatronic said:
It does. I went out in freshers week, and you'd be surprised girls that are interested when you say "I'm doing a PhD".... certainly in Manchester anyway. I'd expected them to run, but they stay.
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Damn... Maybe I'm just ugly :p


int said:
Just out of interest, how much have you been paid for the last 3 years? I know university funded projects are horribly underpaid (ranging from 9-13k).
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I've been getting £12k for the past 3 years (rising by a massive £120 per year!). This was the EPSRC standard rate when I started. Mine isn't an EPSRC project, but most funded projects use that as a benchmark. Some projects related with big industry get more - a couple of the guys in my office are working on a Rolls-Royce related project, and they get £13.5 - £14k.

It's not a fortune to be sure, and less than half what I could get in industry, but it's not so bad. For starters I don't pay income tax or council tax, I'm gaining a fairly worthwhile qualification, and I have a lot more flexibility to direct my work and to work on whatever interests me. To be honest I can't complain.

That said, I was a lot better off 3 years ago. I spent a bit more than I should have on renting a place. Since then energy prices have more than doubled, and other prices have risen substantially, while I've been on a fixed income. I've never felt like I was in poverty or anything, even though I have to restrain myself from buying things I would really like to have (like a car for example).
 
Dist said:
Its bit of a shame realy, because there is a Msc that realy does interest me with the OU, but they dont provide any financial support for a Msc (which is quite expensive), yet a PhD which takes longer, is more advanced and costs more they can provide full financial support for.
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A lot of people have this problem. Funded masters courses are few and far between, which is a real flaw in the system if you ask me.

I was lucky enough to win a funded place in an MSc at Imperial (still there were only 5 funded spots out of 22), but if I hadn't then I'm not sure that I could have continued in academia. Which would have been a real shame.

I often wonder how many potentially excellent lecturers cut off their academic career after undergraduate level because they couldn't afford to do a masters. I have to admit there is quite a lot of "chaff" doing PhDs, who have their fees and living expenses paid for by their parents, and do very little at all :(
 
Duff-Man said:
I've been getting £12k for the past 3 years (rising by a massive £120 per year!). This was the EPSRC standard rate when I started. Mine isn't an EPSRC project, but most funded projects use that as a benchmark. Some projects related with big industry get more - a couple of the guys in my office are working on a Rolls-Royce related project, and they get £13.5 - £14k.
.
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That's pretty harsh my offer was at 18k per year with yearly £500 increments, but it was a CASE thing so I expected it to be half decent. 12k is no where near enough they should start paying PhD students fair money IMO
 
dangerstat said:
That's pretty harsh my offer was at 18k per year with yearly £500 increments, but it was a CASE thing so I expected it to be half decent. 12k is no where near enough they should start paying PhD students fair money IMO
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That's what I was thinking. What's worse it the funding doesn't differ depending on location. I've avoided London purely because 12k won't be enough for me to enjoy my time, I don't fancy being miserable for 3 years. No matter how much you enjoy the project, it's ideal to be able to enjoy your life outside of work too!
 
Duff-Man said:
I have to admit there is quite a lot of "chaff" doing PhDs
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Sadly, this seems to be more and more common. A friend was at a conference at Brunel University (I think) where two PhD students were giving a talk on some computational aspect of their research. They were both in their 3rd year and worked in a fluids group. Now my friend knows very little about fluids, but immediately spotted something amiss and mentioned it to them - they were dumbstruck and had to admit that they didn't understand most of what they were doing and essentially just did the big computations their supervisors handed them.

If people are funding their own PhDs then I've no problem if they're rubbish. When it's a government funded position, however, I would expect a reasonably high level of ability.
 
Best of luck!

I'm going to be applying for PhDs from now onwards (most in January) but I still don't really know what I want to be specialising in just yet, so I'm applying for quite a range (mostly retroviral pathology).
 
The majority of my applications were actually viral / cancer based projects but this one jumped out at me! I don't like the idea of specialising so early on in my education however I think it's worth it for this opportunity :)
 
Good luck, I'll probably be going through this in February/March next year, got a meeting tomorrow to discuss potential projects :)
 
int said:
The majority of my applications were actually viral / cancer based projects but this one jumped out at me! I don't like the idea of specialising so early on in my education however I think it's worth it for this opportunity :)
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Yup. A lot of the things you learn are transferable anyway. It's not meant to be a good time to be going into work on HIV (and that area) according to all of my tutors, but I find it interesting and the same skill set is used to study virtually all pathogens anyway. My other thoughts are completely different - avian ecology and seasonality, so when I say wide-ranging, I really mean it!

Let us know how you do tomorrow :)
 
Best of luck mate. I started my part-time PhD in Birkbeck, University of London, in October. Just tonight (technically last night), I finished the mandatory Research Methods course.

For me its computer science: genetic algorithms and cellular automata. I wandered into a meeting with faculty and senior research students before the final lecture. All the books and sites warn of the heavyweight duties, and impact on your life, but to hear these guys talking about the commitment and sacrifice required was a sobering moment.

I'm still looking forward to the experience though - I'm not sure it'll be as much of an advantage to me as to someone in the medical field, but well worthwhile I think. To be honest, even being selected at my age (38) feels like a privilege.

Ask me again in 2 years, I suppose ;)
 
meghatronic said:
Eh?

Elaborate.
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Well I don't mean the issue is going to be solved overnight, obviously. At the moment there aren't even any prophylaxis/therapy trials in the pipelines that tests with similar drugs haven't already shown to fail.

What I think their point was was that the area isn't going to be expanding in the same way as many other areas in pathology in the coming years - mainly plant based stuff. The crops grown in some areas are probably have to be going to be changed due to demands from growing populations and efficiency of food production. Still there are many diseases of the 5 main food crops that can virtually completely wipe out harvests in some areas. A job in plant pathology is far more secure than most in human diseases.
 
Best of Luck.
If you get it, then come up an visit us as all our PhD students have an annual joint meeting (it might be your turn to host next time)
You can compare BHF funding to Wellcome funding :)
 
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