Want to do Phd. Advice.

Post Reply New Topic

I have had five weeks off work due to injury ( Should have been eight but ESA never paid me before savings ran critically low so am working with some physical damage still). This gave me time to think. I have real difficulty now in motivating myself for going back to painting houses. Ok when I actually get on job, and I need the cash. Have 1 degree + CATS points = another degree.

When I was off I did some other stuff like build commercial website ( found WP as well ) and got talking to people in a University. They sounded quite enthusiastic but it might have been a brain picking trick. I worked out what was needed to make part of an NHS system function and presented my findings to a prof. He was all enthusiastic and talkative and dead interested .

It is a paid research post and he asked me to present the findings I verbally spoke about. Now guy has wriiten information , outline of workable solution and has not replied.

Was this a bad way to kind of apply for a Phd? What is proper way so not to get ripped off for ideas?

Also am p*ssed off walking around covered in paint an being treated like an idiot by random people in banks and shops. Would like a job, at my age where I can wear non-painty clothes
and people don't follow you around to see if you are shoplifting in supermarket.

i am a 3rd year phd student in London and i applied through the normal route, ie go to the univerisity website and search for 1-2 members of the faculty whose research interests are similar to those of yours. email them to see if they are looking for phd students to supervise. if so, download the application form, complete it and return it together with your research proposal (outlining a tentative title, a little literature review, proposed methodology and why you think your research would contribute to the field). most universities in the UK do not have a deadline for phd applications so you could do this any time when you're ready. some universities will initially enrol you as a MPhil student, and will upgrade you to full phd status after 12-24 months.

i was working as a management consultant for a number of years before packing it all in to do my phd. and i can truly say that it's the best decision that i ever made in my entire life. it's not something to be taken lightly though, it requires a lot of hard work, discipline, and peseverence. it's mostly working in solitude (not so much of a problem with Asperger). However, you get a great lifestyle (don't have to get up early in the morning and can stay up as late as i want to!!) and gives you much satisfaction.

I can go on and on and on about how great it is to do a phd and how you get about finding a place, but i won't. Don't want to bore you. if you want more info, let me know.

In my universum, people are very conspirative about their ideas and I did see a major rip-off a couple of times. People will likely hold on to their ideas until the work is done and paper is submitted. However, if your professor is smart enough or you can get him interested, you can state that this particular idea is just a start and you have more so he has inscentive to hire you.
good luck. regarding regular job and respect, here in us it is far away from that ideal and somewhat it limits ones employability because of high specialization. pay-wise life-wise, engineering MS is probably what I would recommend.

Go on ASgirl, how good is it? Just remember I am fitting a new toilet door in a petrol garage tomorrow - someone couldn't figure out how to use the handle on the last door and broke the door and the frame trying to get out. (I'm not suggesting this was an overwrought NT with zero analytical skills ,or anything like that, that wouldn't be a supported statement.)

Seriously, give me something good to dream about whilst I'm spaying the queue for the till with wood shavings and they are all grumbling and glaring about the noise the electric plane is making.
My two hour NT hell tomorrow. It's got me going already.

How hard is a Ph.D to get, compared to getting a Master's degree. I heard that Ph.D.s are relatively easy to get, compared to getting a Master's Degree

i did my Masters straight after my Bachelor Degree. Most Masters in the UK (MA, MSc) are 12 month taught courses (with lectures and exams) that usually has a "disseration" element. To apply for a PhD, all good univerisities will require you to have a Masters in a relevant subject. Some do however take into account of work experience. It normally takes 3-4, sometimes 5 years to complete a phd. Many PhDs are purely research based with no exams/classes to attend. Your final thesis (100,000 words) has to reflect original contribution. A VIVA (oral exam) with external examiners will follow your submission and they will decide whether to award you with the doctorate. They may fail you, give you more time to make certain changes or give you an MPhil (Masters degree in research) if they think that your work is not of PhD standard. Of course it depends on the acutal university that you attend. I go to the London School of Economics, and it's pretty tough going.

ASG- When you get seriously tired doing physical work, your brain starts playing tricks on you to amuse you. My brain invented the " Ralph Miller Band ". So if you ever run into any of the Millerbands tell them there is an Aspie out there who listens to their show regularly. They are every good for amateur musicians.


Do you get any teaching practice? Would love to do that. Coached son when he started flapping that he had learned zilch in an A level . it was a week before exam. Was great teaching him+ his mates came round for a few sessions as well. Fckwits got content of first exam mixed up with second of course, but that's another story. Did not bother to double check with AQUA and because one thought they understood correctly what they had actually misinterpreted all assumed likewise.( I have hybrids not fullon Aspies, rest were NT male teenagers hence do not systematically check anything, very messy as well) they got D's for first and A's for last. will not make checking mistake again.

Last edited by memesplice on 25 Mar 2010, 4:59 pm, edited 1 time in total.

no i dont do any teaching. well, i do if you count teaching my cats how to use the litter tray and scratching post. i am quite lazy.

Four or so years of doing just exactly what is interesting, where eccentricity is the norm!

I did a PhD as a paid research assistant working on a health research project. The university was extremely tolerant and full of interesting, talkative people. Sharing ideas and discussing research interests was the norm in the university - but it certainly is not the norm in all universities. There was a contractual obligation to 6 hours per week of departmental duties - that might be lab supervision, marking, tutorials or lecturing. Again, the university handled this well and mentored most people through their teaching practice. Perhaps I was lucky that my degree, early teaching and PhD were all in tolerant, diverse environments.

I worked most recently in a university (research and teaching) where most people were secretive, back-stabbing animals, where research assistants were forced into 15 hours or more per week of lecturing and administration without any support.

The tolerant universities happen to be high in the research rankings and the Times Higher Education Supplement (THES) tables http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/W ... s2009.html while the backstabbing bastards scored well in the Sunday Times popularity contest http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_a ... ity_guide/

Probably help if I fill a form out with PhD rather than Phd. Used to do this with BA never remember if it should have been that that or Ba. Not joking can remember loads of serious stuff/ cross reference loads of different info simultaneously , but often can't remember simple every day things. Shoelaces keep coming undone as well.

I passed my viva recently. I applied via the usual route, but was in touch first with my supervisor and he'd already said he'd take me when I applied. I take it your field is computer science (not my field)?
I must admit my PhD experience was not a positive one - it was a frustrating experience, as when there were problems I was treated as an independent researcher, but when it came to deciding the direction of my research and so on, I was like an underpaid technician, and I was not the only student that felt this way, that I was getting the worst of both worlds. On the social side, though it seems to vary massively from field to field, most of the other students in the department were profoundly anti-intellectual, whose idea of an intellectual discussion is 'I think old people should be killed,' and some of whom were ashamed of reading a book, as if of a bizarre vice, probably for fear of being labelled a nerd (though from what I've seen it is much better in computer science). So my advice, for what it's worth, is:

-First of all, ask yourself exactly what you want to get out of this PhD. If it's a job, is a PhD the best route? Note that there is an opportunity cost, in that time you could have done a Master's and have a couple of years' work experience after the Master's, for example, or you could have built up your CV with volunteer work, temp jobs, etc. If you want to go into research, then it is essentially the only route, however.
-The most important thing for a PhD is the research group - not the university or even the department. I suggest looking carefully at the recent research of any group you're considering, and contacting someone with recent experience of being there (but no longer there) for an insider's opinion.

I am hoping to go for a PhD after graduation myself. I am told it is a bad idea to go to the same school where you did your undergraduate work; but the problem is I will need support for autism that extends somewhat beyond the traditional extended-time testing environment. I can do the work; I know that because I've done a summer internship working with graduate students, and it looks tough but interesting. I know I can get accepted, because my grades are very good and I can think of about three profs who would write very good letters of recommendation. But I need to know: Just how bad is it to stay at the same school?

I am doing my phd at the same uni as my Masters. My BSc was from another uni though. I don't think it matters whether you stay on or move to another institution. what's important is whether you get on with your supervisor and how well he knows your subject and whether he can give you the necessary support that you need.

I'd like to think most universities here in the uk to be quite accomodating towards students with disabilities. mine one has a disability and well-being office which help me negotiate better help and support with my department.

Pb

Computer science not my field .Weakest area in total skills field needed. Can do some to level that works.

Social psychology + literature + art .( paid up for by good galleries)

They need a multimedia person to process/map information + figure out way of representing it in useful comprehensible form. Had not occurred to them to do it in this way. One of those obvious things you point out.

Figured types representation to need of user group . Laid out model, suggested types of software needed, how to build interactive social cartographical net adapted from existing ,( no need to spend x million on software) how to integrate other networks, identify roles of agencies involved etc.

Now have shown them how to do it, don't think they need me. Will not make mistake again- seemed like an OK bunch though.

ASG do we have to do this disability thing with them, can't we just pass for oddball NT PhD students and put shower curtains around desk for when going into meltdown or something and claim it is a classic technique for energy boosting used in Outer Mongolian diplomatic service?

no, of course we don't. it's entirely up to us who we tell. you mentioned that you need extra time etc, hence my suggesting asking for help from the disability office of the univsersity. not sure what you want to do your phd in, but most phd courses are thesis based so you can just work from home. there's usually no compulsory classes either. but there's often some optional methodology courses that could be useful. i only ever go into uni to see my supervisor. everything (journals and stuff) are online now, so i don't even need to go to the library that much.