How are all you student-types?

Just checking in--it's so quiet here in the student lounge!  Everyone must be studying hard or writing dissertations or . . . ?

Is anyone else in the middle of the application process for grad school in 2013?  Anyone just starting the sorting-out-schools process?  Still looking for funding?  Still trying to convince parents or partners?

I've been spending my time researching programs that meet my needs.  The hard thing is finding a school where I can study my particular specific interest AND that has some international student funding.  For a PhD program, you need to make sure someone on faculty can supervise your dissertation and not every school has faculty members who work in my specialty.  And then I find a school that has a wonderful program in my exact field--and NO funding whatsoever. 

But I've found just a few who have both the particular thing I'd like to study and the funding!  I sure hope I get into one.

You?

There aren't as many students on UKY as there once were, that's probably why it seems a bit quiet. 

I have been thinking about going for my PhD for a while now, and looked into it seriously at the end of last year, but finally decided to do a professional qualification this year and revisit the PhD in a year or two.  Like you, finding a programme that fit me with professors who wanted to work with me and sufficient funding was a huge headache.  I'm not an international student (4 years in the UK, dual citizenship) but believe me, funding is an issue even for UK residents.  The student loan options for postgrads are terrifying--huge interest rates, interest accrues from day 1 and payments are due even whilst you're still in school.  Without funding from AHRC, etc or from the universities themselves, it's really not an option for most people.

Good luck with your applications!  It must be tricky dealing with all this from the US.  What universities are you considering? 

Hey there!

It's funny you say that about the funding--I guess I've been seeing so many studentships and AHRC scholarships and whatnot that the funding opportunities for a UK student seem amazing (and the tuition not all that high at the home rate).  I feel like all US universities offer for a PhD are graduate student teaching opportunities, which can sometimes cancel out your fees if you're lucky.  I work (teaching) now, so attending school full-time would not only mean paying for classes, but the loss of my salary.  It may be small, but it helps around our house.  So my preference isn't attending grad school where I teach to pay for it and make no other $ for three years.

Therefore, I'm hoping for a miracle--to win a studentship that will offer fees plus some sort of maintenance stipend (whether in exchange for teaching or not), because that would mean that at least I wouldn't be going backward/downhill, if you know what I mean.

I guess it's a pretty long shot, but I'm trying.

As for which schools, I'm concentrating on Exeter and a few others. 

If you go to Exeter you won't be far from where I live--Dorset is the next county over .  It's a really nice part of the country. 

There are a lot of studentships available, but not everyone qualifies for them and they don't always cover all the costs, plus AHRC is offering less and less.  There was an article in the newspaper a few weeks ago about how student funding has decreased dramatically in the past few years, I'll see if I can dig it up. 

I'm in the same boat as you; going back to school would mean the loss of my income, so I would need full funding for tuition plus a stipend.  When I did my MA in the US, I had a great teaching assistantship.  Full tuition remittance plus a stipend in exchange for 20 hours a week.  If I could get something similar here I would be over the moon, but I have yet to see anything like that in my field (linguistics).  However other fields have more options.  I think there are a lot of research assistantships for sciences.  I still feel like my knowledge of all this is really incomplete, though.  It's hard to navigate a foreign system. 

I will begin looking for grad schools in the fall, as I graduate with my undergrad next spring.  I will definitely be looking at schools in the UK, as well as in the US.  It will depend on funding, of course.  I may end up doing my MA in the US, and then a doctorate abroad, if at all possible.

It's funny you say that about the funding--I guess I've been seeing so many studentships and AHRC scholarships and whatnot that the funding opportunities for a UK student seem amazing (and the tuition not all that high at the home rate).

Therefore, I'm hoping for a miracle--to win a studentship that will offer fees plus some sort of maintenance stipend (whether in exchange for teaching or not), because that would mean that at least I wouldn't be going backward/downhill, if you know what I mean.

Unfortunately, the problem is that studentships and research grants/funding are usually only available to UK/Home fees students... and to qualify for them you must have lived in the UK/EU for 3 full years before starting the course AND have no immigration restrictions (i.e. UK/EU citizenship or permanent residence in the UK).

Quite often, foreign PhD students in the UK end up having to fund their studies themselves using savings, private loans, or taking employment at the same time, or they find funding from scholarships or sponsorship elsewhere (possibly even from the US) - but I think scholarships are pretty hard to come by.

I did my masters degree at Bristol University and when I was looking into applying for a PhD project, I didn't even bother applying to my department in Bristol. They only had enough funding for 6 PhD studentships, which were only available to UK/EU students and they had over 100 applicants for them.

Two of my friends did manage to study for their PhDs at Bristol that year, but one got her funding from NASA - she actually got a US student visa, enrolled at Michigan Tech University and graduated from there (and she was paid in US dollars as well), but she studied in Bristol as her MTU supervisor was based in Bristol. The other friend got his funding from a research institution in Belgium, so was paid in Euros.

As for which schools, I'm concentrating on Exeter and a few others. 

Exeter is a good school and the city is really nice too. I studied for my undergraduate degree at Exeter .

In general what UK PhD candidates do is they apply for a certain PhD project that is being offered, and that individual project will usually have funding associated with it, as the professor will have proposed the specific project and will have been given money to pay a PhD student to work on it.

So, when I was looking for PhD projects to apply for, instead of looking at particular schools, I searched for specific research proposal fields/subjects/topics. I found one project at Oxford, one at Bristol and one at UEA. I didn't apply for Bristol because of the competition for places. I was going to apply for UEA, but the project wasn't going to start for 15 months and I wanted to start a PhD earlier than that, and I did apply for Oxford, but I got rejected. I also applied to a US school for a PhD and was accepted, fully-funded on a TA/RA studentship, even though I was an international student (I only stayed in the US for 8 months though because I wasn't happy there and I wasn't keen on the research or how PhDs worked in the US).

Yep, believe me--I've been looking into scholarships and studentships and quickly realized which ones (most) ONLY paid the Home/EU rate, even if open to International students, and which ones (very few) paid the entire fee, even at the International rate.  I did find a very small number of those.

Sadly, my field is not in the sciences, which seem to have a great many more studentship projects going on (and sponsorship possibilities).  But I'm still hoping for the best (and making a plan B, in case it doesn't go my way).

I am waiting to hear on a distance MSW from Canada for autumn 2013 - not likely I'll get a place, as there are more applicants than places. And even if I did get a place, I think I would defer if I could (not likely in the Canadian system), due to competing demands with Mr MLG not likely finishing his masters until autumn 2014.

But I am on my final ever OU course, finishing my second OU degree for professional development purposes. I look forward to no more exams.....    

Hello!!!!

I arrived here on Jan 1st to begin my time as a student.
I could go on and on about my story lol. I think the last thing I posted about the actual school was that I had gotten into both Loughborough University and University of Glasgow. I thought i had chosen to attend Glasgow but after weeks of dealing with their Administration who were not getting me papwerwork i needed I scraped that plan and decided to attend Loughborough.

THE BEST DECISION EVER!!

I love my school. I love the ppl here. I am doing my PHD in Sports Biomechanics so I will be here at least 3 years.  Honestly I can not sing the praises of this school enough.  The administration was awesome answering all my questions and making sure i had the right paper work .

Also  within the last two weeks I was lucky to be able to secure a position as a sub warden. Which helps a bunch because it is free accommodation.

I have been trying for over 2 years to move to the UK...First i tried to land jobs here...no go...and then when i decided to go back to school I decided to go in the UK.. I know I have only been here for about 2 months but so far I am truly happy


Oh and as far as funding i am using FASFA with direct plus loan and stafford loan. I am applying to various of grants that some organizations in my field offer...but right now... i will be tied to FASFA until I die... but for me it is worth it lol