advice about possible PHD

[thirtysomething]

I am coming to the end of a very long, vocational MA course and have realised I will miss the academic component.

I'm vaguely wondering about doing a PhD at my local Uni (Russell Group, v. good in my field).

I'm just wondering what the pros and cons are, what sort of an amount I'd be looking at for fees (presumably you can't get them funded these days). Also, if I want to do it in 3 years does anyone know how many hours a week I would need to spend on it?

I'd be hoping to work 2 days a week simultaneously, and have 2 DC (both school-age).

Many thanks in advance for any replies!

Okay....so having spent a couple of hours trawling the net armed with all the fab advice on here, I have identified the Uni where I want to study, exactly how much it's going to cost (without funding) and now have an idea of who may be able to supervise and what kind of proposal I need to formulate. Fab!

All I need to do now is try and locate other funding (seems v. sparse in my area of interest!) and contact the Uni to discuss my plans.....

Thanks so much for helping me to shape my ideas and work out what I needed to think about!

Good luck!!

Thanks - will need it!

Hi thirtysomething! Yes Human Factors is fab! Haha :) My professor is one of the best in our field and though he is a bully he is also very good at finding funding so that might also be another route, getting in touch with someone great in your field who often have pots of money lying around. School funding is often very competitive though not impossible to get. My full time research assistant contract runs out end of September and if my professor doesn't have any further work for me to do I've been promised his help in getting the school to fund the rest of my money. I had a meeting with department members and they seemed quite happy to consider funding a nearly done PhD so perhaps its easier having the school digging in their pockets when you've got started, if your circumstances change - as they might do!

What sort of topics are you looking into researching? Get exited about it and get in touch with universities and professors. Most are happy enough to have a personal chat face to face too if you can take a trip to visit. Believe it or not good PhD students are always welcome by academics! Where are you now in your thinking?

Snuppeline thanks for all your encouragement - I guess my thinking was it was all or nothing with funding - I hadn't realise you could get funding for part of it!

I am interested in researching post-traumatic growth (following a very specific type of trauma). It has been under-researched in the population I'd be targeting. I have identified a very suitable supervisor I now just need to pluck up the courage to start the application process!