[evantej]

(Original post by k007)
Hi,
Does anyone know if you are able to accept one more than MSc offer? That is, one course at several universities, or do they know that you have accepted elsewhere?
Thanks!

You are allowed to accept as many offers as you want; in fact, it is necessary in order to be considered for funding.

[francharles]

A bit unrelated but if you're not having any luck with the big grant awarding bodies, there are lots of smaller charities who consider individual applications, often depending on personal circumstances.

http://www.turn2us.org.uk/

This is quite a good website for looking for funds.

[Aliyah_001]

Hi guys, I'm hoping to get some funding to do my MA in Education Psychology and hopefully PHD but finding it near impossible. I wanted to apply for the ESRC studentship but the university i'm at ( sheffield) so not know if the studenship will be happening this year yet. I know there is a faculty scholarship happening, in which 2 candidates are chosen ( so not getting my hopes up). Both the ESRC 1+3 and PGR faculty scholarships require PHD proposal and have a willing supervisor. I have found a psychology professor who is willing to supervise me but have no idea how a PHD proposal should be structured or what needs to be included in a scholarship to be a success. I have a first class degree and have had my undergraduate research publish in an international journal... do you think that would help my application in any way? Any help and advice would be greatly appreciated!

[Silvana]

Hi Everyone,

I've been reading around recently and it's been great i found a discussion place with such a friendly atmosphere. And so I've decided to seek some advice.

Basically, I just graduated a Bsc in Psychology and I am very passionate about continuing my studies further i.e. at a postgraduate level. Unfortunately, willingness alone (well with some reasonable skills) doesn't solve all the problems around it.

It could be said my problem 1 is funding. I can not afford paying for a Msc and/or Phd. I've read much about students regretting for having taken Career Development Loans, so definitely won't go this way. I've read the alternative guide to postgrad funding, so I guess my lastest option would be seeking for small amounts of finance from multiple charity sources. But before doing that, I want to try to apply for research council funding. I am willing to go onto a 1+3 program. Does anyone have any experience of applying to ESRC for 1+3? I'd appreciate any advice for enhancing my chances.

Problem 2 is writing applications and personal statement in particular (which in fact has led me to discovering this forum). It's not that i am looking for easy ways of doing it, I just need to get an idea of whats expected from an application and especially in the case when applying for 1+3. I found very limited information on the web. For example, i still havent figured out whether I need to produce a detailed research proposal for a Phd or not when the application is for Msc+Phd. And I suppose I need to figure out how to write an application that would get the attention.

And here comes problem 3- the selling myself part. I don't see myself as outstanding, brilliant genius. Yet, all i want is to study, and have a long lasting career in research, as this is the sort of thing that has always inspired me the most. Foolishly, i did not plan my steps beforehand (i.e. whilst undergrad) because there were too many things going on in my life at that time and i had hard times coping with life. So, I haven't had the chance to gain some relevant experience (i've been working all the time to support myself but that wouldn't help as its no relevant experience). So, I guess that drops my chances a lot. I couldn't get a 1:1 (only 3% set me apart!) and was left with an upper second, which is still not that bad. I graduated UEL and although it's a great uni, I think it's not that catchy (in terms of academic reputation in comparison with grand unis like UCL, KCL, IoP etc). So, here's one more step aback. Oh yeah, and I have no journal publications.....

Tough,ah? Yep, i know but i am determined. I come from a poor background and I have to take care of myself and build my own bright future. So, as I said if you think you could help, please drop a line. Time and consideration much appreciated.

[Princetongirl]

Dear all,

I would really like some information about scholarships. A little background - just got an offer from City University London, for MA International Journalism, and I really want to get a scholarship, grant or bursary. So any websites, charities, commissions that I can check out please let me know!! Thank you so much!

[tigermoth99]

Are you from the UK or an international student?

If you're from the UK, try Scholarship Search

If you're an international student, look at the British Council's website

[IlexAquifolium]

(Original post by Silvana)
Hi Everyone,

I've been reading around recently and it's been great i found a discussion place with such a friendly atmosphere. And so I've decided to seek some advice.

Basically, I just graduated a Bsc in Psychology and I am very passionate about continuing my studies further i.e. at a postgraduate level. Unfortunately, willingness alone (well with some reasonable skills) doesn't solve all the problems around it.

It could be said my problem 1 is funding. I can not afford paying for a Msc and/or Phd. I've read much about students regretting for having taken Career Development Loans, so definitely won't go this way. I've read the alternative guide to postgrad funding, so I guess my lastest option would be seeking for small amounts of finance from multiple charity sources. But before doing that, I want to try to apply for research council funding. I am willing to go onto a 1+3 program. Does anyone have any experience of applying to ESRC for 1+3? I'd appreciate any advice for enhancing my chances.

What kind of thing do you need? it's been a few years, but I could give it a bash...

Problem 2 is writing applications and personal statement in particular (which in fact has led me to discovering this forum). It's not that i am looking for easy ways of doing it, I just need to get an idea of whats expected from an application and especially in the case when applying for 1+3. I found very limited information on the web. For example, i still havent figured out whether I need to produce a detailed research proposal for a Phd or not when the application is for Msc+Phd. And I suppose I need to figure out how to write an application that would get the attention.

You need to ask the departments concerned really. They will all have individual requirements. I'd suggest when writing one that you need to take your time and stick it under the nose of any academics who will read it, since there's no real template other than obvious stuff you need to include (any RQs, originality/justification, brief literature bit, any methodology, etc).

And here comes problem 3- the selling myself part. I don't see myself as outstanding, brilliant genius. Yet, all i want is to study, and have a long lasting career in research, as this is the sort of thing that has always inspired me the most. Foolishly, i did not plan my steps beforehand (i.e. whilst undergrad) because there were too many things going on in my life at that time and i had hard times coping with life. So, I haven't had the chance to gain some relevant experience (i've been working all the time to support myself but that wouldn't help as its no relevant experience). So, I guess that drops my chances a lot. I couldn't get a 1:1 (only 3% set me apart!) and was left with an upper second, which is still not that bad. I graduated UEL and although it's a great uni, I think it's not that catchy (in terms of academic reputation in comparison with grand unis like UCL, KCL, IoP etc). So, here's one more step aback. Oh yeah, and I have no journal publications.....

Well barely anyone has any journal publications as an undergrad. As for the rest - it doesn't sound exceptional on paper but you never know how the competition will stack up. You don't sound utterly uncompetitive either, so you've nothing to lose by giving it a go and emphasising your positive qualities.

[CanuckMan]

well, LSE gave me 5000 through their graduate support scheme.... which is a great start... does anyone have any experience with LSE funding options for overseas classified students, yet with EU citizenship?

Gotta find a way to make up that remaining 20,000 :/

[fragant]

Is it common to apply for funding when you've already started your PhD (in science)? Do the chances for getting it raise with time?

[IlexAquifolium]

(Original post by fragant)
Is it common to apply for funding when you've already started your PhD (in science)? Do the chances for getting it raise with time?

I've seen it happen in the arts and humanities/social sciences (although I wouldn't say that the chances improve with time, necessarily - some projects will never be fundable, some change and get better, and this depends more on the person than some notion of a consistent trend). I've no idea of the likelihood in science. My gut would be that it's probably lower purely because I was under the impression that it was usually projects that (pre-) attracted the funding, which was then given to individuals.

[ice_cube]

Sorry if this has already been asked elsewhere... Ive gone back a few pages but not found anything Rumour via my university is that the ESRC is no longer accepting individual applications for PhD funding, but instead giving it all to universities as block grants. Is this true?

[Couldxbe]

(Original post by ice_cube)
Sorry if this has already been asked elsewhere... Ive gone back a few pages but not found anything Rumour via my university is that the ESRC is no longer accepting individual applications for PhD funding, but instead giving it all to universities as block grants. Is this true?

I have heard something similar at UCL.

[IlexAquifolium]

(Original post by ice_cube)
Sorry if this has already been asked elsewhere... Ive gone back a few pages but not found anything Rumour via my university is that the ESRC is no longer accepting individual applications for PhD funding, but instead giving it all to universities as block grants. Is this true?

As in getting rid of the open competition altogether? 80% of their funding was already block grants, so I wouldn't be surprised if they got rid of the 20%.

Edit - looks like it:

HEIs will only be able to obtain ESRC studentships through the network and we will discontinue separate competitions for studentships. We will also work closely with HEIs to allocate a proportion of studentships to strategic priority areas to ensure we have sufficient capacity.

http://www.esrc.ac.uk/_images/ESRC%2...tcm8-13455.pdf

The open competition page has also been pulled from their website. Sadly this is only the tip of the iceberg - the postdoc scheme's gone, too. It's future leaders or something now, with much less money.

Also cubey if you're writing a proposal make sure you fib and say you're using quants - 'Double the number of studentships using quantitative methods and concentrate these in networks
with leading QM training provision'

[SadKen]

Hello, I'm applying for a scholarship from Uni of Liverpool and it says on the Post Gad form

"Do you expect to receive a maintainance grant from the Student Loans Company?"

Has anyone else heard of this cause I can't find squat. As far as I'm aware the SLC provides absolutley no funding for Post Grad at all, but if it dosent, why would it say that on a post grad scholarship application form???

[evantej]

(Original post by SadKen)
Hello, I'm applying for a scholarship from Uni of Liverpool and it says on the Post Gad form

"Do you expect to receive a maintainance grant from the Student Loans Company?"

Has anyone else heard of this cause I can't find squat. As far as I'm aware the SLC provides absolutley no funding for Post Grad at all, but if it dosent, why would it say that on a post grad scholarship application form???

It is probably just an error, but some postgraduate courses do receive government funding (teaching, nursing, social work etc.).

[Beckieee]

Hey everyone,
I'm submitting my PG application tomorrow and have just thought about funding! I've looked into it a little bit and need an academic career loan? Any idea how i go about this? Scared haha!

[tigermoth99]

(Original post by Beckieee)
Hey everyone,
I'm submitting my PG application tomorrow and have just thought about funding! I've looked into it a little bit and need an academic career loan? Any idea how i go about this? Scared haha!

I think you meant a Professional and Career Development Loan. Click here for more info and there are a few threads on it at TSR

[ComeAlongPond]

I'm filling in my financial guarantee form. The tuition fee, college fee and some of the rent will be covered by a loan (as long as they give me one!) and living expenses for food etc will be from my parents. At the moment when I'm at uni they give me a lump sum every month. Is it ok to put on the form that they earn a certain amount per year/each month and will give me a proportion of that each month, or do they have to come up with a lump sum immediately for the form? This is only for living expenses, tuition fees and college fees will be available upfront. It's just the uni predict 12,000 for living expenses, and while they could give me that out of their wages over the year, they don't have it upfront.

(Sorry if this has been asked before, I haven't read the whole 24 pages of the thread.)

[Beckieee]

(Original post by tigermoth99)
I think you meant a Professional and Career Development Loan. Click here for more info and there are a few threads on it at TSR

Thanks

[Ezekiel]

I’m working part time in Sainsbury’s and by the time my course is due to start I should have around £5000. I’d rather take out a CDL loan and use some of that money to pay for my fees which are £4300. I get my wages paid into my Barclays bank account; I just wondered whether it would increase my chances of getting the loan if I wasn’t seen to have £5000 cash in the bank account?