Top Tools For Procrastination

Via Flickr by gingerpig2000

This week's post is late, for which I proffer you all a thousand apologies. Thesis panic has hit full force and with it my workload seems to have doubled. Combine this with the pressure of job applications and interviews and you have my current disorganised, frantic state.
However out of this morass of confusion and sleep deprivation was born this week's topic- the best ways to procrastinate from work.
Escapism is seductive and whilst procrastination is clearly bad in great quantities, everybody needs a break now and then.
The ideal procrastination tool has to be short or in small units so you are not distracted for too long and ideally it should make you feel like you are still accomplishing something to ward off the guilt of not working.

There are a variety of media represented here so there should be something for everybody currently engaged in a thankless task they'd rather not be doing.

1.) Webcomics
I am a huge aficionado of webcomics and have been for some time. There are years of archives to get caught up on but once you're on track they provide a short daily respite as you follow the progressing story.
Here are three of my favourites that I strongly reccommend to you all:

http://www.sheldoncomics.com/ Sheldon is a ten year old genius who lives with hist grandfather, his pug Oso, Arthur the talking duck he created, and Arthur's adopted son Flaco the lizard. Whats not to like? Its funny, its heartwarming (if a little Nerdcore upon occasion) and its the perfect antidote to life's worries.

http://www.girlswithslingshots.com/ This is definitely a comic for the job-seekers and twenty-somethings. Hazel, Jamie and friends present the life worries and problems we all share against a charmingly drawn backdrop of Canada and coffee shops. Oh and there's a talking Scottish cactus called McPedro.

www.pvponline.com A classic, almost one might say a quintessential, webcomic; PVP (Player vs Player) is one of the oldest and most successful webcomics around. Initially a gaming comic PVP blossomed into a clever, tongue in cheek commentary on human relationships and workplace interactions.

2.) The Complete Guide to Everything (Podcast) www.tcgte.com
The Complete Guide To Everything is a weekly podcast produced by New Yorkers Tom Reynolds and Tim Daniels with the initial, ambitious aim to produce an audio rival to wikipedia by picking a topic each week and providing a 'complete guide' to it.
Since its first few episodes TCGTE has grown in scope, audience and audio fidelity to become a regular in the itunes top downloaded podcasts both in the US and in the UK, prompting the first of what we hope will be many live shows held in London and New York this year.
Not only are they hilarious- do not make the mistake of listening to them in the library- they are also surprisingly informative upon occasion: their beatles episode provided me with all my knowledge on the subject and their episode about North Korea was similarly interesting.
They are even more entertaining however when they don't know what they're talking about- below is one of my favourite quotes from the Superbowl episode:

Tim: Since this is our official superbowl episode...I will give you $100 Tom, right now, if you can name for me the two teams playing in the superbowl next week

3.) Sporle www.sporcle.com
You may or may not be aware of this valuable time wasting resource. If you are, you'll understand what I mean, if you're not then allow me to explain.
Sporcle is a website that collates and produces timed quizzes on any topic under the sun- name the original 150 pokemon, name all the countries in the world, name all the elements in the periodic table...
Its fun- whether playing on your own or in a group with a designated 'typist'- and it is extremely challenging on occasion (how many African countries can YOU name?). Most importantly it makes you feel like you're doing something useful- your brain is still engaged. Definitely a site to bookmark.

4.) Twitter www.twitter.com
I am a (relatively) new convert to twitter and I have to say it is ideal for time wasting. Endless updates for you to read and respond to, posting your own messages, following trending topics...
Again this is something that can convince you (assuming you follow the right people) that you're doing something useful- I get most of my news about the outside world from twitter these days.
If you're already on twitter these are three new people for you to follow and if you're a newbie they're a great place to start.

@NickMB- Although occasionally guilty of quantity over quality, Nick's tweets are endlessly diverting and extremely numerous covering a good range of issues humerous, cultural and topical. One to follow if only to find out what the hashtag #tfts stands for...


@universityboy- writer of the University blog http://theuniversityblog.co.uk/ his tweets are extremely relevant and often link to interesting articles about the future of higher education in Britain. Interesting and topical, if occasionally disquieting, he is an excellent person to follow for news and politics updates relevant to our generation.

@LucyMangan the guardian columnist par excellance she should be followed simply because she's amazing and always links to excellent things (including her own work). Also check her archives out at the guardian website for a procrastination bonus!

There you have it folks- my favourite ways to break from work (when I'm not watching South Park that is). Feel free to share your own favourites in the comments below.

Now if you'll excuse me I have some work to do...

Fun with Funding: AHRC

If you are an arts or humanities student and planning on applying for PhDs and funding in the UK, then the AHRC is one of your first ports of call. The AHRC (Arts and Humanities Research Council) are a government body that provide support for advancing research in the Arts and Humanities. The main method of application is through block grant schemes, where participating universities and their departments are given a certain number of awards to cover postgraduate research fees, maintenance, or both for any arts/humanities subject. Other routes involve applying to a programme that has already secured AHRC funding, and these are usually advertised as funded PhD programmes. Block grants are the most common route for funding in the Arts and Humanities.

To apply to the block grant, you apply through your prospective department, usually at the same time as or after you apply for a PhD place at the university. A word of warning: getting offer of a place is not a guarantee you will get funding! The two processes are completely separate. The main section of the application form is a research proposal, no longer than 500 words, on your prospective research. The advantage of applying to this scheme is that you have the possibility of researching your specific interests-- if they like your idea, the council will fund you. But it's not this easy.

Departments usually have a very high number of applications, usually double the places they have on offer, often more. Therefore your proposal must really stand out in order to get noticed. Get your current supervisor to read your draft and work on it until it as brilliant as possible. The proposal is like a sales pitch, you have to make your idea as attractive as possible, so the department you are applying to will want to fund that area of research. It is, as with university applications more generally, helpful to have your interests fit nicely with those of the department you are applying to.

One thing must be stressed before I continue: competition is fierce. Due to the high number of people continuing in postgraduate research, there are many outstanding people fighting for a small number of places. Departments can get 2-6 fully funded positions, it depends what subject you do and which department you are applying to.

I'm sorry to say, your chances are considerably increased if you have a top-notch academic record. This means first class results throughout your undergraduate degree, or a distinction for your masters, preferably both. I know it's tough, but there are so many good people applying for the same position as you with these requirements that if you have even the highest of 2i's, you are at a disadvantage. Trust me, this is from personal experience! Don't let this put you off, however. Some people with 2i's do get funding, it's just less common.

The application process is long-winded, and deadlines for submission of proposals start from February. Once your form is in, you may then be invited for interview. Departments rank candidate applications in order of suitability, and then interview the top ten applications, say. After interviews they then rank these candidates again, and suggest the people who are most suitable for an award to the AHRC. This process takes months, and you may fall at any hurdle. It's not a failure if you don't get even to the interview stage. You're application was probably very good, but as I said, competition is intense.

This post is based on my personal experience of the block grant scheme. I hope it helps those of you who are thinking about AHRC funding, so you know what to expect. Any comments or other experiences are certainly welcome!

Until next time,
Kate

Fun With Funding: The Fulbright Award

Fulbright HQ Battersea

If you’re from the UK and have ever expressed an interest in studying in the US or vice versa, chances are you will have come across the Fulbright Commission.

The organisation funds students who wish to cross the Atlantic for academic purposes of all kinds; it is extremely prestigious and extremely competitive.

I am writing this on the train home from London, having handed in my application for this award in person at Battersea power station. This- clearly- was not my original plan, however I discovered on Friday that I needed to send them a hard copy, missed the post on Saturday, discovered that no courier service was working on bank holiday Monday and finally took it myself on the day it was due.

This experience was discouraging to say the least, but it has inspired me to share what I know of the application process with all of you, so that should you ever decide to apply, you can learn from my mistakes and hopefully be more successful.

First off, if you are applying for Fulbright, or thinking of doing so, and you haven’t graduated with a 1^st class degree, set up a charity in Africa to help starving orphans, fronted a Broadway musical, started your own company researching sustainable energy or been junior ambassador to China, prepare to be made to feel extremely inadequate by the recent award winners section of the website.

If you do soldier on through to the application form itself, you will be faced with a dizzying array of questions, from the simple (name, address etc.) to the not so simple (which universities do you want to apply to  and why) to the downright confusing (how have you achieved your current objectives- disregarding the impossibility of having achieved something you are still currently aiming for of course.).

The most important elements are the personal statement, your research objectives and your GRE scores. That last requires a post in and of itself so I won’t address it here but for the others you need to provide a clear and detailed discussion of your research objectives and your reasons for wanting to pursue them (despite that fact that many faculties in the US prefer students not to have a fixed doctoral project) and a ‘narrative statement’ describing your career up until this point, highlighting significant factors that have influenced your educational or professional development.

When you have cobbled together something vaguely plausible for these two sections, you come to the part where you upload your exam transcripts.

And then, if you’re me, you get stuck on this step for a week and a half.

It’s not that I’m blaming the website, but faffing about with such a trivial thing when they wanted a hard copy anyway simply detracted from the amount of time I spent on the important, potentially approval-deciding aspects of my application.

Assuming you make it through the application process and successfully submit your application- both virtually and in paper format (although hopefully without having to provide your own courier service) and they don’t reject you out of hand, you then have to prepare for the interview.

A session with my handy neighbourhood careers advisor and a perusal of feedback received from the students who went through the process recently , threw out the following topics for interview questions:

How do you see yourself as equipped to fulfil and ambassadorial role

Give and example of a situation where you have demonstrated leadership

How do you give back to the community?

What is your commitment to the Fulbright program and its objectives?

How would you resolve a political problem currently affecting the US?

(These are a sampling of my favourites and best illustrate the feeling of hopelessness with which I came away from the Careers office.)

This article is more of a what not to do when applying to Fulbright than anything else, but I hope I have provided at least some useful information to those of you considering applying. If you have any further questions about any of this, feel free to ask them in the comments and if you have been successful in your application, I would love to hear all about your scheme for saving orphans and using them as a form of renewable energy to power your think tank for solving the middle east problem.

Phds: The Ugly Truth

Lizzie is not only Kate’s twin sister she is also a fourth year biochemist with a funded PhD place in London all lined up for next year. She is also a lovely person and nowhere near as stern as the following piece might imply!

The “Art” of getting a PhD place:

1)      For a guarantee of getting a fully funded PhD in an arts/artsci subject, you will need a first class in your final year of undergrad. This is not to put you off, but to warn you of the direction in which the selection process is geared.

2)      For a guarantee of getting a fully funded PhD in a science discipline, you will need a first class or 2:1. This differs from arts subjects for two reasons: firstly, there are far more of these PhDs on offer, and secondly, because undergrad grading in science is a much worse indicator of a candidate’s potential as a PhD student.

3)      If you are looking for a funded PhD place, there are two types on offer, guarantee funded and competitively funded. The latter is normally what is on offer for PhD programme schemes. These are both looking for different qualities in a candidate. As a general rule, quieter people have more chance of succeeding in guarantee funded positions, as competitive PhD programmes tend to select the bolder, more competitive candidates.

4)      In arts subjects, this differs slightly inasmuch that the candidate must develop a research proposal and “sell” it to various funding bodies, in the hope of being offered an award. Again, this situation is more likely to favour the bolder, more competitive candidates.

5)      Unlike in guaranteed funding PhD positions, competitively funded PhD programmes do not set the PhD topic. Thus, they are assessing both the candidate and the candidate’s choice in topic. Therefore, the candidate is unwittingly entering into the dog-eat-dog world of academic funding. This is a very harsh world where only the loudest spoken or most fashionable ideas survive.

6)      Generally, significant breakthroughs in academia come via the mavericks. However, PhD funding bodies are not looking for these unusual ideas when awarding money. They are most likely to sponsor funding in research areas that are fashionable or are of benefit to the general public. Like it or lump it, this is how funding is allocated at the moment. As money is tight, the government wants to increasingly know that its invested money is put to the best possible use according to governmental criteria. If you have a fantastic new idea which goes against the grain, now is probably not the best time to air it, unless you have immense academic support behind you. Keep it a well-guarded secret and wait until you have more money, confidence and publications behind you.

7)      It is useful to know that, at the postgraduate level, the playing field is level once again. This seems grossly unfair for those candidates who attended universities that are higher in the league tables, as the entrance criterion for most funded postgraduate study in arts subjects is a first class degree, irrespective of the university attended. Clearly the same course is not the same difficulty at every university, but when “equal opportunities” are now being thrust upon us at every level, this occurrence is a fact of life.

8)      Don’t give up. Life would be so easy if we were given the PhD place of our dreams on the first application. Rejection is hard to deal with, but we should get used to it now, as worse is to come. The job market is harder, as we will be dealing with a much larger, more varied pool of candidates. Nothing will ever be as easy or as morale boosting as UCAS selection, where multiple universities made offers to a single candidate and you were left feeling that you could conquer the world. The process of applying for a PhD or job is nothing like this: you will be lucky if you are made one offer at all. Therefore, to increase the probability of finding a PhD position, apply for many, many posts. It’s not going to hurt, and it will be good experience- chances are that you will improve your skills as you attend more interviews. Also, these positions are a compromise- not everyone is going to get to do their exact topic of choice. Ponder on this: would you prefer the qualification or the exact topic? You can still focus on a topic you like without going for the exact area you had dreamt about. Don’t be afraid to apply for something you wouldn’t have looked at under different circumstances- it may be a gateway for your future without you realising.

9)      Consider your career aspirations- does the topic of your prospective PhD lend itself to what you aspire to next? Or is it a dead end, which narrows the set of options rather than opening doors for you? Do you want to remain in academia, or would you prefer a more transferable set of skill and subject area?

Despite the realities of the situation, you shouldn’t feel you have to give up just because the odds aren’t the best. After all, the odds of getting a job aren’t much better so really now is the best time to follow your dreams. If you want something badly enough there’s always a way to get there even if you have to work until you can afford to fun yourself at least partially and study where you can live at home.

So think hard about what you want from life sure, but don’t be deterred just because the going will be tough!

Let us know what you’re thinking about PhDs and feel free to ask if you think we can help!

Lizzie