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AAARGHRGH!!!!!1
Feb 5, 2008

I would like to take time out from desperately trying to find a PhD to say that it's SERIOUSLY f---ing impossible to find one in Ireland.

OK, maybe that's not quite true. I mean, people get PhDs roughly every year, so it must be basically *possible*, right?

Still, every single PhD course in the country quite reasonably requires I have a 2:1 or better before I can sign up. I'll have my results in early June; so far so good.

Where it gets insane is the fact that IRCSET, the organisation that awards grants to PhD students, requires applications to be in by February 20th. This means I have to basically be accepted onto a course several months before I know if I'm eligible. Well, I technically *could* apply after the start date, if I don't mind living on the street and eating out of garbage bins.

Whose idea was this?!?!?!?!

Also, would it kill the average proffessor to reply to an email? Seriously, even if it's just to say "Sorry, there aren't any PhD positions available at the moment". How long would that take? C'mon, don't leave me in suspense! Yes, yes, I know I'm supposed to make contact with them in person, but I generally can't spend €20 or so on a bus to go to where they work and have a chat if I don't even know if there's anything to apply for.

Hell, even my own college is enarly as bad. Here, I'm in a position whereby I *can* ask a proffessor face-to-face, and I have done so, only to be told that they've applied for funding for PhD positions, but they won't know whether they've gotten it until April. Yeah, that's real helpful to those of us who need to have our IRCSET applications in in two weeks.

Gah

(1 reply, Latest reply: Feb 5, 2008)

Free Rice
Nov 18, 2007

http://www.freerice.com

It's a site that tests your voacbulary. For every word you get right, 10 grains of rice are donated to a 3rd world country. I've just given 300. Pretty cool.

(No replies)

I'm in a webcomic
Oct 25, 2007

http://www.askdreldritch.com/comic323.html

That's me in the background of the top left panel.

Yes, I admit it, it's true, I am the Antichrist.

(No replies)

I figured out PubMed
Sep 24, 2007

Yep. Yesterday I figured out how to use PubMed. Suddenly it's incredibly useful, and I finally understand why all my profs say to use it.

Go me!

(No replies)

I'm off to Cork!
Jun 8, 2007

For some reason, I totally forgot to post this big mad news item.

See, there's this thing some universities do called UREKA. It entails working in a lab, doing experiments, for the summer. That's right folks - I'll be working as a mad scientist this summer (or Igor, at least).

I'm making €300 per week, which is minimum wage, but hey, it's money, and that's enough.

As an added bonus, I've been hired by UCC instead of my alma mater, NUIG, which means I can finally leave the bosom of my family and live on my own for a bit. (Of course, it >would< have been sweet to get the position in Athens, Geaorgia*, but you can't have everything).

I am also tremendously pleased that I got this entirely on my own merits without having to rely on family connections, an idea which has been causing a bit of tension in the household recently.

The only downside is that I am now saddled with a mobiel phone. However, it does have the rather nice ability to block incoming calls, so maybe it won't be too bad.

Anyway, go me!

* When I say Georgia, I mean the United State of America, not the former Soviet republic. And when I say Athens, I mean the place in that Georgia, not the capital of Greece.

(5 replies, Latest reply: Sep 1, 2007)