PhD blog: 33
Graham Foster
- May 2009.
The story so far… Graham is well into his unfunded part-time PhD at Manchester Metropolitan University. His original aim was to investigate American literature post-9/11.
Compare and contrast
May is turning into quite the month. In a couple of days my brother is getting married. After that I have to complete all of my marking in a relatively short space of time. Then I have a submission deadline for a conference. And then… I have my interview with the English Research Institute at MMU to see if they are going to give me funding. Yes, I’ve been shortlisted (I should say I’ve been shortlisted before, so my hopes are firmly tethered to the ground with a sturdy rope). I’m hoping that old maxim about the fortunate third time is one of those universal truth sort of things. Anyway, I’m confident in my proposal, and I’m confident I can talk intelligently about the proposal in the forthcoming interview.
I have also just returned from a visit to Warwick University, where a member of the English Department was good enough to talk about my project with me in an informal meeting. I was invited down to Warwick on the strength of my work, and this particular person’s interest in my field of study, and it was useful to hear another point of view (although I failed to book a train ticket and spent the day in a state of distress at the cost the trip incurred). The University itself was very interesting. I studied my undergraduate degree at Bangor in Wales, a university that is laid out through out the town, with buildings dotted here and there. It’s the same with MMU. But Warwick is a campus university and I was overwhelmed by how busy it was - all the students, from all departments, are on campus, going to lectures in buildings that are next to each other - it was pure activity in a concentrated way that doesn’t really happen at a city university. This was made even more intense by the amount of building work going on - seemingly a new university is being built on the old university. I was excited by how vibrant it was, and to have everything in one place was interesting - libraries, swimming pools, bars, shops; everything was in the same area (that said, the buildings I need to go to at MMU are hardly spread over a vast expanse of the city, but it certainly felt different).
I returned from Warwick with a mixed state of mind. While the university is extraordinarily well furnished, I still hope that MMU are the ones to offer me funding. I have built up excellent relationships with my supervisory team (all of whom share a great enthusiasm for my chosen field of research) - this cannot be ignored and I’ve praised them all before in other posts, but as far as I’m concerned it can’t be done enough. It really should be a major factor in picking where you want to study at PhD level and, if possible, in the pre-application stage it is wise to meet with prospective supervisors. I think lots of students study PhDs at the same universities they completed their MAs at because of the fact they know which member of staff shares their interest. This is why I picked MMU, and why I hope I can stay there.
I have to dash now - I have to try on a morning suit at the rental place (interesting factoid: it’s the oldest retailer in Stockport, dating from 1890). Salut…
Read my previous PhD blogs
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