PhD Corrections Countdown: 06 days to go

Nothing new on the PhD front today, really. I’m going to hand it in on Monday and, while at Uni in my office in peace and quiet, I’m also going to apply for this MA in Translation.

The annoying thing with these postgrad applications is that you need 2-3 references. It’s always irritated me a bit that, when applyign for a degree in the UK that you actually pay shitloads of money for, you have to apply for it as if it was a job! I.e. if I’m f***ing paying you, you better bloody take me on! References WTF!

I’m used to being judged on academic merit alone when applying for a degree in Germany, though I can’t quite remember whether we had to in fact ‘apply’ for it, i.e. submit an application. Maybe I just went there and enrolled… it’s a long time ago

So, I want to get this application over and done with before I go to London, which is next Friday (2nd March), so that, by the time I return (end of March), I’ll hopefully have a reply and decision whether or not they’ll offer me a place, upon which I can start applying for a career development loan - I just have to convince the guys at Barclays that (a) I need this MA in order to improve my chances of finding employment and (b) that I don’t have enough money to pay for it myself! I’ll be taking out the highest CDL they’re going to give me, as explained here it will give me a nice chunk of money to play with :

Even if you don’t need all the cash, get the biggest career development loan possible anyway. Take out the loan, plonk it in a high interest savings account (see ‘Where to Start with Savings’) – and you could sneakily make money from study.

 

Then repay as much you can (or all of it) at the end of your study, before any interest is charged, and move whatever debt remains to a cheaper personal loan. This way while you’re on the course you’ll be earning interest on the cash you’ve borrowed for free - on an £8,000 loan, over two years, you can reap £820 profit from the interest, a nice addition to your educational finances.

 

So, I’ll spend my last week in Edinburgh tying up a few loose ends, handing in my corrected thesis, and then I’m off for a bit.

Not for long though!