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Blue Of Mind
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  • So I had a fresh meeting with the little PhD team I have going on at my current uni, and we've all decided to reorient my current project again to focus not so much on Hans Asperger and Leo Kanner (though both will remain important for my proposal), but more on how they influenced British medical practise and perceptions of autism within the UK (for example, how organisations like the National Autistic Society were influenced by Kanner first, then Asperger later). My supervisors have also told me to try applying to the History department again (despite the first rejection from History), because I now have a History supervisor on board who has knowledge about the history of medicine, so they might not reject me out of hand so quickly this time.

    I'm still eyeing up Birmingham and now the Uni of Warwick, since both have more specialised history of medicine departments, especially Warwick. (Birmingham has more of a small interdisciplinary unit, but at least it exists and it's distinct, unlike my current uni). But it was really nice to know that the staff at my current uni want me to stay with them. It's just admissions at the different faculties being a pain in the bum right now. :tongue:
    1.) All British adults over 50 have been offered a Covid vaccine, which means that over-40s (my mum's age group) are next in line for a first jab. Hopefully, my GP will contact my mum soon about a jab, since she's over 45. (Both my stepdad and my real dad have already been vaccinated because they're over 50.)

    2.) I've had a meeting with Careers Advice over Microsoft Teams today, and I feel a bit happier/relaxed about my situation. The advisor told me to keep going for the PhD despite my current setbacks, but keep my eyes open on the unis in Birmingham, since if I drove to the local train station, I could stop right next door to the famous Uni of Birmingham (one of the top unis in my country, since they have larger research departments than my current uni), and there's easy access to the other local unis too. We also talked about alternative career paths, such as museum work, heritage conservation, advocacy, politics, the Civil Service and journalism.

    3.) I've booked a hair appointment for this Saturday, and I'm gonna go for the most radical style I've ever had in my life so far - a side shave!!
    Been forgetting to mention this on here, but I emailed Careers Advice at my uni over this past week telling them my current situation (just finished a Master's, struggling to get on to a PhD course, etc.), and they said I could do a virtual appointment with them, especially since I mentioned I'm trying to form some backup plans in case the PhD idea completely falls through. They won't get back to me with dates and times until this Wednesday though, because they're taking a break for Easter.
    I've FINALLY had a response from uni about my second PhD appication, and unfortunately, it's not good news (again) - I've been rejected from the faculty of education and health because they reckon that they can't support the history side of my project. (Keep in mind that I got rejected from my normal faculty because they said they couldn't support the health side of it).

    Now I'm absolutely stumped about what to do next, aside from forward on the bad news to my mentors, my supervisors and the head of the doctoral college.
    I got an update from uni about my PhD application! ...Sort of - one of the research admins from the faculty I'm trying to apply to has updated me, and she said it's stuck at a stage where they need to get other people to review it, and it's all become a pain in the bum to do that because of Covid. She also said she can't really get back to me in the future until everyone needed has responded to my proposal, so it looks like I'll have to wait a bit longer. :(

    But hey, at least I know it's not lost in limbo. It's just stuck at a really bureaucratic stage. (Saying that, I'm now worried the reviewers will knock me down over ethical concerns regarding my project. orz)
    Well, I still haven't received a response from my uni about doing a PhD after five weeks of waiting, so I've decided to have a quick moan at my specialist mentor via email. I know the admissions team at my uni is probably swamped with other applications right now because of Covid, but this really isn't helping my anxiety issues. Hopefully, I'll get a new course of action, because I think you are allowed to send an online helpdesk call to the admissions team if they're being slow about an application.
    sketchesofpayne
    sketchesofpayne
    The wheels of bureaucracy turn slowly. And COVID has thrown chewing gum into the mechanism.
    Blue Of Mind
    Blue Of Mind
    UPDATE: I CC'd the head of my uni's doctoral college in the email to my specialist mentor, and he's gonna chase up my application with the admissions team (if he can do so). So hopefully, I'll get a proper response to my application soon. (For the record, my mentor and one of my supervisors was starting to wonder if I'd got a response to it yet, so it was probably a good idea to kick a stink about it today).
    My wi-fi has been down for 15 HOURS now since 9PM (GMT) last night, and we've heard nothing from our broadband provider about what the problem is. Different parts of my town are also experiencing the same problems with the same provider, and the most anyone can figure out is that there's some kind of technical issue that they refuse to elaborate on.

    Right now, I'm using 4G for internet, which is slow and cumbersome. :/
    Blue Of Mind
    Blue Of Mind
    UPDATE: Had to wait 21 hours overall for my internet to be restored completely, but it got there around 6:30PM.
    Still no response from my uni regarding my second PhD application to a different faculty, but I have noticed this afternoon that the application status has been updated from 'Pending' to 'Expression of interest under review' (uni's words) after three weeks of waiting. Hopefully, I should hear a response soon, either this week or next week. If not, I'll have to kick a stink with my specialist mentor. :(
    Yes Windows 10, I LOVE it when some silly update thing that I don't even need or use (not the actual Win Update) runs in the background to the point that it cripples both Opera and the taskbar (yanno, probably the most necessary thing about Windows?), forcing me to restart the entire system. :rolleyes:
    Been mulling over tattoos again recently... I know some people don't like fandom tattoos for various reasons, but after thinking over various designs for a first tattoo, I've come to the conclusion that if I only ever got one tat because I couldn't cope with the pain of getting one, I'd be happy with just Miku's '01' code number on my left arm. Besides, I've always wanted to look more like a cyberpunk android lol.
    Me: "Holy crap, Pokemon Diamond and Pearl are being remade, and there's also gonna be a spinoff open world game about Sinnoh in the past! What does the fandom think?"
    Fandom: "ERMAGERD I HATE THE ART STYLE IN THE DP REMAKE IT LOOKS TOO CUTESY AND CHIBI. AND THE WORLD IN THE SPINOFF GAME LOOKS TOO BLAND AND BORING LIKE SwSh! WURST POKEMON DIRECT EVA!!"
    Me: *cringes at the Pokemon fandom for the 2536th time*
    Ronny777
    Ronny777
    I didn't know about this remake!!! You just made my year!! :love:
    Blue Of Mind
    Blue Of Mind
    @Ronny777 It was announced in a Pokemon direct around a couple of hours ago. I was surprised by the graphical choice at first (I thought they were gonna bring the Sword and Shield models to Diamond and Pearl), but I don't hate the chibi style. It's also being developed by a different company than Game Freak, so I guess the art decision was on the new dev's end.
    Well, I've submitted my second PhD application, but this time it's been sent to Health rather than History. I've intentionally tried to write the statement in a way that relates more to the history of medicine, and keep a positive tone about my project rather than worrying about Covid-related issues (like accessing archives) so it would be harder for Health to reject it, but I still have secondhand anxiety about the whole thing after what happened last time.

    I've notified my supervisors, my mentors and the head of my uni's doctoral college about the submission, so at least I have a support network (including my parents and my boyfriend, of course) no matter what happens now.
    Almost done with my second PhD application... My History supervisor got back to me yesterday, and said barring some further minor edits to the literature review section and a grammar/spelling check, my statement is pretty much ready for submission. After what happened last time, I'm really anxious about submitting an application again, especially to a department I have no idea about (Health), but if my supervisors say it's good, then I have to trust their judgement when I submit it.
    Have you taken a mental health break in the past week?
    Jisenku
    Jisenku
    I meant more like have you done something to improve on your mental health lmao. I was thinking more about your mental health, tbh I didn't realize you were AWOL, I was just checking in on your mental health.
    Blue Of Mind
    Blue Of Mind
    Not really - I talk to my boyfriend about how the current UK lockdown is getting to me, but I don't have any other access to mental health services aside from whatever my university offers.
    Jisenku
    Jisenku
    Well if you need some help we are here for you :3
    My History supervisor finally got back to me! Yay! He reiterated that my statement is good so far, but added some suggestions in order to emphasis the history of medicine side of my project more. Mainly just key texts and another cleanup of the methodology, but still. I don't have much of a clue when I will submit a second application, but it won't take me long to edit the current draft, so my current goal is still some time next month.
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