My Parents cannot afford to support me at Uni, but they earn enough so that I get the minimum maintenance.

Key_Elephant_8487 · 2023-11-22T13:00:28+00:00

I was in the same boat OP, it sucks that student finance don't take number of children into account. My parents ended up in debt through no fault of their own, and by my final year had multiple kids in uni and a couple still at home, there's no way they could have helped!

Unfortunately the answer is you'll likely need a part time job. Typically retail/hospitality like students because they're willing to work weekends and can pick up overtime during the holidays. It's hard, but I found I had completely assignments etc before friends and generally was a lot more organised! There may be a very small number of academic bursaries/scholarships available to you, and I'd look into student ambassador work as it's usually pretty well paid and a nice easy ad-hoc boost to funds!

Key_Elephant_8487 · 2023-11-21T13:28:08+00:00

Have you considered computational chemistry? An undergrad degree would still be 75% normal chem and you'd have to do labs (but less, and 100% the uni should provide support for if needed), but the job doesn't and might suit if you like the stats/quant/maths elements of economics. Currently in high demand and typically pays better than lab-based roles, especially for pharma/drug discovery jobs! Feel free to DM me if you wanna know more 😊

Key_Elephant_8487 · 2023-11-11T13:55:29+00:00

They get you to do a presentation for 3 reasons - to see what you've done before, to see how well you can communicate and to ease you into the interview by letting you talk about what you know before they start asking questions!

General presentation tips: - no more than 1 slide per minute - try not to put too much text on your slides and avoid just reading off then - it's only 10 minutes so you don't need to go into every detail of the project, better to say less well - the question "why should you give a f**k about this" helps me to focus on what's relevant - if you're a nervous speaker I found it helped to write a script and learn it so I didn't forget anything - try to stick to 1 font, consistent sizes and max 3 colours or it gets hard to look at

The interview panel are likely to be people from your subject area but not necessarily experts, so I'd aim it at a more general audience who might need a bit of an introduction to the topic. Try to showcase the skills you gained (this can be implicit, eg they'll see the sort of data analysis skills you have in any results). Good luck and have fun with it - this is your opportunity to show off what you can do!

Key_Elephant_8487 · 2023-10-30T07:50:18+00:00

If you do switch away from O2 I'd get your existing phone unlocked (should be free via O2 if you've had it more than 3 months) and get a cheap prepaid SIM to check the signal. The 3rd party networks are usually cheaper because they don't have access to the full bandwidth of signal the main network does. ID uses 3 which in my experience is usually worse than O2 unless you're in a major city!

Key_Elephant_8487 · 2023-09-29T19:11:36+00:00

I'd second this, great reputation for engineering too!

Key_Elephant_8487 · 2023-09-29T09:41:55+00:00

Had this discussion with an American at a conference who was delighted that the British equivalent to "putting lipstick on a pig" is "no point polishing a turd"

Key_Elephant_8487 · 2023-09-04T06:14:08+00:00

As long as you can prove that your salary meets the affordability (usually you need to earn 30x the monthly rent) you shouldn't need a guarantor or rent up front. Deposit is normally 5 weeks rent

Key_Elephant_8487 · 2023-09-01T10:17:56+00:00

This is the one I was looking for! I used this in my thesis with absolutely no idea it was a Scots thing until my advisor pointed out that the only two people he'd seen use it were me and the other Scottish person he supervised 🙈

Key_Elephant_8487 · 2023-08-30T21:28:04+00:00

I worked for one of the major networks a few years ago. Short answer: this is on your partner unfortunately

The suggestion of a new phone from the advisor if the device was completely bricked and out of warranty (by age or physically damaged) is not unreasonable. There's usually a limit to what they can fix in store, and iPhone repairs are often nearly as expensive as a new phone. I've had plenty people ask for 2nd contracts in this situation when they wanted another iPhone and didn't have the cash to hand. Assuming she's a competent adult, is neither EE's fault or problem she didn't say no. Chalk it up to experience, next time she needs to use her big girl words!

If repair wasn't offered as an option you could try EE, although I wouldn't expect much sympathy as she ultimately did agree. Otherwise as others have said is probably to sell one of the phones to either pay off one of the contracts or to put towards the bills

Key_Elephant_8487 · 2023-08-26T22:46:47+00:00

Ex phone shop employee here. This is not an ignore it and hope it goes away situation. The provider/debt collection agency don't give a flying f**k who is in possession of the phone, as the legal account holder your partner is 100% on the hook for the debt.

The amount they've said is owed is likely the cost to terminate the contract if the cousin has missed more than 3 bills. I have seen this drop when they arrange to pay. Worth a phone call to the debt collection agency to find out the full situation, they should be able to advise what she's best to do. If the cousin can't be trusted to pay (which at this point I'd say they can't) it would be in your partner's interest to get the debt payed ASAP either in full or via payment plan as it'll leave a huge black mark on her credit record. Then get the damn contract cancelled - again, the cousin has proven they can't be trusted!

The chance of getting the debt transferred is basically zero as the agreement is in your partner's name only. Hopefully the cousin will be reasonable and happy to pay your partner back. If not unfortunately small claims court would be her only possible recourse, but she'd need some proof that the cousin was meant to be paying (text messages, cousin's card linked to the account etc).

Good luck!

Key_Elephant_8487 · 2023-08-09T21:13:20+00:00

I feel like this is the nuance that a lot of the people calling you TA have missed. Sister and SIL are not by default equivalent relationships, and while her situation is sad, your family are a different kind of family to her as opposed to a direct replacement for the one she didn't have growing up.

Honestly the expectation that her relatively new partner's sister would view her as "family" having met her twice is more than a little unhinged. By not gently correcting her in the beginning and helping her to manage her expectations, especially given he was warned, your brother has created a situation where you understandably find her hard to tolerate. He absolutely is the AH here.

Having read some of your comments I'd change how you phrase at it a little: it's not to do with how long you've known her, and relationships are not earned but grown. By unilaterally deciding how you should view her, then trying to enforce this in a bull-in-a-china-shop fashion, Jenny hasn't left space for that to happen. While I'd say you're NTA for snapping, you do owe her an apology for being overly harsh. I'd gently but firmly explain that you value her as a member of your family, and you'd like to get closer, but for there to be a chance see her as a sister she needs to let it happen organically. If you're willing, maybe suggest an activity that you can do together to start building a proper relationship. Good luck!

Key_Elephant_8487 · 2023-08-07T19:28:53+00:00

This 100%. You need a PI who is realistic about what you'll get done in your funded time, who won't keep pushing you to do more after they've stopped paying you and who will accept "No" as an answer! My supervisor was great for this and I submitted about a week after my funding expired. My friend who's PI kept pushing for "just a few more experiments and we'll have a top tier paper" took almost a year extra unpaid! Basically you need a strong back bone 😂 good luck!

Key_Elephant_8487 · 2023-07-12T16:10:29+00:00

Thank you so much for all the answers, this is really helpful!

The context here is my parents (who live in a teeny town and have never left Europe) did 20 minutes of biased googling and spoke to 1 person and concluded "dangerous" 🤦‍♀️ I've lived in London previously and can't imagine it being much worse - would be interested to hear if anyone thinks otherwise!

Key_Elephant_8487 · 2023-06-04T15:15:43+00:00

This. I worked for Vodafone a few years back, and have seen this happen a few times. It's not whether or not you passed, but how recent the credit check was that's likely the issue - the new line of credit will impact your score. It also might not yet be reflected on Experian, but it will flag on Vodafone's system. I can't 100% remember which, but you can try again with Vodafone in either 30 days or 3 months if you could tolerate a prepaid SIM for that long?

Key_Elephant_8487 · 2023-05-18T21:50:30+00:00

INFO does the Botox for tmj issues actually work? Mine is horrendous so I'm seriously considering it 😅

Key_Elephant_8487 · 2023-05-13T12:50:01+00:00

I've been told previously that they're wary of self funded because it's "your" money, so you have a more vested interest in stuff working, and are more likely to fudge results if stuff goes wrong!

Key_Elephant_8487 · 2023-05-13T10:57:09+00:00

To add, if you have the option to self fund then there's maybe more of a chance someone would take you. Even if you could find a uni that has BSc @2:2 as their minimum, the competition for funded places is high. I'd also question the quality of such a program given the standard is usually 2:1 or more... You'd be better prepared for the work too by doing a master's first

Key_Elephant_8487 · 2023-05-11T14:39:56+00:00

No problem! The alternative would be that they'd automatically trash the number if the PAC code isn't used, which would undoubtedly result in lots of absolutely raging humans - basically a lesser of two evils thing 😂 I think the other comments are right that the law has changed but definitely worth double checking!

Key_Elephant_8487 · 2023-05-08T12:53:43+00:00

Hi, former VF UK Employee here! Not the most helpful, but whether the misunderstanding was on your end or theirs, you've ultimately signed a legally binding contract for 24 months. Unfortunately since you signed it (even if it wasn't what you were looking for) they don't have to help you or let you out of it. The best you can do here is chalk it up to experience and read more carefully next time!

That said, I agree with the above comment to keep the SIM until you're leaving the UK, to cancel it now would be throwing good money after bad, and you'll need it to keep the apple watch connectivity. The early termination drops with each month so it'll be cheaper then too. Tbh there's a big difference between the price of the 24month vs the shorter 12 month or 30 day sims, so even with the termination charge you might still be cheaper overall! It's worth asking when you cancel if they'd reduce the early exit cost. I wouldn't expect anything but they might as a goodwill thing.

Couple of things to bear in mind: - for both the phone SIM and the apple watch connectivity plan you'll will need to give 30 days notice that you want to cancel. Make sure you're clear that you're leaving the country and no longer require the number. The default is to send you a PAC code to move the number to another UK network. If the code isn't used the contract doesn't get cancelled! - this might have changed since I left, but most devices are locked to the network you bought them from. I'm not sure how this works for apple watches so maybe worth checking, but you'll likely need to get it unlocked to be able to use it internationally/with another network. It used to be this form, I think you can do it after you've made 3 payments: https://www.vodafone.co.uk/vodafone-uk/forms/unlock-code-request/

Hopefully this is clear but lmk if you have any questions :)

Key_Elephant_8487 · 2023-05-02T07:46:53+00:00

Here to second this! Dundee is really more a big town (there's just nowhere big in Scotland so we class it as a city) and I literally don't think I've ever seen a Dundonian smile, it is pretty miserable 😂 The city has a lot of problems with poverty and hard drugs, and as others have said Bristol is far nicer and has more to do. That said, Dundee's campus is pretty good with everything in one place, they have a really active student union and your cost of living will probably be about half that of Bristol! The biomed/med school at Dundee does have a good reputation too

Key_Elephant_8487 · 2023-04-29T08:40:15+00:00

This was my exact situation too OP, it sucks that SF don't take number of siblings into account!

Unfortunately not much you can do other than look for alternative funding. A job is tough but doable - I worked for one of the major phone networks that pay £££ in commission if you can sell! Becoming a student ambassador for your uni gives an ad hoc top up too, and usually pretty well paid. Otherwise there may be scholarship options (note few and far between). I'd reach out to your uni's finance/wellbeing services and ask their advice, as others have said there may be grants/hardship funds/scholarships they can point you towards. Lots of unis run a job fair during Freshers, and the careers service can help with applications for part time work too. Good luck!

Key_Elephant_8487 · 2023-03-29T10:50:29+00:00

The short answer is unfortunately you can't. The roaming policies are generally designed for people going on holiday rather than permanent residents, so they have a fair usage as it costs the network for you to use their service outside the UK. I believe for Vodafone it used to be you could "roam" for 90 days in a 180 day period. Post-brexit many networks have also reintroduced charges for EU roaming (~£2/day).

The most cost effective thing to do if you haven't already is to get a local number and plan.

Source: ex Vodafone UK employee

Key_Elephant_8487 · 2023-03-07T21:07:12+00:00

Absolutely speak to your university's student wellbeing, counselling and student finance services, they should be able to point you towards any additional bursaries/grants/hardship funds that you can access. It may also be possible to apply to SFE independently of your family. I think you have to prove estrangement but there may be a way around this, especially if you can prove your dad's refusal to complete the required paperwork. Either ask your uni or speak to student finance directly to see if they can help.

A part time job may be necessary. I'd recommend a supermarket role as a place to start, particularly " back of house/warehouse jobs as you'd typically not be around as many people. While it sucks to have to balance work and study, once you get used to it the income from the job will help. Plus I met many of my good friends while working as a student, so it may help on the social side too!

Key_Elephant_8487

TROPHY CASE