Leeds University email again. "I am delighted to offer you the School of Music Research Scholarship for 2010-11. The terms of the scholarship are in the documents attached to this email."
I'm a bit puzzled because last week they told me I hadn't been successful for this. Part of me expects another email cancelling it due to an administrative error, but I suppose someone might have dropped out or found some other funding.
It's not a full scholarship, but it's a 2000 pound p.a. fee waiver for the first year, which will continue in subsequent years as long as I do well enough. I'm meeting Seriouscrush and her boyf in half an hour to spend the first ten pounds of it.
Although I'm happy about it in one way, it creates a lot of problems in another. A condition of the award is that you study full-time, working for no more than 5 hours a week outside of the university. So the only way that that would be possible would be to continue to sign on, deflecting the fortnightly offers of the godawful jobs that exist round here. I'm confident about handling the dole: I'm a good liar and an ideal middle class client for bored clerical staff., Linda knows someone who did his whole PhD this way, but having to skirt round the law for three, four years, is not an attractive prospect.
There's a possibility of gaining proper full-time funding in the second year. For students like me, who are competent rather than outstanding, they probably want you to prove yourself a bit before they authorise what is quite a lot of state money for you.
