So I went to the postgraduate open day yesterday at the School of Computer Science at Manchester just to check things out. Unfortunately for me, a lot of the talks was about masters courses, and only about 20 minutes dedicated to information about PhD courses. And there wasn’t a lot of information included that I already didn’t know.
So the course is 3 years, there are a lot of full-paid studentships offered by the school (which is the main reason I’d want to apply), and the minimum requirement is a 2.1 honours in a computer/engineering/physics/maths related degree. To apply, you need 2 written references, and also a proposal about your area of research. Failing the latter, you can also choose an area of research from the list already proposed by the school itself.
I do suppose though, however, there isn’t really much to learn about doing a PhD course, until you choose the area of research you want to expertise in. So it’s essentially, what you make of it.
I think for the time being, it’ll be just a thought, and it will probably stay that way until I reach my final year of my degree next September.
Planning the Spontaneous 