Orchid XP v8 wrote:
> Fact: I absolutely *suck* at research. At uni, every assignment
> involving any element of research was consistently graded very poorly
> indeed. Several such modules I failed outright.

	Oh please! First, what people call research at the undergrad level
often isn't.

	Second, you've been doing research all these years. Being curious and
learning stuff - especially technical stuff - is virtually research. All
that's left is to do some new interesting stuff in it. And generally
your adviser will guide you through that.

> Fact: I also suck at report writing. I'm good at writing technical
> stuff, but reports are supposed to have a specific structure and I don't
> really grok that. Also I'm not very good at structuring large documents;
> the flow tends to end up rather muddled.

	Writing papers for journals is a pain the first or second time. Beyond
that, you have the template figured out and you just write. It's
actually less painful than the lab reports I had to do in undergrad.

	And not all papers are large.

	And when you've spent time working on something, then trust me, you'll
probably have more difficulty trimming it down than trying to fill
space. Just look at your own Haskell evangelism!

> Fact: I don't actually need a PhD for anything. Certainly I don't have
> the money to pay for one. Time would also seem to be an issue.

	*Nobody* needs a PhD.

	And don't pay for one. Few people do. In the US, it's usually paid for
either by being a teaching assistant or being a research assistant (you
get a good enough stipend). I'm sure you can figure out how to get it
paid for in the UK (government scholarship, etc). If not, come this side
of the Atlantic or cross the Channel and do it in Europe.

	Seriously. I think it's the best advice you've been given. You get paid
to do all the fun geeky stuff your adviser wants you to do. And it's not
that rare that you'll also want to do it too! You'll be around smart
people (which *may* make you feel stupid for a while, but that'll go
away). And not sure about the UK and Europe, but (many) campuses in the
US have a good social environment. Lots of great speakers visit campus
and give talks - spanning the whole spectrum from science to politics.

	And no, you don't *have* to be social if you don't want to ;-)

	Others can give advice regarding the PhD in the UK and parts of Europe.
If you want to consider the US as an option, I can likely help you on
some of the details (GRE, etc).

> I could almost be tempted to do math classes - but again time and money
> would seem an issue. (As well as the minor detail of finding a suitable
> class somehow.)

	I went to grad school in electrical engineering. I told myself that
while there, I'd try to get a MS in either physics or mathematics. My
mathematics background when I joined was likely no better than yours. I
did the work for a MS in physics more or less as part of my EE PhD (not
yet completed) - so I won't get the MS in that. I was half way through
the mathematics requirements before I got sick of homework.

	Not to start a flame war or anything, but the MS in mathematics in the
US is generally not that advanced. Probably half of the courses are done
at the undergrad level in many places in Europe.

	Bottom line: At least in the US, they're very flexible about things.
Even if you're doing a PhD in engineering or CS, there's nothing
preventing you from taking courses in mathematics. And because of the
(*cough*) lower standards (*cough*) in mathematics, you won't have
trouble filling any missing maths prerequisites and going further
towards an MS in it.

-- 
I think animal testing is a terrible idea. They get all nervous and give
the wrong answers.


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