Comments like "get a job like the rest of us and save up" display a complete lack of subtlety of thought. For one thing, getting a job is not an easy task. Large numbers of my friends from Oxford are unemployed - not because they want to be, but because finding employment is hard. Secondly, the idea that working a nine to five is in any way a solution to my problem is completely misguided. How much would I have to be earning per year to put away the £26,000 I need for my masters, even living at home with my parents? And how much of my life would I have to waste working in a job that I was only doing to save money for what I really wanted to pursue - academia?