Unsure About Studying A Masters? Hereâs What You Need To Know:
I promise this wasnât designed to scare people away from doing a masters! However, for me there was a lot of things university didnât prepare me for when it came to starting up a masters. These are just some of the key things to think about if youâre a uni student whoâs unsure whether a masters is for them
See if your university offers you a discount - This was something that applied to me and helped me make my decision on whether or not to do a masters. A lot of the time, if youâre staying at the same place you did your undergraduate degree, your university will offer you a discount on tuition if you stay and continue on with them. It depends on whether youâre choosing to do a full-time or part-time course, but this can typically be anything from 10-20% discount! This is a major deal if youâre wanting to minimise your loans or payment in general, plus who doesnât love a good deal?
Be prepared to be independent - It sounds kinda obvious, but you donât really realise how much help you receive at an undergraduate level compared to postragduate. Depending on where you are and what youâre studying, a big chunk of the time, youâll have to find stuff out for yourself. That involves emailing about supervisors for dissertations, contacting them DIRECTLY to see if theyâre available rather than being assigned someone and having them contact you first. Itâs a little daunting at first, but usually these people are super chill and friendly! Just be prepared to send a LOT of emails.
Be prepared to be creative - Iâm currently doing a sciency research masters, which you wouldnât initially think would require much creativity, but it does! Youâll be helping to develop and expand your field of research for whatever youâre pursuing, so being unique and creative with your ideas will not only be beneficial, but make things much more interesting! There wonât be a list of questions to choose from for your masters dissertation, itâs gotta be something fresh that hasnât been done before with a reason for why it should be done! This doesnât necessarily mean being the next Issac Newton and developing your own theories, but expanding and adapting old research counts too. You may already have an idea in mind, so see if you can evolve that into a dissertation idea! Talk to lecturers about it and see if itâs feasible to do too, itâll be a massive help.
Organisation is KEY - Again, another obvious one, but youâd be surprised how many deadlines youâll receive within the first three days of induction. For myself, I had 6 deadlines as soon as I arrived, all which need to be completed within the span of a month or two. Write all these things down somewhere and put them into chronological order so you know which things are due to soonest. Set yourself enough time to email lecturers about things youâre unsure of or to enquire about supervisors for certain modules. Start your work EARLY, otherwise things will get overwhelming very quickly, especially if youâre also working part-time.
A lot of work in a small amount of time - With undergrad, you can kinda afford to miss a day or two when it comes to lectures, no biggie. With postgraduate, you cover a lot of content in a small amount of time. Lectures will typically be over the weekend, usually with a 9-5 setup with an hours break and thatâs pretty much it. Your teaching time is extremely limited in comparison and itâs super important to be there so you have the chance to ask your lecturers directly if thereâs something youâre unsure about! There will be times where youâre ill and missing a day canât be helped, but if itâs just because youâre unmotivated then PLEASE GO IN ANYWAY, even if itâs not for the whole day. Your future self will thank you for it!
Have a passion for what youâre studying - Although it might seem wise to get a masters under your belt, if youâre not passionate or motivated about what youâll be studying then maybe a masters isnât for you. If youâre driven and passionate about what youâre doing, then I would definitely encourage a masters! It will be a lot of work, but it will be super interesting! If youâre interested then youâll be more engaged and your grades will benefit in the long-run. Sure, there may be some modules that are a bit of a bore, but youâll also have the opportunity to potentially meet professionals in the field that youâre wanting to explore. That alone can be a HUGE thing!! Especially if you want to hear about the real-world experience of that job role.
