The Truth About Doing a Master’s Degree.

I have finally finished my master’s degree in radio production and I should be over the moon right?

Getting a degree will always be seen as an achievement but getting two degrees? That’s an African parent’s dream lol!

For those who have completed their first degree, especially if you lived away from home, you will know that university is one of the most difficult and challenging stages of your young adult life. You’re having to balance education, finances, relationships, career goals, and all the bits in between, it really isn’t easy.

However, I’m sure for those of you who have been, you would also agree that university was some of the best days of your life and that’s mainly down to the freedom and exposure one has at such a young age.

Sometimes, when we go through a difficult stage in life, it’s easy for us to remember the good aspects of something which has happened in the past and this is exactly what happened to me in January 2018, when I decided that I wanted to go back to university and study.

Adult life after my first degree was cool. I was making decent money, using that money to travel the world with friends, exposing myself to new experiences and just having a great time being young.

As wonderful as this sounded, I quickly realised that so many of us had been sucked in to a mentally and physically destroying system. The 9–5.

The 9–5 can be one of the most soul destroying systems in the world, especially for young people who are trying to find their feet. This system orders us to go and work at jobs we hate, come home feeling tired and miserable and watch others on social media living their ‘best lives’ whilst we get further away from our true passions and career goals. This is something I had enough of and wanted to change, so I did.

I really enjoyed my final year of my first degree and going back to university, I thought I was going to fly and land right back where I left off.

I left university in 2016 and back then I was in a very happy bubble, not having to work for my money, having access to great opportunities and overall just having time to myself. Did I think university would be the same again? naively yes! Was this true? Absolutely not!

This was a Master’s degree.

Trust me! It’s not the same thing and this piece is to tell you the truth about doing this sort of degree and provide a few tips to anyone who may be considering doing one.

Here goes…

Money

If you went to university before 2016 you would have received a maintenance loan and grant from the government. This money was shared across your three or four years of uni, along with your maintenance loan for your university fees which were paid directly to your university. With a Master’s degree there is £10,000 worth of funding available which is great! However, it isn’t as straightforward as an undergraduate degree. This £10k which is available, is for your university fees AND your everyday living.

Unlike undergrad, YOU have the responsibility to pay your fees to your university directly and this is something I was unaware of until I received a call from my uni in first semester about my fees and the consequences of not paying by a particular time, which would be me being suspended from the course.

As I became aware of this at such a late date, all my money that semester had been put towards my rent (I had a studio flat *big mistake*)and living expenses, therefore I was left with barely anything. This led me to having to take out a private loan and putting myself in serious debt, which I now have to pay back monthly. Overall, what I’m saying is — get yourself a job from the beginning because you’re going to need it!

Social life

As I mentioned earlier, university is known to be one of the best times of your life, especially in regard to your social life. At uni clubs and bars are normally pretty cheap and this makes going out and meeting people quite easy. Is a master’s degree the same? The bars and clubs haven’t changed but is there time to get involved with the scene? Nope.

Most people say that their final year of uni was their hardest, so just take your mind back to that and imagine that intensity and triple it. This really isn’t a joke. Your whole course is condensed in to just one year, it starts off quite slow but by week three BLAM! the deadlines just start slapping you in your face.

In first semester I had 11, yes I said 11, pieces of coursework to hand in on the same day, now you can just imagine whether there would have been time for a social life with that sort of work load on your hands? I think the answer is pretty obvious, so here is what I suggest to get you through.

During my first semester, I was really lonely and I didn’t know how best to meet others. However, in my second semester, I began paying attention to events which were happening in the city and helping out with jobs in the university which enabled me to meet a huge network of people.

I started working with the international office in my uni between March 2019 till October and from this job, I met the most amazing people who I am still really close with today.

Get involved with extra curricular activities and put yourself out there because at a master’s level no one will do it for you.

Mental Health

I’m sure like many, I wasn’t that aware about mental health, especially how it effects young people. In more recent years however, my attention has been drawn to mental health through friends, social media and wider media and I am now very much aware of how it can ruin people’s lives.

I have always been a fairly strong young woman and got through my issues in some way or another, so mental health is not something I envisioned would affect me on a big scale.

Oh was I wrong! Living by yourself sounds like fun and games because you have your own space, freedom and you can just be in your element. However, it can also be a path to destruction. When you are constantly by yourself, with not a big support system around, you tend to overthink every situation and ponder on issues for longer than normal because you have no one to talk to.

I battled with anxiety and paranoia in 2019 on a huge scale. I wasn’t the only one though, I saw many other students on my course and other courses really go through a tough time trying to balance it all and although its easier said than done please take what I suggest below in to account.

Counselling and mentoring are services which everyone needs and during a master’s I would suggest seeking support from the beginning so that during the duration of the course you can have somebody to offload your problems too.

Support can be accessed via your university, GP, or if you type in ‘mental health organisations near me’ in Google various options should appear. Make sure you do it! Don’t be a silent sufferer. Remember a problem shared is a problem halved.

Post-Masters

Finally, life after a master’s degree, what is that like? Well if I’m honest… it’s exactly the same, probably in some aspects even worse. I’m joking! Seriously though, just because you have another title added to your CV, it doesn’t make you different from anyone else or exempt from the difficulties which many face in terms of finding employment.

Experience in your industry still counts just as much as your qualifications and you definitely need to work on developing your skills at all given opportunities.

Currently, I’m unemployed and that’s for multiple reasons but what I would advise for you to do so that you don’t end up in the same position, is to look up the different avenues to get into your chosen field beforehand.

You can do this by speaking to lecturers and getting advise from them about how they got in to your industry, registering with your university careers team or simply just doing your own research and getting involved with voluntary roles or seeking internships or work experience.

Overall, was my master’s degree worth it? I’ll be honest, I think it was but I think the reason why I can’t see this now is because I’m still going through the repercussions of it. Once I become settled and move higher in my field I’m sure I’ll be extremely grateful.

Education is never a waste of time, even if you feel as though you haven’t learnt anything academically, you will learn something about yourself during the process.

Remember though, education, isn’t the only way to make it in life and what ever route you choose just make the most of it and make it count.

I hope you enjoyed this read.

Love

Boohema

დ დ დ