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Wednesday 14 February 2018

Graduation Round Two; Masters Life and What You Need To Know About Completing a Masters


It's somehow been two months since I graduated for a second time and yet I haven't really had any time to sit down and contemplate what that means. Yes I can now say I'm a Master of Science and yes I know an awful lot surrounding sustainability, a thing called Integrated Reporting and also how businesses are becoming more and more aware the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (doing good things that in turn benefit them, in short anyway). All this is great but in reality what does all that knowledge really mean and what else did I learn along the way?

A Masters is something I had always considered, I love to learn and so when I realised I didn't want to be an active conservationist anymore, I wanted to sit on the business side of the table trying to make a large difference in another way I knew I needed to gain a greater knowledge of the subject and business as a whole. So in came my Master's in Sustainability and Consultancy at the University of Leeds. The Masters, on paper, offered me everything I wanted, the opportunity to engage with the business world during my dissertation, gain hands on experience on the projects with pitching and planning along side the opportunity to really learn about a particular subject area.


I never expected the Masters to be easy but what I quickly learned is that I didn't expect it to be as hard as it was. You see, I couldn't afford to do my masters with just the government loan that covered my fees, so I interviewed and got a position as a subwarden which meant I received free accommodation for living in fresher halls and being on call 2 nights a week should they be locked out or any other incidences, additionally I carried on my bar job to ensure I had enough money coming in. If that wasn't enough I also sat on committee for Leeds RAG, a fantastic university organisation which does some incredible work for charity. It's safe to say I had spread myself a little thinner than I should have.

A masters needs pretty much your entire life dedication, my time management is exceptional, I will toot my own horn for my capability to arrange calendars and events but even I knew I had too much on, so I reduced the amount I was doing for RAG and reduced my work hours as well. Balance was vital for my mental health.


Now my Masters was a steep learning curve, mainly because it was so fast paced, the amount you were learning and reading in a week was crazy and if you didn't have enough time to do everything you were left feeling behind before you had really begun.

Assignments were another topic altogether. Naturally, you are expected to provide more in a masters than an undergraduate degree and learning the new style of writing was never going to be easy. I remember receiving a 54 and panicking (a 50 was a pass for my masters). Learning to adopt a new style really did take time. The amount of assignments we had was also a real challenge. Picture this, I had booked a break after all my deadlines at Christmas. Then my lecturer changed the deadline for the group essay, my group didn't want to start earlier which resulted in me writing a group essay whilst sat in a tent in Morocco. It's safe to say it was the most stressful holiday I have ever had.

Fast forward to Easter and we were given 5 assignments over 6 weeks. You couldn't start them any earlier as two required reflection on how you thought the presentation had gone. So I went through them all methodically to create a time table to ensure that the essays worth the most had the most amount of time. Fast forward to week 5 and one essay gets an extension of two weeks but it was one I had already completed. Safe to say in those 6 weeks I worked 9-9 everyday all apart from 2 days in which  I went away so you can imagine the frustration when the extension was useless to me and many people on my course to.


I'm not writing this post to scare people off from a Masters but more as a warning. An integrated Masters along with your undergrad is not the same as a stand alone Masters in terms of length or what's expected from you (from what I can tell). You have to really love the subject to get through one and you need a fair amount of money/ support so that you don't have to work and be a subwarden along side the degree.

A Master's is not an easy undertaking and although I loved what I got out of the Masters it wasn't quite the same image I had in my head of being able to peruse topics I found interesting and really immerse myself in literature and the topics I loved. It was fast paced and hard, requiring graft constantly.


I often felt the image universities show of reading what ever you find interesting and engaging with those topics which help shape your path were something you only did at post grad level and for me, not doing that was a little burst of the bubble.

Due to my mega busy schedule, forming lasting friendships with people on my course was obviously going to be a challenge as well. That feeling of isolation was something made even more apparent when you're still living in a city where all your friends used to be. It's so easy to miss them and miss your undergraduate life and in some ways resent your current situation as well.

So what did all that hard work and stress leave me with you may wonder? Well, the only true answer for that is certainty. My masters confirmed by love for sustainability and the environment. It taught me about my subject on so many levels. I think the biggest thing it taught me though was my breaking point as an individual. I learnt how to cope with anxiety and I also learnt when to say no. Similar to an undergraduate degree, a lot of your learning isn't just course focused, its about learning more about yourself. That can be from how you work with others to being able to form friendships with complete strangers all over again and it's  those skills that really provide value in life.


So would I recommend a masters? Yes

BUT, and their is a big BUT, I would suggest taking a year or so out before hand. Additionally, unless you have friends still living in the city where you did your undergrad have a look at moving elsewhere and away from your original university. Finally the big question needs to be around cost. It's not a fun thing to talk about and the constant comments of how its normally the rich who can afford it needs to be addressed, The fact that the government now offers £10,000 is fantastic but when many courses are over this amount a masters isn't something that should be chosen just because you're not sure what you want to do next, you need to be willing to throw your life and soul into the degree. Not being passionate or enthusiastic in a masters just isn't an option!

Have you done a masters degree? What's your advice for those looking to do a masters?

Love
Erin



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