Post-Grad Studies

[All Systems Go]

In a month or so I shall begin my final year in university. Having no drive to pursue any particular job and, quite frankly being too lazy to work a 9 to 5 I am considering a Post-Graduate Degree. So I have come here to seek the advice of those who have already trodden the path towards a few more years of nothingness.

1) Does my current degree effect my post-grad options?

I am currently studying history but am considering psychology for my post-grad, of which I have no previous experience.

2) Where do I study?

Is it customary to change universities when studying for a post-grad?

3) How long do post-grads usually last?

4) When do you apply for a post-grad position?

5) Will my undergraduate effect where I can go?

I'm set for a 2-2 unless I perform a miracle of biblical proportions.

For the record I am currently studying in Swansea University and am looking to go somewhere better and preferably still in Wales, so Cardiff would be ideal.

Any help (especially from those who have done/are doing a post-grad) would be appreciated.

[Nodrog]

Are you talking about a masters or a PhD? Your questions cant really be answered till you say which.

[Yahwe]

Originally Posted by All Systems Go

1) Does my current degree effect my post-grad options?

yes

you need a first to get funding. or at worst a 2:1 from oxbridge and an excuse for why you didn't get a first.

funding. money. always money.

unless you have family money to pay the fees and support you for the period?

EDIT: i don't like this fact. but it is true.

[Cooling]

Originally Posted by All Systems Go

1) Does my current degree effect my post-grad options?

I am currently studying history but am considering psychology for my post-grad, of which I have no previous experience.

This is not an option, you must at least have some sort of relevant qualification; especially in psychology (where a graduate degree is practically essential to securing a job in the field)

Originally Posted by All Systems Go

2) Where do I study?

Is it customary to change universities when studying for a post-grad?

It all depends on the quality of your universities department. For example if you wanted to persue your masters in Philosophy you would be well advised to attend Oxford as apposed to University College London. You might assume that distinction is obvious, but choosing the right college for postgrad studies - if you want quality supervision involves slightly more research than for an undergraduate degree.

Originally Posted by All Systems Go

3) How long do post-grads usually last?

If you are doing it just to stay in school then as long as you like, one year or two generally. If you are doing it because you want to persue a career in it, either as a lecturer or researcher then it could take considerably longer (For philosophy - my degree, it would take me between five and seven years of post graduate study to gain a quality PhD in order to teach at a reasonably good university.

I dont think you are really looking for that, so two years for a masters would be more than sufficient, it really is just a value added money making programme for the university.

Originally Posted by All Systems Go

4) When do you apply for a post-grad position?

Pass.

Originally Posted by All Systems Go

5) Will my undergraduate effect where I can go?

I'm set for a 2-2 unless I perform a miracle of biblical proportions.

Your grades will likely affect where you can go, especially if you want to secure funding as Yahwe has already stated. If your university is about on par with the McDonalds institute of sub standard learning then it may affect where you can go, but really it is mostly centered around your grades.

Any more help than this I cannot offer without more information etc.

[Nodrog]

Again, his answers will depend on whether he's going for a masters or a PhD. To take an example, the institution matters quite a bit for a masters, but with a PhD the advisor will be more important. Funding isnt as important for a masters because its only a few grand, whereas a PhD will cost a lot more. You might be able to get onto a PhD course in a subject vaguely related to your undergrad degree if you do a conversion course first (eg a 1 year masters). And so on.

I think you will struggle to get onto a PhD course with a 2:2, but if you were to get a masters from somewhere first this may increase your chances. Your best advice would be to not get a 2:2, and since you have one year left, I'm curious why youve pretty much resigned yourself to this. The fact youre unable/unwilling to get a decent undergrad degree doesnt suggest that youre going to excel as a postgraduate.

Bear in mind that a masters degree is likely to cost you ~£3000 and you arent going to get a student loan for it, so you might want to have a better reason to get one than not being bothered to get a job. This is obviously quite hypocritical of me but woteva.




Dont you have a careers advisor at your university who can give you general advice? If you want advice on more specific subjects (such as psychology), you could try emailing professors and postgrads in those departments at your uni and asking if they could give you a brief chat where you can ask them questions. I done this a bit towards the end of my 2nd year and found that most were happy to help. However I strongly suspect that the first thing most of them will tell you will be to try and get a 2:1 or better.

[Nodrog]

http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/psych/publi...ns/mscocc.html

MSc in Occupational Psychology

Suitable for:

Individuals with a grade of at least 2.1 in a degree course where Psychology was the main subject and which confers the Graduate Basis for Registration of the British Psychological Society (BPS).

http://psy.swan.ac.uk/applicants/pos...stgrad_msc.htm

A minimum of an upper second class degree in Psychology is required.

[JC]

I was writing a long reply to this last night when we had a power cut, i wasnt impressed.

Originally Posted by All Systems Go

1) Does my current degree effect my post-grad options?

I am currently studying history but am considering psychology for my post-grad, of which I have no previous experience.

I've no idea about psychology but i would assume for most postgrad studies you would have to have a reasonable understanding of te subject to begin with. I couldnt have done my biotech masters without an undergrad degree in some area of biology.

2) Where do I study?

Some people i've spoken to seem to think that staying in one place doesnt look as good on your CV. Presumably an potential emplyoer looks at this and thinks you have less experienced and are just happy to stay somewhere once you've got settled. Personally i think if you like somewhere and want to stay you might as well, no point moving to somewhere you arent going to enjoy as much. I did my degree and masters at nottingham uni but i'm moving to leicester for my phd.

3) How long do post-grads usually last?

A masters, which i assume is what you are looking at, is normally a year and a phd is 3 or 4. An MPhil is 2 i think.

4) When do you apply for a post-grad position?

I applied for mine in December. The earlier the better really. There's no point delaying it if you have decided its what you want to do. There are limited places on these courses so you dont want to run the risk of them filling up before you have applied.

For phd's its slightly different.

5) Will my undergraduate effect where I can go?

I'm set for a 2-2 unless I perform a miracle of biblical proportions.

For the record I am currently studying in Swansea University and am looking to go somewhere better and preferably still in Wales, so Cardiff would be ideal.

You have 1 year left and are currently on a 2.2? Presumably your 2nd year is only something like 25% of the degree mark so no reason why you cant change that. Anyway, i got a 2.2 in my degree and got a masters place, so no reason why getting a 2.2 will ruin your chances. It'll drastically reduce your chances of getting a phd position though. Send someone at the uni an email and ask what the requirements for the course are, its not going to harm your chances.

As for funding, i doubt you'll get any on a masters anyway. Its 3 grand tuition fees and i personally dont know anyone thats on a funded masters, funding is mainly for phds. I was lucky enough to ge a 1 grand grant from the uni, mainly because it was only available to an EU student and out of the 2 EU students on my course i was the only one to apply for it .

I'ld personally recommend doing a masters if you are interested in that subject. I wouldnt just do it as a way of staying out of a job though. I did it because i wasnt happy with my 2.2 from my degree and thought i could improve on that. If all goes well i should come out with a distinction and i have a phd lined up, which i wouldnt have got without my masters, so its been well worth it for me.

[furball]

Originally Posted by JC

You have 1 year left and are currently on a 2.2? Presumably your 2nd year is only something like 25% of the degree mark so no reason why you cant change that. Anyway, i got a 2.2 in my degree and got a masters place, so no reason why getting a 2.2 will ruin your chances. It'll drastically reduce your chances of getting a phd position though. Send someone at the uni an email and ask what the requirements for the course are, its not going to harm your chances.

Well, it's more sciences which attribute so little importance to the second year. My law degree is 50/50 between the second and third years, and afaik midge5's economics degree is 40/60.

Anyway, All Systems Go, get a first in your third year and you should almost definatly have a 2:1 at the end of your degree. It's totally do-able, there's nothing to stop you.

[All Systems Go]

Excellent. thanks for the advice everyone, suprisingly it was all useful and has cleared a lot of things up for me.

Cheers.

[pablissimo]

I'm thinking along these lines too, being about to just go into fourth year I'm looking about at what post-grad options are available. From a time point of view, a PhD would take me three years at Ed and demand a 1st or 2.1, and be at a cost of about £3000 a year (so £9000 total, but then factor in living expenses).

The MSc option is looking more promising at the minute simply because I don't know how well I would do in a research environment. It'd be £4000 for the single (taught) year, and still involve unique research so I'm hoping it would be a good introduction at least to continuing should I decide to do so.

There's also the MPhil option which is two years (I think), though I don't know how the progression between the three goes, for instance whether after having done an MSc an MPhil is then one extra year or the full two. Anyone?

[Radical Edward]

Originally Posted by pablissimo

I'm thinking along these lines too, being about to just go into fourth year I'm looking about at what post-grad options are available. From a time point of view, a PhD would take me three years at Ed and demand a 1st or 2.1, and be at a cost of about £3000 a year (so £9000 total, but then factor in living expenses).

you would have to pay for a PhD? I get paid to do a PhD.

The MSc option is looking more promising at the minute simply because I don't know how well I would do in a research environment. It'd be £4000 for the single (taught) year, and still involve unique research so I'm hoping it would be a good introduction at least to continuing should I decide to do so.

check around. the Optics and Photonics masters at Imperial College pays you to do the course. I got what, 8k or something for that. This probably isn't your area, but there may well be other MSc courses that will pay.

There's also the MPhil option which is two years (I think), though I don't know how the progression between the three goes, for instance whether after having done an MSc an MPhil is then one extra year or the full two. Anyone?

I thought the MPhil was just the first year of the PhD.

[roadrunner_0]

this is where the money that Yahwe was talking about comes in, i have 2 friends doing PhD's at two different universities atm, both were to some degree responsible for raising money towards their costs, although one of them is getting 10k a year to do their course and the other 16k a year

[Ste]

I got offered around £15k a year to do a PHD at my uni. (it's tax-free too)
but 3 years of more work and a big thesis to write! nah...

[Weeks]

If you're just persuing a non-serious-work life you could always forge a frugle lifestyle and get a pleasant-enough job in a bar/cafe or something. That way you'd have plenty time to do nothing-in-particular and you wouldn't have to put much effort into your work life.

When I was applying for my degree they offered to let me on the master's course (as I've already a degree). They didn't seem to care my last degree had nothing to do with this degree. This may have had something to do with the fact I got a first, I don't know. I get the impression your degree grade matters quite a bit in regards to doing a PhD. I had a friend who was simply told he shouldn't do a PhD as he didn't get a first in his degree, so he did a masters instead, which they were happy to let him do.

It seems to me masters are a more condenced and intense versions of degrees, and PhDs are more scholarly things that you need to be more motivated to do. It depends how you want to spend the next few years of your life, and what you want to do when it's all over.

You sound quite disaffected with your current degree. I think you should try and imagine yourself when you finish your next course, if you do it that is. Will you be in the same position you are now? Will you still be in nowhereland? Do you want to be somewhere? Will this masters/PhD get you to where you want to be?

[Weeks]

PS. Sub-question:
How do you actually go about getting funding for PhDs, and what are the general requirements?

[Jennifer]

Wouldn't you have to graduate in a subject before you do a post-graduate course in it?

Funding will be tricky, especially with a 2:2.

Advice:
Work harder, get a 2:1.
Do something because you want ot do it, not because you don't want to do anything else.
I would recommend getting a job. The fact of the matter is, post-graduate life is not an airy-fairy walk in the park. You should expect to do at least as much work as you'd do in a full time job. You'll get more money in a full time job, and probably have a better lifestyle.

If I weren't obsessed with physics and academic study, I'd have got a job, cos I'm going to be on 12k pa tax free plus 1.7k pa scholarship next year, compared with upwards of 30k pa if I got a job. There is a good reason for me doing post-grad study - not least that the skills I will acquire and the research I will be doing will be very useful, both to myself and other people. That's why the dept has decided to hand over a load of money to me.