Cut off point- Masters after Degree

Siuin

I was told by a friend that it's necessary to do a masters within 2 years of completing your BA- is this true? I'll be graduating in May 2013 but don't plan to officially begin my masters til October 2015 (not in Ireland) - would this become an issue? Should I get letters of recommendation right after graduating? (I'm worried they won't remember who I am if I leave it any longer!)

Many thanks for any help

HavingCrack

Nah that's not true at all. My father did his Masters 20 years after he did his degree .

Siuin

HavingCrack wrote: »

Nah that's not true at all. My father did his Masters 20 years after he did his degree .

Oh thank god! I've heard it a few times now and it was starting to panic me! And fair played to him! I was just lamenting how old I'll be when I'm finally finished (27)!

magpie0508

27 is not OOOOOOOOOOOLD....I think your friend maybe right, you do need some practical experience before starting master while that all depends-know yourself better and make your decision.

Meow_Meow

27 is the new 21 :P Don't worry about it, these days by the time everyone's finished all their studying and work experience etc etc, they're usually in the exact same position

Siuin

magpie0508 wrote: »

27 is not OOOOOOOOOOOLD....I think your friend maybe right, you do need some practical experience before starting master while that all depends-know yourself better and make your decision.

Hopefully! I dunno, I just feel that I'll be waiting so long before earning proper money. I'm going working for 12 months after my degree to save up money (and as a graduate in Dublin... not expecting the best job in the world ), then going abroad and spending another year improving my ability in the language so that I can do a masters in it... the masters itself doesn't require experience, but it'll be expensive to spend 2 years just studying and I need to pump up the funds beforehand

magpie0508

yes practical experience may not be prerequisite when applying master programme, but it would be better if you have some (internship, apprentice, volunteer....whatever) so that you could better understand what you were taught. The perfect situation is that you can gather practical experience and yet money in the same time.

VALIS

A good grade is the most salient requirement for a Masters--experience can come before or after depending on your priorities.

I went into a Masters with no practical experience in the precise area (though I did get 6 months work placement in a peripheral area during my undergrad) and it was not a handicap to my understanding of or engagement with the content of the course. This might differ depending on the course.

From a career perspective though; experience wherever and however you can get it is obviously ideal!

Siuin

The masters I will be doing (hopefully something along the lines of marketing) is pretty unrelated to my current degree (English and history) and although if I maintain my current GPA I should be able to get a 1st, I'm not holding out much hope for a particularly 'good' job right after graduation.

Realistically, where could one hope to work after graduating with an arts degree? I only want up to a year's employment at the most and it would need to be in the Dublin area

VALIS

My friend with an Arts degree hasn't been discriminating as regards work and has done clerical work and pipe laying in the past couple of years in order to save. I would be open minded, but you never really know what opportunity is going to present itself.

Siuin

I can probably rule out pipe laying for now :P But I totally get what you mean and it's very true- these days one needs to be flexible. Glad to see there's still some hope there for the arts graduate!