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How to choose a Masters...

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  • 06-12-2013 1:50pm
    #1
    languagenerd
    Registered Users Posts: 3,201 ✭✭✭


    Hi everyone. This is all a bit vague, but anyway. I'm having huge trouble deciding what to do after my degree and was wondering how you all chose your Masters. Should you have a career plan first? Should you just do what you think will be interesting and hope career opportunities arise? Did ye all know exactly what you wanted to do before applying?

    Basically, I've got a first class honours degree in languages and no idea what to do with it! I'd like to do a Masters because (a) I've always enjoyed learning and now seems a good time to do it (before I have any real responsibilities) and (b) an arts degree is so vague that I don't feel I'm really qualified in anything. For that reason, I don't want to do a Masters that's just more of the same - I don't want to spend a year or 2 on something (as interesting as it might be) only to end up in the exact same position as I'm in now. But I'm interested in so many areas (media/multimedia, translation, linguistics, culture, education...) that I'm finding it hard to pick one!

    TL;DR: How do/did you go about choosing your Masters, and what do you think are the most important factors to take into account?

    Thanks in advance for any advice anyone might have to offer :)


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    #2
    tomboylady
    Registered Users Posts: 309 ✭✭tomboylady


    I went straight from an Arts degree to a Masters. I had no career plan, no real idea about what I wanted to do. I applied for four MA courses in four completely different areas. I figured I wouldn't get accepted to all of them so it would make the choice easier. Not so much; got accepted to all four so had to make the decision myself. Whittled it down to two and eventually went with my heart rather than my head.

    It was a bit of a rocky year; I found some classes totally enthralling, whereas it was a struggle to motivate myself in other classes. Came out with a good result and was contemplating the idea of a PhD. I was very lucky to get a job straight away, somewhat related to my Masters, and after a few years of careful consideration I started my PhD.

    My advice would be to definitely do something that you're interested in and enjoy, rather than doing a course for the sake of doing a course. Having a love for your topic of study is difficult to find but when you do it makes life a whole lot easier! And don't worry too much about what you're going to do at the end of the course... everything will become clearer for you over the 1/2 years!


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