[stewy2012]

Hi guys, just after a little bit of advice here if possible. Thank you in advance!

Obviously, doing a Masters degree and the perks of doing so depends on the person. That being said, I know people cannot simply tell me that it's the best idea. So, let me explain my situation a little more.

- I have a BA in English and Italian. It didn't lead on to any direct career paths and my urge to get out of the UK led me into English language teaching...

- I taught in Korea for a little bit, but to be honest, entry level teaching positions weren't for me. Long story short, I had a bad boss, pretty corrupt set up and found teaching the little ones a nightmare. (I could see myself educating adults, but of course, this requires more qualifications and experience.)

- I'm back in the UK now and going over my options. First I looked at my goals, which were as follows:

1. I would like to work in diplomacy and abroad within the scope of International Relations. This would of course involve expanding my languages and getting some kind of Masters.

2. I wanted to work in the third sector, maybe within an NGO or something similar. I'm sure a Masters would help here too, but I gathered field experience would be essential.

3. I could see myself teaching again, just with older students. This would involve either the CELTA certificate or a Masters in Education.

Having weighed that up, I had a few options:

1. Get a Masters here in the UK. This is costly however.
2. Get a Masters abroad via a scholarship. This would be in Korea, however I would have to wait 6 months to find out, assuming it was unlikely given the competitiveness.
3. Apply for a range of internships. (I have done so, but it's also quite costly to do this abroad and difficult to get accepted here in the UK too.)

So that brings me back to my questions on a Masters in IR.

1. Do you reckon it would be worth the costs?
2. Would I come out of it in a better position than I am now? More skills? More employable in general?
3. Would it lead on to positions abroad? Or, would I be led back down the teaching path again if I intended to leave the UK?

Cheers for reading guys. It just helps to talk things through sometimes and I really appreciate the advice!

[Nathanielle]

When you do a Master for getting your foot into something, then you should perhaps try to get to the institutions who have a good alumni network/internship program and help you to get involved in useful extracurriculars and/or have suitable language courses. At least this is, what I would look for, when my first motivation wouldn't be the subject by itself, but to found work afterwards.

[beefmaster]

I work in the NGO sector abroad. I would certainly recommed getting some internships abroad in your region of interest. Honestly, it is next to impossible to apply for these when you are not 'in country'; so many relocating for a teaching job / language study would be a good idea. To get my foot in the door, I relocated to my region of interest after university and then looked for entry level positions once I arrived.