The Student Room Group

Struggling with MSc course.

Hi everyone,

I will keep this short and sweet. About a month ago I started an MSc course and am struggling with the leap up from undergraduate level to Masters level. I thought it would be similar to final year undergraduate but the speed of taught classes and time-frame to do so much work in so little time has slightly overwhelmed me.

Has anyone been in a similar position? I am just freaking out a tad and need to get myself together over these next few months to complete the heavy amount of work. Does anyone have any advice?

Thanks.
Reply 1
What degree are you doing?
Reply 2
Hey, I'm doing an MSc in International Hotel and Tourism Management :smile:
Reply 3
Hey, jumping up for an Undergraduate to Masters is always going to be difficult, I recommend that you put a lot of hours into extensive research and don't be afraid to ask. A lot of people generally go into work to gain experience before pursuing a Masters as they tend to learn more on the practical side of the field/subject, which puts them in a better position when undertaking their Masters. Cant really say much to be honest apart from just give it your best shot, hope you succeed in your Masters and trust me if you put the effort in you will reap the rewards. Hope this helped. :smile:

Naf
Yeah I had the same experience last year. I started in October 2012 and only just finished a MSc in Structural Engineering less than two weeks ago. The first half of the year got me quite upset and by November I felt like quitting so badly because they expected so much previous knowledge from undergraduate and the workload was huge. Plus I had additional personal problems on the side as well. I'm really glad I stuck to it though.

The most important tip I can give you is that if you don't understand something, don't hesitate to ask the lecturers. ASAP. They are always willing to help especially during their surgery hours. Don't leave it until exam times. I made the mistake of thinking I could figure it out myself by the time exams come, but I didn't, and I had hard time with them.

Speaking to them is good as well because then you'll be able to know them and choose the perfect dissertation supervisor which is worth a lot. It was worth 3 modules for me.

Also, try your best not to miss any lectures this year. Each lecture for me was 3 hours long and missing one lecture meant I missed almost an entire topic. I missed a few and it was really hard to catch up.

Good luck and keep working at it. This time next year, you'll feel great.



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(edited 10 years ago)
Reply 5
Thanks for the advice so far guys! Hopefully I will get into the swing of things after another month or so, just a bit overwhelming at the moment.

Congrats btw Yennibubs on completing your masters. That will hopefully be myself this time next year with a huge smile on my face :smile:
Reply 6
It does look completely unmanagable from this side of it - I remember that overwhelmed feeling very well. Didn't get much better for us in the second term, when we had eight coursework deadlines in six weeks. That took some very careful time management, so look ahead wherever possible and try to spot potential issues before they become actual problems. Overall, I found the Masters year full-on, for the full calender year. The sheer volume of reading and research was monsterous, and by my reckoning, I turned out the same volume of coursework in a term, as I'd done in my entire third undergrad year. It certainly was a different beast to my undergrad degree.

However, here I stand, with my Masters successfully completed. It does feel awful quite a lot of the time whilst you're in there, but I can assure you that the majority of people around you feel exactly the same (no matter how carefully they hide it!). It *is* do-able and this time next year you'll be so proud that you survived the experience!

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