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How valuable is a masters?

How does having a masters rather then a bachelor affect your employment prospects? I know that it will vary between courses, but can someone give me a general idea of if the extra year of study is worth it or not.

Reply 1

The Boosh

17

i would say 100% yes in many contexts. there is no real special needs training for teachers, so a masters in special educational needs for teachers wanting to go into special schools is a huge bonus. certain jobs also require a masters (e.g. in international relations). for research phd students, research councils will only fund students with a certain masters in research methodology. and for those who want to apply to certain industries (eg clinical psychology), a masters is necessary if you have a 2.2 or below. if qualifications matter, then the better qualification will give you an (academic) edge.

but there are also industries where a 2.2. and good alevels will do the trick (eg engineering jobs for bae systems). anything else may be considered by the job applicant as a waste of time and money if its not needed. also, science graduates seem to go straight from bsc to phd without a masters (unlike arts students who normally have a masters, apart from the alba).

if you can be more specific we may be able to help you more...

Reply 2

shiny

12

boosh is right. there are all sorts of answers depending on the circumstances.

Reply 3

Concept

OP

1

ok, there are no "specific details" as I have yet to decide what I want to do, but thanks anyway.

Reply 4

monkeymayhem

I agree with The Boosh.

^^^ ta

The Boosh

but there are also industries where a 2.2. and good alevels will do the trick (eg engineering jobs for bae systems). anything else may be considered by the job applicant as a waste of time and money if its not needed. also, science graduates seem to go straight from bsc to phd without a masters (unlike arts students who normally have a masters, apart from the alba).

Can I ask what good A-levels are considered to be?

Reply 7

The Boosh

17

Eeeeeerm?! Not mine!

Back in the day when I was an undergrad (2002) B-B-C upwards seemed to be the benchmark of "good". Now they could be higher. A quick google search under "graduate recruitment" gave me BAE Systems who ask for 220 UCAS points +2.2 (what the hell does this mean??? When I did my A-levels AAA was something like 32 points, now we are talking hundreds of points!?!?!)

http://www.graduates-baesystems.com/html/apply.php

Reply 8

Cowz

The Boosh

Eeeeeerm?! Not mine!

Back in the day when I was an undergrad (2002) B-B-C upwards seemed to be the benchmark of "good". Now they could be higher. A quick google search under "graduate recruitment" gave me BAE Systems who ask for 220 UCAS points +2.2 (what the hell does this mean??? When I did my A-levels AAA was something like 32 points, now we are talking hundreds of points!?!?!)

http://www.graduates-baesystems.com/html/apply.php

Lol right there with you! Always fiddling with it they are!

I THINK, that one old A-level point=10 new points and I THINK an A at A-level was 12 points and is now 120 points. Then its a sliding scale, with a B equal to 100 points etc. and an AS-level being worths half as many points as an A-level.

So 220 could be AA or CCD or even CDDd which seems quite low tbh. (And if that include nonsense like key studies which is worth like 30 ucas points for signing your name to a form)

Reply 9

The Boosh

17

madness. i wonder why they changed the system in the first place? well, i say i wonder, but i don't actually care because my a-levels no longer have any currency for me (whereas a phd does).

Reply 10

Cowz

The Boosh

madness. i wonder why they changed the system in the first place? well, i say i wonder, but i don't actually care because my a-levels no longer have any currency for me (whereas a phd does).

Hehe. Worked your way back to the top a? :P

I think they introduced it because of the whole AS level thing and the like. Its good though because A-levels are getting easier all the time-so if you quote your A-levels with the old system then it means your more hardcore. :cool:

Reply 11

The Boosh

17

hehehe. i didnt like school or 6th form and so didnt bother with them really. i always wanted to join the police, which i couldnt do until i was 18, so i did some alevels to pass the time, meet women and doss about. i ended up going to uni because my mates did. i loved it and stayed on. i think people in certain circles would be impressed if i could claim that i got aaa-aaaa at a-level, but im not in those circles anymore. and, even if i was, id like to think that the word 'phd' would classify me "exempt" from any tensions that may arise for not being an a-grade a-level student.

Reply 12

nikk

15

The Boosh

hehehe. i didnt like school or 6th form and so didnt bother with them really. i always wanted to join the police, which i couldnt do until i was 18, so i did some alevels to pass the time, meet women and doss about. i ended up going to uni because my mates did. i loved it and stayed on. i think people in certain circles would be impressed if i could claim that i got aaa-aaaa at a-level, but im not in those circles anymore. and, even if i was, id like to think that the word 'phd' would classify me "exempt" from any tensions that may arise for not being an a-grade a-level student.

If you take out the bit about the police and replace it with working for three years after college, that post could have been written by me! College years were there to have fun... there is plenty of time for work later (although admittedly not good advice to give, but hey, it worked for me!).

Reply 13

The Boosh

17

hahaha! the phrase: "there is plenty of time for work later" sums up my entire attitude since leaving school.

i do feel sorry for a the majority of tsr folk at times. public schools have a lot to answer for with regards to re-sculpting and perpetuating a particular ideology whereby anything but academic and social "excellence" is completely worthless. it's no wonder that this forum is largely made up of "hierarchy-wars", where "prestige" is chased, and scrambling up the social ladder is seen as the only purpose in life (without which, life is sub-standard). i can certainly understand the reaction of forum posters when we gog-folk almost invert the hierarchies and attempt to show that they may actually be climbing down the ladder or that the ladder was broken decades ago! having said this, i suppose we should give credit to the achievement of the aformentioned group - they certaintly did much better than i did at school!!!

Reply 14

Cowz

A good point well made Mr The Boosh. But I would add that this is something that extends beyond public schools-even comrephensives exist within a hierarchy. And lets not forget grammar schools or the ultra whizz acadamies that are opening up.

Also, there are plenty people climbing these mythical ladders because they want to escape the circumstance into which they were born. Kind of working class ideology. This especially seems to be the case for migrant families. A doctor is a doctor, but a working class Asian is somehow even one below working class. By extension, there is pressure on migrant children to get high grades and so on.

But I agree, people should do what they want because they want to do it. People seem to be very concious of their public image. Butttttt lets not forget that you yourself have climbed these ladders *whistles*

Reply 15

The Boosh

17

Very true. In some circles I'm up in the rafters, but in other circles I'm rock-bottom, so the dynamics are interesting in terms of how I'm valued (or not) depending on context. As a forum, I don't think the university section on TSR embodies this complexity - it just seems to be a space for arguing who is top dog (and who isn't). Then again I'm always lured back and some how end up in sprawling debates so I'm no better!! It's the British condition - no matter how hard we fight it, we always end up thinking in categories and put these categories in rank order.

Reply 16

ChemistBoy

16

The problem with TSR is that the general uni section poster doesn't seem to grasp that there is no overall ranking system anymore, they seem to believe that jobs in certain areas are better than others (for example IB>Law>Accountancy, etc., etc. ad nauseum). Hence people who aren't or don't want to be in a particular profession are obviously lesser than those that do. Very frustrating.

Reply 17

the_beast

7

The Boosh

i loved it and stayed on. i think people in certain circles would be impressed if i could claim that i got aaa-aaaa at a-level, but im not in those circles anymore. and, even if i was, id like to think that the word 'phd' would classify me "exempt" from any tensions that may arise for not being an a-grade a-level student.

are you doing a PHD now?

Reply 18

the_beast

7

ChemistBoy

The problem with TSR is that the general uni section poster doesn't seem to grasp that there is no overall ranking system anymore, they seem to believe that jobs in certain areas are better than others (for example IB>Law>Accountancy, etc., etc.

all the debates seem to revolve around business schools. it seems like some people just start a debate to show off that they have offers from particular BS.

Reply 19

ChemistBoy

16

the_beast

all the debates seem to revolve around business schools. it seems like some people just start a debate to show off that they have offers from particular BS.

I've never really understood the need to go and study business at a university, what exactly do you learn?

How valuable is a masters?

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