MSc Science Communication

Hello! Did anyone here do an MSc Science Communication? I’m wondering what your experience was like, and what factors you considered when choosing the university (e.g. UCL, Edinburgh, Imperial, etc). Would love to hear if you can share anything! Thanks :smile:

Reply 1

AlessandroSciCom

Hi, I'm a science communicator with +6 years of experience. I think all those options are great, but I would add Manchester health and SciComm program. I know people on those universities and you are going to enjoy any of them! I got accepted to imperial, Edinburgh and Manchester, but I end on another master's program considering I want to pursue a PhD in science communication and I need to focus more on research.

I recommend you to read the courses and the possible paths they have. For example, I love the Manchester program. It is lead by Dr Elizabeth Toon, who study in Penn and used to teach in Cornell, where Dr Bruce Lewenstein is (who is one of the SciComm gods) and I think she structure the courses in a very interesting. You have to choose 2 of 4 paths, but still you can assist all of the classes. That's great if you like courses all like me.

On the other hand, Imperial have great alliances and you may have internships in very interesting places. The same with UCL (I loved their curricula, but I didn't had the English score for applying). Then is Edinburgh, and they have a great program too, and is one of my favorite options for pursuing the PhD as they have the expertise on the topics I want to do my research.

Feel free to answer some other questions. If I know the answer, I would be very glad to help.

Reply 2

OneTiredStudent

I've previously attended Imperial College - It will be a good qualification to have, you'll learn a lot and it'll be a great look for your CV, but they will work you very hard, you'll have a limited social life, and London is expensive, although minimal free time due to workloads is definitely something you need to consider. I have very recently done the Edinburgh Scicomms MSc, and honestly, I wouldn't recommend it. The organisation is not great, the amount you'll learn is minimal, and some of my colleagues were really struggling with mental health because trying to get through it was basically impossible at some points, with all the deadlines crushed together, group projects are often gruelling solo affairs and there's minimal professionalism, and no-one to help you with any issues you have; you're met with defensiveness and shut down immediately if you raise an issue/question about the course, feedback and marks are not good, and huge chunks of the course are about a decade or more out of date. There are (to my opinion) 2 great lecturers, so it isn't all bad, but if you aren't into a career in their fields, it's a real shame because you can learn from them but the problems are more systemic and they don't have enough power. There are placements which are really good if you get the ones you want but this isn't always the case, and there are a couple of guests who do cool jobs outside of the course (one of them i. a scientist on a popular science TV show, for example, but they come in only for a day and are often not told who they are lecturing to and are fairly unsupported and just one session with them isn't enough to make the course worth it. However life in Edinburgh was amazing, the university itself is good (just the course that isn't), and I met some amazing people on the course that I'm still close to, and we made our own fun in the city and area. There are some positives to the course, but honestly I'm not sure I'd do it again if I had my time again, especially considering the cost of an MSc etc.