This discussion is now closed.

Check out other Related discussions

Is it true that you can do master's without having a bachelor degree?

I heard that people could do their master's if they had the right experience or they have the knowledge with relevant certificate they could join to do master's course...

Is that true..? Has any of guys heard this or know anyone who has done it??

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 1

TechMill

Methinks I saw some university that offers PhD for people who have master's or equivalent experience. They didn't specify what experience, though.
I don't know if this was applicable to master's as well.

Reply 2

lyrical_lie

19

Original post by success_pearl

I heard that people could do their master's if they had the right experience or they have the knowledge with relevant certificate they could join to do master's course...

Is that true..? Has any of guys heard this or know anyone who has done it??

Posted from TSR Mobile

There are some degrees that do the full five years and give you a masters at the end of it. My boyfriend does one, Applied chemistry and chemical engineering at Strathclyde. So there are some like that I think, common for engineering ones I think.

Reply 3

Tcannon

18

Yes, it happens. There was a guy in my MSc course without BA degree. But he is older and had many years work experience in the British Army with various certificates and evening classes credits.

Reply 4

Nathanielle

15

Yes. But is often meaning, that they got the knowledge elsewhere and usually it is requiredto have the experience in exactly the same field than the Master you want to do. So the flexibility of choosing a course is rather limited.

Reply 5

godfrem

Original post by success_pearl

Is that true..? Has any of guys heard this or know anyone who has done it??

Posted from TSR Mobile

I have two masters and am studying for my doctorate. I do not have a degree, but I was a Manager of a reasonable size department, in my late 20s early 30s and had credits with the OU upon entry to the initial MBA which was a 3 year part time evening programme. This then gave me access to the next part time masters.Worked full time and had young family! Not one of the easiest roots to an education or a doctorate.

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 6

uberteknik

21

MEng is a secific type of masters where you join with A-levels and end with a Masters in an engineering subject. This comprises a standard BSc honours degree and, depending on your pass grade at the end of the third year, allows you to progress to the final masters year.

The differences between MEng and the standard BSc/MSc route is that you are guaranteed continuity and depending on the course, the time to complete the course is 4 years.

If you wish to progress to Phd though, you will need to check with your intended establishment as not all will accept MEng straight onto their doctoral programme without the MSc credentials. Also to become a European Chartered Engineer, you currently need the MSc since the MEng is not yet recognised but the Engineering Council are working to get it accepted.

Reply 7

Gillybop

14

Yes, it is possible. I was offered a place to do a masters in Economics and financial risk due to the fact I worked as a financial advisor for 6 years.

Reply 8

Tcannon

18

Gillbop,

Do you have professional qualifications as certified financial advisor and did it count in lieu of BA? Was the Economics and financial risk MSc closely related to your normal work?

Reply 9

Manitude

20

Yes, my mum got an MA about fifteen years ago without ever having an undergraduate degree. Being a mature student (and in her case, working in the particular field the degree was in) helps.

Reply 10

Smack

20

Yes, it is possible to get onto certain masters courses without an undergraduate degree depending on whether you have a lot of relevant work experience. I know a few engineering masters degrees allow this.

Reply 11

El Salvador

21

Yes, with sufficient work experience.

Reply 12

success_pearl

OP

Thank you guys for your replies...
I have worked the past 4 years in different fields mainly in business would you think that would be enough experience for masters??

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 13

cambio wechsel

20

Original post by success_pearl

Thank you guys for your replies...
I have worked the past 4 years in different fields mainly in business would you think that would be enough experience for masters??

my anticipation would be "no", and still more so if "I've worked for 4 years" implies you as 22, i.e. of the same age as people going onto the masters degree from a bachelors. They'd (reasonably?) feel a bit put out to think that you earned while they paid and then you opted back in at the point they'd studied toward.

Reply 14

success_pearl

OP

No I am not 22 I am soon 26 so didn't really go Uni just straight to work

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 15

Nathanielle

15

Original post by success_pearl

Thank you guys for your replies...
I have worked the past 4 years in different fields mainly in business would you think that would be enough experience for masters??

This is too less information to make any helpful comment, BUT you need experience in a field you want to do the Master and it has to be somehow equivalent to what somebody would learn with a Bachelor (equivalent does not mean the same experience). As above mentioned in Engineering that could mean, that you worked your way up in a company, gained more and more responsabilities and learned all the technical stuff on job => you are basically working on the same level one would with a Bachelor or even above => your company or yourself decide a Master is necessary to procede further with your career => chances are good, because he can show he has equivalent knowledge and will be able to keep up.

Reply 16

Klix88

17

Original post by success_pearl

I have worked the past 4 years in different fields mainly in business would you think that would be enough experience for masters??

It depends on what Masters you want to do and what your experience consists of. We don't have enough info to take a guess.

For example (not saying this applies to you as we don't know) an MBA at Manchester Business School requires at least 3 years of professional experience "with strong career progression and management/leadership experience".
http://www.mbs.ac.uk/mba/
So if your 4 years of experience didn't involve managing staff and you hadn't experienced rapid career progression, then it probably won't help.

Their MSc International Business and Management only talks about your undergraduate degree in the entry requirements, so you'd have to contact them direct about substituting business experience:
http://www.mbs.ac.uk/masters/courses/int-business-manage/entry-requirements.aspx

Reply 17

Gillybop

14

Original post by Tcannon

Gillbop,

Do you have professional qualifications as certified financial advisor and did it count in lieu of BA? Was the Economics and financial risk MSc closely related to your normal work?

Hey, yes at the point I had already completed the full IFS Cerificate and had started working towards the diploma, had already completed a unit of Financial services regulations and ethics, so the uni says that a BA wouldn't have been no use (that's what I initially applied for) and that I could get onto the masters.

It wouldn't have helped me in relation to my current job at the time whatsoever, financial advice is just sales, and if you have the certificate, and the company thinks you can sell then your laughing, I was getting about 60k. Year on average, but was committing upwards of 80 hours a week. But with the govt changes to how advice was given, the earning potential shrank drastically, but the level of time consumption so didn't.

I would have used it to move away from regulated financial sales and more towards risk management. But in the end I decided just to leave finance completely.

Reply 18

Tcannon

18

" But with the govt changes to how advice was given, the earning potential shrank drastically"

Thanks for the response, when do you refer to Gov's changes. What are these, why and are they major and regulated by FSA? There wasn't a misselling scandal to justify changes? How long does it take to earn certificate or diploma? Just asking as a friend's dad is IFA and he may have mentioned it during dinner.

What is the split of base salary vs commission for IFA? Is it sth line £25K base plus commission?

Reply 19

Gillybop

14

Original post by Tcannon

" But with the govt changes to how advice was given, the earning potential shrank drastically"

Thanks for the response, when do you refer to Gov's changes. What are these, why and are they major and regulated by FSA? There wasn't a misselling scandal to justify changes? How long does it take to earn certificate or diploma? Just asking as a friend's dad is IFA and he may have mentioned it during dinner.

What is the split of base salary vs commission for IFA? Is it sth line £25K base plus commission?

The govt changed the way in which financial advice was given, RDR it was known as, Retail Distribution Review. Basically, banks, building societies and insurance firms had to be upfront about the costs of financial advice. I worked for a major high street bank, and we were able to say the advice was free as they paid only for the product, but the managements fees would be on there, a yearly fee, for as long as they kept the product, which could work out to be thousands. Especially when you consider how long someone keeps a pension or an investment portfolio.

RDR meant the banks had to offer the customer the option of paying that management fee, or ongoing advice charge as it was also called, as opposed to paying it, which meant the service within high street banks became unaffordable. So they have all made their sales force of advisors rednundant, the last standing was nationwide, which is also now shedding their advisors.

IFAs are the last bastions of advice on a high street now, and mainly they provide a good service, they have always worked on a model of either paying a yearly commission or an upfront one of fee, so the transition for them, as well as usually being solely commission only, meant they could progress after RDR.

My basic started at 30, but after a year of smashing targets it went up to 48k, and I was getting decent quarterly bonuses, and that continued for about 4 years before it all started to crumble down. IFAs can sometimes be completely unsalaried, and if they come with a salary, they will expect you to bring a large amount of business with you.

Getting into to it now is very difficult as the banks would take people on with the certificates and no advice experience, but as they are gone it's hard. I spoke to a guy at st James place to get a position as a self employed IFA using their name, and as I had workd in a retail bank, where it was stack em high, sell em cheap, I never had a great customer base that would follow me, so there was little chance of me walking into an IFA position. Nor would I want it, I'm not sales driven enough to spend my life trying to generate the leads anymore.

If I was staying within that world, I would be aiming for a paraplanner, they basically do the IFAs financial reports and become a point of contact for customers after the IFA has sold them their crap, make sure everything is compliant etc....they get paid very well.....and no sales.

The Cerificate in financial advice and diploma would probably take about two years to complete perhaps.

Is it true that you can do master's without having a bachelor degree?

Related discussions

Articles for you