Working 25-30 hours a week during full time masters for two years?
Ello,
A totally boring and probably dumb question, but something that I'm getting increasingly nervous about.
About to start an MA in Law (a two year course) and I'm going to be funding my living and accommodation costs myself. To be financially comfortable I reckon I need to working about 25 hours a week - I'll be living totally hand to mouth, no savings and little/no consistent support from family.
As far as I know, a full time masters requires about 30-40 hours week. When I plan it all out, it looks and sounds perfectly do-able, though obviously quite focused, but some opinions/reassurance/warnings about how un/manageable this is would be appreciated, particularly since I can't see any previous stories of people working this number of hours on the net. People must do this, right?
Ta
A totally boring and probably dumb question, but something that I'm getting increasingly nervous about.
About to start an MA in Law (a two year course) and I'm going to be funding my living and accommodation costs myself. To be financially comfortable I reckon I need to working about 25 hours a week - I'll be living totally hand to mouth, no savings and little/no consistent support from family.
As far as I know, a full time masters requires about 30-40 hours week. When I plan it all out, it looks and sounds perfectly do-able, though obviously quite focused, but some opinions/reassurance/warnings about how un/manageable this is would be appreciated, particularly since I can't see any previous stories of people working this number of hours on the net. People must do this, right?
Ta
Sounds totally practical, go for it.
I would say it will be very very busy and quite stressful and that two years is a relatively long time. I worked a 34 hour week and did my MA full time in 2009/2010. It was do-able, but I don't think I could have carried that level of stress over two years (my MA was a 12 month course); I was constantly exhausted and messed my back up (I think through never really having any down-time). Be prepared to use up all your available energy and to feel like you're not quite able to do either the Master's or the job to the very best of your abilities. You just need to he OK with accepting the limitations that doing the MA this way brings with it, and make sure you don't burn yourself out before the two years is up - make sure to use any non-term time wisely and make sure to take some complete breaks from both uni and work to allow your brain and body to recharge.
Original post by madamemerle
I would say it will be very very busy and quite stressful and that two years is a relatively long time. I worked a 34 hour week and did my MA full time in 2009/2010. It was do-able, but I don't think I could have carried that level of stress over two years (my MA was a 12 month course); I was constantly exhausted and messed my back up (I think through never really having any down-time). Be prepared to use up all your available energy and to feel like you're not quite able to do either the Master's or the job to the very best of your abilities. You just need to he OK with accepting the limitations that doing the MA this way brings with it, and make sure you don't burn yourself out before the two years is up - make sure to use any non-term time wisely and make sure to take some complete breaks from both uni and work to allow your brain and body to recharge.
Wow, hats off to you! Thanks for sharing and for the advice. Oh and sorry about your back, I'll watch out for that.
How flexible will your job be?
The workload during your Masters is likely to be variable, where sometimes there won't be so much to do between teaching sessions, but at other times (thinking dissertation here) there just won't be enough hours in the day.
If you have a job that enables you to pick up more hours when there's less study to be done, banking the money against times when you have a deadline to meet and need to concentrate on studying would be incredibly useful.
The workload during your Masters is likely to be variable, where sometimes there won't be so much to do between teaching sessions, but at other times (thinking dissertation here) there just won't be enough hours in the day.
If you have a job that enables you to pick up more hours when there's less study to be done, banking the money against times when you have a deadline to meet and need to concentrate on studying would be incredibly useful.
It'll be mostly bar/restaurant work, maybe retail so very flexible and also a lot of unsocial hours that won't clash with contact time.
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