The Student Room Group

DD Dilemma

Good whatever time of the day applies

I would like to ask The Student Room for an advice and urge not to judge me too harshly. Before turning to the main point, I have to tell a little story for you to understand why I`ve ended up where I`m now.

Before commencing my studies I have been working in Britain for a year to save up some money for living expenses (the fact that EU citizens did not have to pay tuition fees in Scotland helped me a lot), working each summer ever since to support myself. Eventually I managed to join the BA Hons Politics in a pretty good Scottish uni. Even though I did not like it very much, in the first two years I found it tolerable enough to stay on the course to pursue something else after I get "the standard" 2:1 Honours degree. Despite living on a very tight budget throughout my student life, heady challenges were fun to be overcome, so I did not really feel starved or miserable - I moonlighted occasionally and my mother did her best to support me.

I even managed to join Erasmus and spend my 3rd year in a really good European uni, which I enjoyed very much (I mostly studied in the 1st term and took part in student associations in the 2nd, drinking occasionally). Yet, as spring semester was tough and I was increasingly realizing that PS "is not my thing", my grades went down, but I still managed to backdoor my way into the 4th Year, which was the only which counted in terms of grades and classifications.

Throughout the final year I`ve been struggling both with my dissertation and regular classes. Although I managed to secure 2:1 level for my 1st semester classes, I was very late to submit my dissertation and got the mark below 40%. As I had mitigating circumstances that year, university allowed me to suspend studies and repeat my final year, which seemed like a fresh start.

I was super-motivated to seize the bull by horns and get this bloody 2:1, but in the beginning of autumn semester I had another personal circumstances (although, apart from that, I hate to say that I also have not learnt from my previous year mistakes in terms of discipline and planning), which have prevented me from starting studying before mid-October and I struggled with regular classes even more, starting my dissertation work only 1.5 month before the actual deadline. All in all I somehow regret that I took that voluntary suspension, as I was clearly already fed up with studies by then, but what done is done.

As things currently stand I`m mostly likely to be late with my dissertation again and as far as I`m repeating my final year and there are no penalties for the late submission (you either do it or don`t) , I`m afraid that study advisor will not offer me anything more than Designated Degree which leaves me pretty much in a "Charlie Foxtrot" situation.

So, I`m not a rich kid, therefore, I would like to ask TSR-ers for advice, opinions and experience on following questions:

1) Am I really screwed in terms of job market (apart from customer service jobs) /getting to Masters in Britain, or there are some options?
2) Are there any Political Science Honours conversion courses in Britain (I`ve heard something about them, but don`t really have much information about the requirements and tuition fees)?
3) Is there any possibilities to join 3rd or 4th Year in some British university again (having received a Designated Degree) to top up for Honours?
4) Is it possible to enter postgraduate studies somewhere abroad (Germany, Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands)?
5) Is it possible to transfer for a 3rd (or final) year of Bachelor in some European university, to get their undergraduate degree and try to apply for a Masters here later?
6) Or It`s better to go back to my country, get some work experience and forget about postgrad studies for some time?

I`m very depressed right now to be honest, not simply because I worked many *****y jobs to get myself going (thankfully, I`ve covered 65-70% of my expenses myself, so my mum did not lose plenty of money on me), but it appears that I`ve lost many years for almost nothing.

Kind regards,
KOTL.

P.S. Sorry if I posted to the wrong section - please, transfer this thread to appropriate one.
(edited 7 years ago)
Original post by KOTL


1) Am I really screwed in terms of job market (apart from customer service jobs) /getting to Masters in Britain, or there are some options?


You aren't screwed in terms of the job market in total, but you may not be very competitive for anything that requires a politics degree unless you can leverage some other talent, like appropriate languages.

You are screwed for a Masters, mainly because you yourself say that you haven't learnt the necessary academic discipline and focus. These are generally even more necessary for a Masters than at UG, and struggling with a dissertation is usually a fatal flaw to an application.


Original post by KOTL
2) Are there any Political Science Honours conversion courses in Britain (I`ve heard something about them, but don`t really have much information about the requirements and tuition fees)?


Why do you need a conversion course if you have a Politics undergrad?


Original post by KOTL
3) Is there any possibilities to join 3rd or 4th Year in some British university again (having received a Designated Degree) to top up for Honours?


Very unlikely, degrees are not comparable like this across the uK and no university is likely to offer it's own Honours award to someone who studied the majority of their degree elsewhere. You might stand a slither of a chance at the very lowest ranked UK universities.

Original post by KOTL
4) Is it possible to enter postgraduate studies somewhere abroad (Germany, Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands)?


You'd have to do a load of research with each individual university to find that out.

Original post by KOTL
5) Is it possible to transfer for a 3rd (or final) year of Bachelor in some European university, to get their undergraduate degree and try to apply for a Masters here later?


Again, that;s up to each University, you'd have to approach them all individually and explain your circumstances.

Original post by KOTL
6) Or It`s better to go back to my country, get some work experience and forget about postgrad studies for some time?

.


i'm not sure about going back your your country, but yes, you need to ditch the idea of PG unless you can a) demonstrably improve your academic disciplines and smash your dissertation and b) get a 2.1.

The bottom line is that you need to get off TSR, knuckle down and smash the dissertation. otherwise you are always going to be a very weak candidate for any sort of further study. You can;t just 'like' or 'want' further study unless you have the appropriate further study skills. No reputable institution will offer you a place, and you don;t have the cash to be an academic dilettante who just pays to flit from degree to degree - a life many of us might like!.
(edited 7 years ago)

Quick Reply