Should I do a masters?

Hey guys

I'm just wondering is there any point in me doing a masters? I've just graduated from a university that's around 80 in the league tables with a 2:1, I'm looking to apply for graduate entry medicine but since you have to apply a year in advance I have a year free.

I've managed to get a place at Newcastle university to do an msc and I was wondering if I should take it, the msc might improve my chances for medicine but it's not something I have to do. I was wondering if I don't get onto medicine, will a masters from a much better university help me at all in the job search/PhD?

My other reason is that I didn't really enjoy my time very much at my previous university since I didn't appreciate the university vibe, so I felt like I missed out.

Thanks for taking the time for reading any advice would be appreciated it.

Reply 1

KyleH123

20

Original post by high

Hey guys

I'm just wondering is there any point in me doing a masters? I've just graduated from a university that's around 80 in the league tables with a 2:1, I'm looking to apply for graduate entry medicine but since you have to apply a year in advance I have a year free.

I've managed to get a place at Newcastle university to do an msc and I was wondering if I should take it, the msc might improve my chances for medicine but it's not something I have to do. I was wondering if I don't get onto medicine, will a masters from a much better university help me at all in the job search/PhD?

My other reason is that I didn't really enjoy my time very much at my previous university since I didn't appreciate the university vibe, so I felt like I missed out.

Thanks for taking the time for reading any advice would be appreciated it.

If your plan is GEM, do not do a masters degree just for the sake of doing one. Work experience will be far more beneficial in your application.

Reply 2

high

OP

1

Original post by KyleH123

If your plan is GEM, do not do a masters degree just for the sake of doing one. Work experience will be far more beneficial in your application.

I was thinking I could get volunteering while studying and wouldn't it help with places like Warwick?

Also since my degree is science related best I could get right now is a technician role.

Reply 3

KyleH123

20

Original post by high

I was thinking I could get volunteering while studying and wouldn't it help with places like Warwick?

Also since my degree is science related best I could get right now is a technician role.

Even if it does, in comparison to work experience, the £6000 or whatever it will cost just isn't worth it. If Warwick places significant bearing on postgraduate qualifications, don't apply there. Get whatever job you can meanwhile and save up some money, because the first year of GEM you have to pay some money yourself as far as I know.

Reply 4

QHF

11

Original post by high

I was wondering if I don't get onto medicine, will a masters from a much better university help me at all in the job search/PhD?

For job searching, no, it's unlikely to be helpful unless you're applying to para-academic jobs in research support &c. Having worked in some kind of job will be more helpful. For a PhD, possibly, but only if it is a close fit with the subject you're applying to do your PhD in. (Do you want to do a PhD, or are you thinking, as your phrasing suggests you might be, of it as a refuge from the job search? If the latter, maybe don't do a PhD.)

Original post by high

My other reason is that I didn't really enjoy my time very much at my previous university since I didn't appreciate the university vibe, so I felt like I missed out.

A master's course is an expensive and usually also a demanding experience, and it doesn't usually offer the same 'university vibe' that undergraduate study can have (perhaps: I suspect that 'the university vibe' is partly just an idea people use to sell students things, so perhaps a lot of people graduate feeling they missed out on it because no one ever fully gets to appreciate it). I wouldn't recommend doing a master's if this is a significant motivation.

Original post by high

I was thinking I could get volunteering while studying

If a master's course is a worthwhile programme of study it should keep you busy enough that you don't have lots of time left over for volunteering.

I'm not an expert and it might be worth talking to GEM students or admissions people if you can, to get a sense for what they think would be worth doing. But I suspect that getting some kind of work would be more useful than doing an MSc.

Reply 5

artful_lounger

Universities Forum Helper

21

As advised work experience is a better option, as several GEM programmes require extensive (6 months +) work experience and all prefer some evidence of it as far as I am aware.

On a more practical note, GEM is an expensive undertaking already, so taking on more immediate costs and long term debt with a masters course is probably inadvisable.

Should I do a masters?

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