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What's putting you off applying for a postgrad course?

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What's putting you off applying for a postgrad course?

I was wondering why you want to do a postgrad, and what's putting you off?

Maybe you really love the course but it's too expensive?

Or the career prospects are good but maybe you're fed up of studying...?

I did a masters but I took several years out working - I definitely wasn't ready to go into one straight after undergrad. I knew it was something I wanted to do someday but it was just finding the right time. Also funding was important to me.

I'm wondering if anyone else feels similar or what your reasons for wanting to study one is? And what you feel like your obstacles are?
(edited 4 years ago)
Even more debt definitely put me off! Plus I wanted to start making money :h:
Reply 2
I always thought I would do it later, but I wanted a break from studying after my degree.
Original post by Puddles the Monkey
I was wondering why you want to do a postgrad, and what's putting you off?

Maybe you really love the course but it's too expensive?

Or the career prospects are good but maybe you're fed up of studying...?

I did a masters but I took several years out working - I definitely wasn't ready to go into one straight after undergrad. I knew it was something I wanted to do someday but it was just finding the right time. Also funding was important to me.

I'm wondering if anyone else feels similar or what your reasons for wanting to study one is? And what you feel like your obstacles are?


Not the right time for me.

If I were to do a postgrad, it would have to be after working for a couple of years for some real world experience etc.

If I can afford it, an MBA would be nice :lol:
I did a postgrad straight after my undergrad. I would say a huge part for me doing one was that I was offered a scholarship to do so, if I wasn't, I definitely would not have wanted to take on the extra loans. I believe I was also in the first year that could get a postgrad loan from the government, which helped loads with living costs.

But I also really wanted to carry on studying and loved the subject I was doing, so for me having the security of money whilst I was doing it made it a no-brainer.
Reply 5
I did both my postgrads one after the other, which I am told is now unusual

Paid for the master's myself by working, funded PhD so was lucky. Without funding, not sure what woulda happened
Once I knew which career I wanted, THEN I knew which postgrad to do. So I was 26 when I started it. Had I known earlier, I would have started much earlier, I think I wasted some of my earlier career...
I did look into doing a masters course in Marketing but was advised (by the university) to look at other avenues by the university. This was a couple of years after finishing my initial undergrad degree. The route I took was the CIM level 6 Diploma in Professional Marketing; I simply wouldn't have found the time to complete a Masters, and the diploma likely boosts my employability due to its more technical nature.

It was an extra year (almost) of study and hard work, but definitely worthwhile.

Had I not gone to the university's postgrad open evening, I wouldn't have been given the advice on which to go for.
Expensive and I wanted a break first, having been in education for 17 straight years . . .
Reply 9
I've actually already done a masters and REALLY loved it. Loved it so much. But when I did it the cost was only £4,200 - that same course now is over £9,000. I just wouldn't be able to afford it now, even with the government loan thing.

The course was about american literature and culture (before you ask 'America? culture? what culture?' i've heard that joke more times than I could count) and i just found it absolutely fascinating, but the way i described it was like an expensive hobby. It wasn't for a career, it was for me. I'd love to do something more business-y or economics-y now because I find that more interesting these days and think it would be really good for my career but normally those kinds of courses are closer to £20k and I would just NEVER be able to afford that!!!!

Oh and I would also recommend to anyone to do their masters part time. I was able to afford it by doing it this way and didn't need a loan. The £4k cost was cut in half and worked out at £1,000 per semester which I was able to save up for by working overseas during the summers. Then I worked full time and studied part time throughout the rest of the year to live. I also found the extra time to study allowed me more time to develop my ideas and do a better and more comprehensive deep-dive on the theory, which i found more gratifying.
(edited 4 years ago)
I went into it straight away after undergrad. The postgraduate loan would cover my course fees and I was given a scholarship. By also living at home this made sure I had enough money.

However, I was incredibly tired and chronically ill during and after third year. While I deal with this chronic illness I decided to study part time over 2 years. This gave me recovery time and stopped me from worrying about course intensity. I definitely wasn't well enough to do the course full time. It's 9-4 for 5 days a week otherwise. Assignments on top would be awful.

I knew it was what I wanted to do after exploring all of my options so went for it. I don't regret it at all.
Although I'd be interested in further learning, I don't *need* to do a postgrad to progress further in my current career. I think the time, effort, and money are what would put me off at the moment. If I ever decided to change career and needed a postgrad then I would consider it, perhaps part time :smile:
I waited 4 years between my undergrad and my master's for a variety of reasons. The first was that my undergraduate degree (being in allied health) didn't particularly lend itself to an obvious route into postgraduate study; my lecturers never mentioned it as a possibility, as it wasn't an expected next step for those on a vocational course. The second was that the postgraduate loan wasn't a thing back in 2014, so I had no way of funding further study of any form.

After I decided that I didn't want to work in the specific field my undergrad had trained me for, it opened up more possibilities and I was able to choose the right MA course for me.
(edited 4 years ago)
Original post by Puddles the Monkey
I was wondering why you want to do a postgrad, and what's putting you off?

Maybe you really love the course but it's too expensive?

Or the career prospects are good but maybe you're fed up of studying...?

I did a masters but I took several years out working - I definitely wasn't ready to go into one straight after undergrad. I knew it was something I wanted to do someday but it was just finding the right time. Also funding was important to me.

I'm wondering if anyone else feels similar or what your reasons for wanting to study one is? And what you feel like your obstacles are?

want a break from studying after a levels and want to start a business
Original post by Puddles the Monkey
I was wondering why you want to do a postgrad, and what's putting you off?

Maybe you really love the course but it's too expensive?

Or the career prospects are good but maybe you're fed up of studying...?

I did a masters but I took several years out working - I definitely wasn't ready to go into one straight after undergrad. I knew it was something I wanted to do someday but it was just finding the right time. Also funding was important to me.

I'm wondering if anyone else feels similar or what your reasons for wanting to study one is? And what you feel like your obstacles are?


For me, it's many things. I don't know what I want to do career wise, they're expensive, I think they're probably more difficult, little information about what they exactly entail, not sure if I want to continue education after my degree, heard mainly bad things about PhDs etc. I don't think I want/need the extra stress tbh!

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