Gap year part time work or masters

I have a not so straight forward question which I have been overthinking throughout the whole of summer.

Now I accepted a place on a post graduate course which begins in two weeks. My area is sport science and I want to go down the route of strength and conditioning. This full time course requires various hours of placement. I will be doing this course at the same university I graduated my undergraduate from which adds some familiarity. But I am having doubts, this time around I will have to commute over an hour as I simply can’t afford to live on campus. 2 I will have to work a part time job to fund general life. All of this has culminated into me doubting if this is something I really want to do or is it a stop gap for another year.

My other option is to continue the job I currently have that I have been doing over the summer which is mainly bar work (which is not fun at all) and save some money + potentially travel while I figure things out.

My worry with both options is continue studying means more debt but I have a year of focus but also more stress with how different it is from my undergrad. But for the other option it is not feeling like I am going anywhere, practically doing a dead end job or potentially gain full time employment in areas our side of my field just to fill the time and earn money.

As you can see this has been on my mind for some time and there’s no simple answer to this, I’ve been going backwards and forwards. Along with post graduation blues which hasn’t helped. I am really looking for some advice on this please

Reply 1

PG Study Chester

Official Rep

Hi,
This is definitely a big decision that won't be very straightforward to answer.
The biggest piece of advice I can give is to make sure that if you're doing any postgraduate course, it's within a field that you really enjoy. If you enjoy the subject, then the work involved should feel more worth it and less of a struggle.
Yes, more courses do come with more debt but, the important question to ask yourself is if this debt will gain you a higher earning opportunity or the opportunity to work in a field that you wouldn't have received previously.
If all else fails, a good old fashioned pros and cons list should do the job.
Best of luck with everything!
Meg 🙂
MA Popular Music Student.