Transcript
RACHEL WARD
My name is Rachel Ward. I studied my undergraduate degree in environmental science and graduated in 2011. And I decided to begin my Master's studies in 2013. And I wanted to do a Master's for my own personal development and to challenge myself and test myself and to see that I could do it. I'm now on my third module as part of that Master's, coming up towards the end of the Master's degree. So I'm set to finish at the end of 2016. It will have taken me three years to complete in total.
Going from undergraduate to postgraduate study, I expected that there'd be quite a big step up. I suppose I was quite apprehensive that I would not be able to cope with that step in terms of the depth of writing you'd need to do, things like critical analysis skills, whether I'd have developed mine to a degree that I would be able to cope with the MSE study. But now, I'm on the other side of that and I've done some of my studies, I feel that as you go through your studies, you develop those skills as you go. So there's really nothing to be daunted by. And I'm glad that I did it.
Because I'm studying my Master's as a part-time, distance learning course, there's, I suppose, a greater degree of taking on responsibility yourself for managing your studies and managing your time and developing your skills and also being proactive. With my undergraduate degree, I suppose I had more peers around me, students studying with me that I could talk to face-to-face. And I suppose I felt that I might feel a little isolated from Master's study, taking on a project on my own as it were. But it wasn't the case at all that I felt isolated. And there's actually a huge community of support online, which is the way that I study the modules, which was great.
It is a very high demand on your time. And I think that's something that you really need to think about before you take on postgraduate study. But as long as you pace yourself and develop your time management skills as you go through your studies, it is something that is manageable. You just need to be prepared for that before you take it on, I think.
The best piece of advice that I received before going on to Master's study, about studying at postgraduate level, was that it is a marathon and not a sprint. So as long as you put the effort in and keep up to date and manage your time successfully, then it is definitely achievable.
Once I've finished my Master's studies, I hope that eventually it will open some doors for me in the future in terms of career development. I think the things that I've gotten from it now in terms of personal development have been really rewarding. It's given me a lot of confidence. And I certainly wouldn't rule out going on to study further because coming towards the end of it and looking back, you can see how far you've come in it. And it is genuinely really rewarding.
[MUSIC PLAYING]