Please help: Postgraduate MA Dilemma

celyn90

Hi debt robot, sorry your feeling low. Can you not apply for indefinite leave to remain now if you've been here all this time?

Voyager2002

celyn90 wrote: »

Hi debt robot, sorry your feeling low. Can you not apply for indefinite leave to remain now if you've been here all this time?

Sad to say, ILR would only affect his fee status if it were granted by the first day of the course. Needless to say, it takes quite a long time for an application to be processed.

Voyager2002

Debt_Robot wrote: »

Thank you all so much for taking the time to write back to me.

My reply is late because I am finally in London, having moved from Bristol on Friday for this MA.

I don't feel like it is worth it either. I tried talking to my mum but she disagrees and now wants me to do it but I will still be in mountains of debt to her as she know wants a loan repayment scheme (with her). I am grateful she funds me but I am just so confused.

I don't qualify as a home student because I do not have indefinite leave to remain which means I pay mounds and mounds.

I am feeling dejected but will have to plough on.

Thank you all Debt Robot xxx

So sorry about your situation.

I really do not think that you should do a course because your Mum thinks it would be good for you. Your goal is to get a job in the media, but academic training in the UK is not generally a good way to achieve this. Perhaps she does not realise this fact: in many parts of the world paper qualifications are of greater value for getting jobs than is the case in Britain.

If you (or she) are absolutely set on doing a postgraduate course in journalism, look at other countries that would offer you rather better value for money. For example, Journalism is a respected subject for university study in the Philippines, and their universities offer English-medium courses with modest tuition fees, while the cost of living there is extremely low.

misscomickat

What sort of journalism are you interested in?

NCTJ pre entry is a recognised course for getting work on a newspaper. It costs around £1,000 depending where you do it, and you can do it fast track in 20 weeks.

Do you have any work experience?

I was focussed on getting into journalism and got work placements all through university. I was then accepted on an in house newspaper training scheme so my training was paid for and I had a 3 year contract with the newspaper group. There may still be schemes like that around.

I think journalism is such a popular career choice that there will always be people willing to pay thousands and thousands for postgraduate qualifications, but really don't think they're necessary. Nobody who worked on the newspapers with me had MAs in journalism but ALL had the NCTJ.