Funding for a Masters

melancholly

Dany!l_II wrote: »

Thanks for the helpful post

I have no media experience after 4 years of university, unfortunately. It's somehow something I have only recently given serious thought to, as I went through university not having any idea at all what I wanted to do post-uni. Worked abroad during uni as a teaching assistant and have now ruled out teaching as I hated it..

I have a contact who works for BBC Sport and writes stuff for the BBC football website, have e-mailed him and asked him for advice, hopefully he'll respond soonish.

Instead of working for a year, saving up, then doing MA, I might actually reverse it.. take out a CRL, do MA, then, if no 'career' job shows up immediately just find a decently-paid job and work for a year/however long it takes to pay off £9k or whatever it will cost to fund the year.. should be about 9 months of full time work whilst living at home! Could be out of 'MA' debt in February 2011 and back 'in' 'BA' debt immediately after!

i guess my only concern is that you may be paying a lot of money for a masters that won't necessarily improve your employablilty but will cost a lot of money! you'll need to get work experience even if you have a masters - hopefully your contact will be able to give you good advice, but don't jump into paying for a course if it won't help you.

Danyúl_II

melancholly wrote: »

i guess my only concern is that you may be paying a lot of money for a masters that won't necessarily improve your employablilty but will cost a lot of money! you'll need to get work experience even if you have a masters - hopefully your contact will be able to give you good advice, but don't jump into paying for a course if it won't help you.

Ja, I regret not trying out for the student newspaper whilst at uni. But at the time I didn't consider journalism. Infact, I regret not studying 'joint honours'. That's my biggest regret. But pah, too late now.

I've got a few e-mails sent out to various people, enquiring about work experience, making proposals for things I could do for their websites/newspapers etc etc. If anything will come of it is a different matter, however!

I think perhaps an MA starting in 2010 will be the best idea, now that I have the idea in my head. I could use the next 15 months finding work experience, learning new things and building contacts, then do the MA to make myself just that little bit more employable and learn the fundamental parts of journalism!

Thanks for your reply, it's also my concern that it wouldn't make me that much more employable

bitsandpieces

Work experience is important. Why not start a blog (if you haven't already) while applying elsewhere: this will let you demonstrate how well you can write about and research sports...

Might be worth speaking to a careers adviser about how - or if - the MA would fit into your career plans.

MrsManda

Why are you thinking of doing an MA at all? Wouldn't be better to spend the time doing work experience instead? If you can show yourself to have a flair of these things then perhaps an employer will pay the fees for you in the future. I'd have thought for a career in journalism experience is better than degrees.
Are you certain about doing Sports journalism above anything else?
The blog idea is a good one as it'll show you are serious, get you some practice and gives you something to point to when you are writing covering letters for work experience.

Have you thought about using your German and applying for jobs out of England?

Here are a few articles which may be of interest to you: SportsJournalism SJA
NCJT

sarah_elton

I did my undergraduate degree at Oxford a few years ago and one of my tutors once told I should go on to do the MSc. I was so flattered and excited, then I found out the tuition alone was £16k for the year, so with living and other costs it would have been the best part of £25k. :eek:

So that was the end of that idea, since all I had to my name was a student overdraft I still wish I could have done it - I loved studying and the course looked brilliant. I could go back and do it now, but 6 years on priorities change and it seems more important to spend the money on things like house deposits.

I know people who have done three-year journalism degrees and still struggle to find a way in to the industry, so the MA won't necessarily help. As others have said, the best thing is to try and get some experience and run a blog. Try local papers - they still have sports pages, and work your way up from there.

melancholly

if this is a very recent decision, then a year to think about it may just be a good idea in general - that way you would only think of doing a course once you're sure it's what you want (and once you've had some experience so you can see what the reality of the career is as well!).

Luvly.cuppa.T

Hi all, am in the same boat now as well! Pleased to report I bagged myself a 2.1 today for my undergrad degree!!

We have 3 kiddies, my partner is on a low wage, but we do get ctc and wtc. Our problem is if I go out to work on top of doing a masters, or even during the summer period before I start, the wage will equate the deductions made from the ctc and wtc due to me working.
For me to work would be at this moment in time counterintuitive as I would be back to square 1, not having any time with my children, them suffering for it, and of course not any better off moneywise in the process!

Our total annual income will be c. £17,000 (from all sources), and I reckon we can survive on it. It's the cost of the masters course (£4,300) that will crush us, and wondered if there are any charities out there that can offer anything at all towards this cost? I will automatically get £300 from the uni's alumini fund (as I am continuing to study at the same university), but this doesn't get given until the Spring term after starting. We would prefer to pay the fee in one lump sum at the start of the course, otherwise the other option is via direct debit over 8 months (that is £537.5 each month).

Any suggestions at all?

My masters course is most definately the path to go as I want to carry on to a PhD after, and enjoy research as my career, with no doubt teaching alongside. Work experience in this area (researching psychology) is very hard to come by, and usually requires a masters to begin with.... chicken and egg syndrome!

MrsManda

Luvly.cuppa.T wrote: »

Hi all, am in the same boat now as well! Pleased to report I bagged myself a 2.1 today for my undergrad degree!!

Sorry I can't really help with the finance question, have you thought about seeing if you can do an integrated masters/Phd as you may be able to find a funded one?
I really just wanted to say congratulations, a 2.1 is a wonderful achievement

Oldernotwiser

Luvly.cuppa.T wrote: »

Hi all, am in the same boat now as well! Pleased to report I bagged myself a 2.1 today for my undergrad degree!!

We have 3 kiddies, my partner is on a low wage, but we do get ctc and wtc. Our problem is if I go out to work on top of doing a masters, or even during the summer period before I start, the wage will equate the deductions made from the ctc and wtc due to me working.
For me to work would be at this moment in time counterintuitive as I would be back to square 1, not having any time with my children, them suffering for it, and of course not any better off moneywise in the process!

Our total annual income will be c. £17,000 (from all sources), and I reckon we can survive on it. It's the cost of the masters course (£4,300) that will crush us, and wondered if there are any charities out there that can offer anything at all towards this cost? I will automatically get £300 from the uni's alumini fund (as I am continuing to study at the same university), but this doesn't get given until the Spring term after starting. We would prefer to pay the fee in one lump sum at the start of the course, otherwise the other option is via direct debit over 8 months (that is £537.5 each month).

Any suggestions at all?

My masters course is most definately the path to go as I want to carry on to a PhD after, and enjoy research as my career, with no doubt teaching alongside. Work experience in this area (researching psychology) is very hard to come by, and usually requires a masters to begin with.... chicken and egg syndrome!

I'm afraid that I've never heard of any charity funding a Masters degree. If you feel that you can live on your current income, would it not be worth your while getting a job for a year and saving for the fees, or alternatively, do the it part time whilst working part time.

In Arts/SS you're unlikely to get funding for a post grad degree without a first and most people have to borrow, save or work at the same time to make it possible.

Alcmene

Luvly.cuppa.T wrote: »

My masters course is most definately the path to go as I want to carry on to a PhD after, and enjoy research as my career, with no doubt teaching alongside. Work experience in this area (researching psychology) is very hard to come by, and usually requires a masters to begin with.... chicken and egg syndrome!

Congrats on your degree.

If you are sure you want to do a PhD then you don't HAVE to do a Masters. I didn't!

There is more funding available for PhDs than there are for Masters. Most Universities will enrol you on a transference course, where you start off enrolled on an MPhil, and then about a year in, you can transfer to PhD.