I am pursuing an MSc in Creative Writing after having finished my BA in English Literature with Creative Writing. The transition from my BA to my MA at Edinburgh felt natural to me – each year was a logical progression through the educational system.
Some of my coursemates, however, have had more complex journeys. Mateus Lins, for example, is from Brazil, where he completed undergraduate and master’s degrees in law at the University of Fortaleza before entering the workforce. He dreamt of doing this course at Edinburgh for years, but faced the difficulty of paying international student course fees. Mateus applied and was accepted to Edinburgh four times, but needed to be accepted into a scholarship programme to come. Now, finally having received both, he feels “the pressure is immense” to do justice to his scholarship.
A master’s can be a deeper exploration of a subject area, but it can also mean a complete lifestyle and career change that comes with a lot of responsibility. Eamonn O’Sullivan quit a consultancy job in Luxembourg to do his master’s. Many master’s students return to university after having begun a career, creating uncertainty about whether they made the right decision. This degree is “definitely rife with self-doubt,” he comments. He describes his experience as “seesawing” between excitement and fear of having made the wrong decision. Doing a master’s can be a risk – but also a pathway into something meaningful to you.
I ask Eamonn and Mateus how they cope with this stress to succeed. Mateus points out that the community in our master’s course is tight-knit, and that “people share expectations and are afraid of the same things. We have common goals,” he adds, suggesting this as “the reason why everyone could connect.”
Eamonn is only 25, but points out that he feels comparatively old, joking that “it’s crazy to me that people born in 2008 are at uni now.” While he can easily integrate into the University’s community, there are still times when he has experienced imposter syndrome – for instance, after having attended a social where “everyone was comparing their A-level results.” However, he concludes that there is “no shortage of opportunities” to get involved in the university community as a master’s student.
I ask Alyssa about this, a University of Edinburgh alumna who did her postgraduate course as a mature student and graduated in 2019. She advises others in her position to join university societies and not to worry about the age difference. Beyond this, she took part in events outside of the University where she could “meet people who are more established and closer to your age, who also may be connected to the uni.” She concludes that she appreciated her experience more after having been in the workforce. She also points out that she had more confidence in herself during her master’s than she would have if she had been younger.
Elena Sims is currently doing her PhD in Edinburgh. She comments that “in undergrad you don’t get enough confidence and direction,” adding that a master’s allows you to become confident in what you are studying, so if you go on to a PhD, you have the tools to deal with a situation where much of the work is done independently. “A PhD can be very brutal because you are alone with yourself and you are your greatest critic,” so the confidence built in the master’s becomes essential. She feels that doing a postgraduate degree means “committing yourself to your passion and career.”
I asked Elena if she felt her postgrads have been more competitive among students. “One of the things I enjoy about the University of Edinburgh is that everyone is trying to lift each other up,” she responds. Mateus feels similarly, pointing out that the “MA community is a mature community,” and peers help each other to develop and want to see one another succeed.
Overall, the students and alumni I spoke to agree that a postgraduate degree offers a space for a more tight-knit community. This is central to building confidence, but also helps deal with the pressures that master’s students can feel. While a postgrad degree can be “rife with self-doubt,” it is also an immensely rich experience, presenting the opportunity to pursue one’s passions, perhaps plotting a course for future life, and connecting with others who are choosing a similar path.
Photo by Rashid Tajuar on Unsplash