Quote From Lilmissre:
Based on my very brief research on the internet I seem to remember reading about students who barely survived their masters . Some have attributed that to extensive reading lists ,numerous essays due and sheer exhaustion. Is it really that bad? How much reading do you do outside of the contact hours? Say if you had 10 hours contact time a week?
Can I ask, for those that have completed their masters degree- aside from a deeper understanding of an area you were passionate about , has your masters degree paid you dividends? Have you changed career paths, has it opened up more opportunities for you? Was it all in vain?
Don't be surprised if you find your Masters is very light touch and pretty easy, especially if you are coming from a school teacher background and probably already know a thing or two about reading, writing and the real work of work.
I suspect these people that think their Masters is difficult are used to attending a few lectures a week and thinking they are working hard.
My taught Masters was exactly the same as undergrad, as someone else said. I did zero extra reading, but that's because I was already burnt out from undergrad and probably should have taken time out before doing it, plus I was working 15-20 hours a week on top of a 25 hour a week contact time course, so wasn't much time for it anyway. You are supposed to spend 40 hours a week in total, contact time and your own time on BSc/BA or MSc/MA course.
I would say yes, my Masters paid off. It gave me an extra edge at getting on to my PhD (none of the other interviewees had one - probably won't happen these days though) and now I'm in a teaching role at the University where I did my PhD, so can't complain!
