Hello,

I am wanting to apply for a masters degree in chemistry. I already had an MChem however, my grades are not good enough for what I want to do.

The problem I am, is that I wont be able to get a loan from the student fincance company as I took one out for my original MChem.

I am wondering what other possible routes there are for paying for tuition fee's, accommodation for the year for etc. The reason I have not saved any money is because I have financial commitments.

Kind Regards

John

There are very few options open to you for funding realistically. Most masters students self fund. Check out these two though:

https://www.findamasters.com/funding/guides/postgraduate-funding.aspx

https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/Documents/students/postgraduate/alternativefundingguidebirmingham.pdf

What is you want to do? A PhD? Did you get a 2.1?

Yes, im wanting to go to do a PhD. However, with my grades I figured that the best thing to do would be to get a second masters and achieve well at that.
I wish it was a 2:1, I graduated in 2011 with a 2:2 MChem.

You're going to struggle, realistically. Masters tuition fee scholarships are very rare and I've never heard of universities offering scholarships to cover living costs and tuition, short of a Fulbright scholarship or something like that.

In some disciplines, people have their MA/MSc funded as part of their PhD funding, though a 1+3 scholarship from a research council. However, I don't think this is done very often in the 'hard' sciences (I may be wrong?) as lots of people go straight to PhD from undergrad.

Your best bet, I think, would be looking at findaphd or similar websites and trawling through the advertised listings. They will almost all require a 2.1 or higher at undergrad; you might find some that don't, or you might want to get in touch with the advertising professor/faculty (at the risk of annoying them and potentially putting them off you by asking about clearly-listed entry requirements) to see if they'd accept you with a 2:2 MChem. If you have relevant work/lab experience since 2011, this might make up for the shortfall in grades. What was your %, by the way - did you get a 59, or a 50? What was your grade in your final research project? If you did well in that AND just missed a 2:1 AND have some relevant experience, you might be more competitive - but it is still going to be an uphill struggle, I think.

I would forget about the Masters route, as it's ultimately not going expunge the 2:2 from your CV.

Perhaps not a nice question and I don't mean it maliciously, but there is also the consideration of whether you've got the drive/ability to complete a PhD if you didn't manage a 2:1 at undergraduate level. It is very challenging and ultimately the funder needs to be 100% sure that you will complete.