okay so i did a three year degree, graduated with a very good 2:1.

most of my friends from uni were on 4 year courses so I decided to stay on and do a masters in the same institution as an extention to my degree.

5 weeks into the course I am really really regretting it. It started off very very basic and hasnt got much better. Most courses are almost identical to undergraduate courses, same lecturers, same units, same readings - one lecturer even presented the EXACT SAME lecture he had for an undergraduate module! All this has led to me being really really bored and unmotivated to put the work in. IN a way its almost like as the course is so basic and not challenging me, and just a repeat of degree its 'too easy' and I just cant bring myself to put the hours in that I did for similar courses at undergraduate.

I want to drop out but my parents have lent me £6000 to pay for it and I feel I would be letting them down. I just dont know what to do for the best. I have to carry on but cant get motivated, even though I know how much money it has cost both me and my parents.

Has anyone else been in a similar boat or has any advice as to how I can get motivated or anything?

Remember that other people on your masters may not have had that module at their university. The course needs to get them up to speed on the basics as well. A masters degree requires much more in depth and broader reading - maybe you should be doing a lot more than this as you will be expected to find things out for yourself as well and the fact that you got a 2:1 suggests you may need to develop your critical evaluation skills.

If you have exams in the new year, I would wait until then. I teach a masters degree and hear a lot of people in the first few weeks like you, then they take the eye off the ball and tend to do worse in the exams. Make sure you are reading fully around these 'boring' lectures - you should be reading more than in your undergrad. Give it until after your 1st piece of coursework/exam is handed in, you may be shocked by the standard required.

Yeah I understand and accept the reasons for it starting off fairly basic, some people have never done anything like this and it is new to them - fair enough. But from a personal point of view that doesn’t make it any easier for me to sit through virtually the same lectures I did last year, hence why I am now lacking motivation and regretting starting the course!

The fact I got a 2:1 suggests less about my critical evaluation skills than it does about a Second year consisting of far too much drinking and not enough working! I actually averaged 76% in my third year when I actually knuckled down and put in months of hard work. The problem is I am struggling to find that motivation again, and this is not helped by the courses being so similar! I wish I had done it at another institution, or taken a different course but its too late for that now and I am just desperate to get motivated!!

I would imagine after the first 5 weeks, the course would pick up and start getting more detailed. Have you thought about asking for coursework early? so you can get started on it.

I would also volunteer to help out on research projects for your lecturers. A few people did this when I did my masters and got some really good experience and work contacts out of it and have now gone on to be much higher paid than me!

======= Date Modified 27 Oct 2008 18:12:27 =======
Robgreenacre, do think you're being a bit hasty? 5 weeks isn't very long. A masters can't be exactly the same as an undergraduate course, particularly in the same institution, as all curricula and course outlines have to be externally validated and meet specific academic requirements for the appropriate level for that course.

You might get the same actual books on your reading list, if they're central to a specific topic, but you should be capable of producing a far greater depth of analysis in your written work with your newly refined critical skills at masters level. I put the same books on my undergrad's reading lists that I'm using in my PhD research, but we use that information differently because of where we're at analytically. Can't you speak to the course director about how unchallenging you find the content and see what they suggest?

Many Masters courses are made up of final year undergraduate work in that subject. Really, they are better as specialisms or transfers from different subjects. The taught part of my MPhil was made up almost entirely of final year undergrad lectures. That was fine for me as it was a new field - but would have been a waste for someone with a degree in that topic (warning - the only student on my course with a degree in the subject actually managed to fail!). If you dropped out could you get your fees back? If not - just persevere.

How are you doing now? My Masters was very different to my undergraduate, there were no lectures at all, I guess that they are all different aren't they.
I would say bear with it though - the MA in my experience suddenly picked up quite dramatically and was so incredibly intense. The first month or so I was wondering what was going on and thinking it a breeze compared to the last year of the BA and then BAMMMMMMMMMMM it hit and boy did it hit! Again, yours may be different but I had 5K essays for submission each month between Dec and Apr and they had to be full on and well researched - on top of all that was the dissertation (still shaking slightly here) and the pressure and the workload was incredible - so far my Phd feels like a walk in the park in comparison (although that won't last ;-))
You have to remember that so much more of this is down to you - to get a good grade in your essays and your dissertation you have to have read very widely and produce work that is of a very high standard. I can't speak for other unis, but if we handed in work that at BA would have got us an easy 72-75 we'd get low-mid 60s at MA.
I wouldn't worry about being bored - use this build up time (cos that is what it is) to get as much reading done as possible, strap yourself in and prepare for all hell to break lose by Christmas.