This year I will be studying with a Doctoral Training Centre on one of the 1+3 year MSc/PhD combos.
They are sending me the set pre-course books that I have been given chapters to work through (so I figure know that and academically I am prepared), however I wonder if there is any advice that anyone can give me to ensure that this first MSc year is a successful and enjoyable time.

I am used to juggling my time as I currently work full time, have a family, and am also doing my BSc in the evenings, so I'm not too worried about becoming a full time student and managing the work load. However as a mature student I only know life from the distance learning prospective so would love any feedback from those who are students in their 'day job'.

Cheers in advance for any advice.:-)

My MSc (similarly 1+3 but not at a DTC) was extremely intense. With hindsight, I wish I had enjoyed it more, and stressed less. There was a huge amount to cover and I got very worked up about it. I wish I had taken the opportunity to explore many different areas and work out what to do for the PhD without getting in a tizz about the grades and the work and so on.

You sound pretty good at time-management (a real weakness of mine) - best of luck, enjoy!

ejc

I did my Masters after a distance-learning OU degree. I was a part-time Masters student at my local university, but there was very little practical day-to-day difference between the full-timers and myself. We all had to attend taught seminars, and submit essays etc. (I was doing a history taught Masters). The only difference was they had to squeeze their final research project and dissertation into one summer, whereas we were given much longer. There was very little at-uni time needed, apart from the core taught events, and extra time to pick up library books etc.

And I seemed to cope fine. My distance-learning OU degree made me very self-reliant. Another Masters student in my year was an ex OU student as well, and we were the two who went on to start PhDs. So don't view your distance-learning past as a disadvantage. It might be a plus.

One thing I learned quickly was to look at the reading lists very carefully and figure out which books were most essential. I needed to do this for disability reasons, but it was clear that we didn't need to read all the set texts. And even those we read could be read more sparingly. Also I focused very much on the submitted work, and bent that as much as possible towards my own research interests, to make it more fun for me, and give me a chance to do as well as possible.

Good luck!

Hi there. Thanks both of you for the response. Yes, Bilbo I think an Open University degree can be an advantage and I suspect that holding down a job, family and sorting out my own degree without tutors chasing me had a big input in why I got a place at such a highly applied for university. The only thing I have to be critical about with an Open Uni degree is trying to explain their grading (different to every other UK university) and the hassle I have had with admissions (universities don't like to take students on who officially are still linked to previous university because the OU year runs Feb to Oct).

Summer reading books have arrived now and I can't wait for September.
21 weeks and counting. 8-)