Part Time Masters: Full Time Work: Time!

H

Having just comenced on a part-time Masters (History) I am seriously wondering if I have time for it.

How many hours does one think one should be spending on it?

Clearly you could spend the whole week.

Realistically I don't think I can afford more than 14 hours a week. 21 hours if I ditch everything else.

The plan was to do it on my own terms, however I'm not sure if this is feasible?

R

14-21 hours a week sounds ok, though you'd probably need to find more time in a block when you're got papers/a dissertation to write though - can you use annual leave if necessary? I did my Masters part-time while working full-time, so it is feasible. Didn't always get to all the lectures though, so I probably didn't get as much out of it as the full-timers, but I really enjoyed it and it led to my PhD, so it turned out ok in the end. Good luck!

B

I did a part-time taught history Masters course a few years ago focused around weekly afternoon taught seminars. Extra work required included preparatory reading (we had a reading list to work through each week), and writing essays and of course a lengthy dissertation. On average per week I put in about 5 hours extra on top of the taught afternoon session. Time needed was longer during the dissertation stage, but even then I got by on a surprisingly small number of hours. And I got a distinction in the end and went on to do a PhD, so it can't have been too detrimental. Good luck!

E

Well, I did two masters full time working full time as well. It was difficult, as my first language is not English and I needed more time to read than an English-speaking needs. But I did it and now I am a PhD student (part-time now). If you want it you can do it

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