Hi

I'm a week and a half into my masters course studying political and the mass media. I stayed on at my undergrad institution, where i completed my BA in english and communication studies.

I know its early days and i'm not in the swing of studying yet but i am having a lot of doubts about whether to stick with this course. I suppose its an anxiety provoking period, returning to academia a bit rusty, having enjoyed a long, relaxed summer break. I feel i am not that interested in a lot of areas of politics. The things i have read thus far seem kind of boring.

There is another masters course, politics and film (every MA in this dept has an element of politics in it), which i would perhaps find more interesting, and i know it is possible i could transfer to. I studied a number of film modules at undergrad which i enjoyed and did well in. My goal is to achieve a distinction, and clearly if one is more passionate about a subject it should translate in improved results.

I chose my current MA as i thought it would be a more rounded option, which perhaps would not restrict me opportunity wise, in the same way a film masters would.


Advice welcome.

Hi - like you I've just started my MSc at the same university, really like it so far but I can totally understand the doubts you are feeling. This is a scary time and it will take a good few weeks to settle in, even though you're in the same place and will know some of the staff, it is totally different. I'm finding it quite difficult to get back into the swing of studying and have a few other stressful things going on, but hopefully things will work out in the next few weeks.
It sounds like you know what you really want to do (change course), if you do want to do that you need to do it sooner rather than later otherwise you'll miss out on too much. Could you arrange to have a chat with the leader of the new course to help you decide whether to move? I would move if you really want to as a Masters is too important and expensive to do if you don't genuinely enjoy it. Also consider what you want to do after the Masters and how changing course would help you to achieve that.
I hope I've made some sense and helped, I'm really tired and have a terrible headache so might have sounded a bit muddled....but to an extent I can identify with what you're going through. Natassia x

I agree with what Natassia says, but just wanted to ask, have you started looking at the mass media part of your course yet? I've just started my MA, and there's one module in particular that I'm a bit confused about and I don't find it particularly interesting, however the rest of the course makes up for it. So could it just be the fact that looking at the politics side is making you feel this way? But, think seriously about whether you prefer mass media or film...it sounds like your more interested in the film side.

Don't worry, we are all rusty after coming back to academic from time off, I sure am anyway!

Surely the real problem here is that you're not interested in politics? Maybe studying film alongside it would make your MA a bit more palatable, but at the end of the day you're facing an uphill struggle in trying to get a distinction in a subject that doesn't particularly inspire you. Maybe you could tell us something about why you've chosen to study in this department rather than one that wouldn't require you to study politics, and what you're hoping to achieve with the distinction you're aiming for? I'd guess you're thinking about going on to study for a PhD, but presumably this can't be in politics, film or mass media since you seem to be in two minds about studying any of them!

(Not trying to have a go here, I'm just confused. I think you're doing the right thing by questioning your choice early on - you don't want to end up feeling stuck on a course that isn't grabbing your attention and where you know you're not going to get the result you want.)