Hi, all


I recently graduated form a good university in London and earned myself a 2:1. I have recentlly applied for "MSc" Taught Postgrad courses in different universities. Two of them have already given me an offer, the problem is, I applied for totally different courses in these two different institutions, not to mention that they are quite far apart, and I can't seem to make up my mind about where to go and what course to do. My question is, can you apply for two MSc Postgrad Degrees in Two different universities? If so, is it feasible to do it, and how many days a week (on average) would I have to attend classes (Important as I'd like to juggle between the two). Any help will be appreciated.

Thanks

Hi Elly,
The number of hours per week for an MSc course varries with different subjects and probably with different institutions. I did an MSc last year, and was in uni probably about 25 hours to week, which varied though from week to week depending on tutorials, seminars etc. I'd say looking back it would have been virtually impossible for me to have taken on a 2nd MSc at the same time, at a different institution. It was hard enough juggling a part time job located right near to my uni, so I can't imagine that you'd be able to do this. In addition, it's more than likely that your timetables would clash, and probably for the 2nd half of the course when you're expected to do research, this will require full time work, whether that's in a lab or written work.

Do not attempt to do 2 full time masters courses at the same time. It's not feasible. It probably wouldn't go down very well with the host institutions either.

You really need to choose between them. If you're struggling, try to think of answers to these questions:
1. What do you want to do after the Masters?
2. How would each of the courses help you towards this aim?
3. What are the reputations of the respective courses/departments/institutions?
4. Can you speak to existing students on the courses to find out what they are really like?
5. What is it that appeals to you about each course? Are those things likely to be important (e.g. a specific module might sound really interesting, but the reality might be different, and you'd have been better off going for a course which had a different focus)
6. What are your existing educational/research strengths and weakness, and how does each course complement these?
7. If you're not planning to do a PhD, how might each of these courses affect your employability?