Hi all, just a quick question regarding returning to study.

I completed a degree in Sports Science around 7 years ago, recently through work I have returned back to study another degree in business management. I do enjoy this but post-degree I'm looking at studying either an Msc or Phd in exercise science. My question is I am in my final year of study planning my dissertation, I would like to keep the research project relevant to exercise science if possible and expand on this with the future study I intend to do. Has anyone gone this route before (doing a BA before Msc/Phd in sciences?) and if so any advice would be appreciated.

Anyone have any thoughts on the above?

hi Mark
if I have read correctly, you did a sports science degree 7 years ago, and then you did a business management degree, and now you want to do an MSc or PhD in exercise science. So you have a BSc and a BA? well done, and yes if you are very keen on furthering your academic adventure, go for it :-)

I did my phd in a different field, if I can do it, so can you.

Any advice would be -- if you are doing a Masters (I think then you might be thinking of a research masters?) just enjoy the process. It is a nice journey (not too bad) as you will probably have your supervisor with you all the way -- for me my masters degree was similar to having a "relaxed" life, I did not have too much stress, I did not have any financial worry, I had friends, and I was always happy during my masters degree.

However for a phd, I found that I had very few friends (almost none) and I was still happy although I had more DOWNS compared to my masters days. Fortunately for me, my supervisor was very good and the university was excellent, I felt supported all the time.

Please be warned :-) and prepared that a PhD is not easy and may take up a lot of your time, in fact sometimes it can take over your life, and it may also affect you financially (if you don't have a job etc.). For example if you don't have any funding and you still haven't finished your thesis, it can be very stressful, and worse if you have a partner (who doesn't understand the phd process) or family.

All the best :-)
love satchi

Hi Satchi
Thank you very much for the In-depth post. I will have a BA and BSc (work funded the BA i'm currently completing).
The choices for next year would be a Masters of Research or a Phd, I'm leaning more towards the masters as i'm not sure I really want to commit to the Phd and as you explained so well and others I have spoke to its a massive demand.

Also whether it makes a difference I'm not looking at pursuing a purely academic career.

Thanks again
Mark

Hi,
Although in a different area this is my current experience.
11 years after doing my BSc I returned to uni to do a full time Msc in the same topic - Animal science. I loved the MSc even though it was extremely intense and hard work, towards the end a Phd came up that looked potentially interesting I applied and was successful, there was an overlap between finishing the msc diss and starting Phd of about a month. In hindsight I should have taken some time out in between to decide what I wanted to do because I am 12 months into the phd now and I'm not enjoying it much at all. A phd is very very different to structured taught courses and a big commitment, just be sure its what you want first as it will take over your life, judging by your post above a Masters of research sounds like the sensible option!! Especially as I've just read a post on here about how having a phd can make you overqualified for lots of jobs- so if you not intent on pure academia think carefully about a phd! Hope that helps a bit?

hi Mark,
how are you for finances? Would you be getting a fully funded masters or phd? If it means a lot to you, and you don't particularly have worries for money, then spending some time doing this would be ok (not sure if OK is the right word) but you know what I mean.

do keep in touch and let us know your final decision --- like when you start your Msc or PhD :-)

love satchi

Hi Charmel2000 your post is very helpful thank you and supports my decision towards completing an Mres.
Satchi, I will be self funding half of the masters degree, and will look to start around July/August 2015.

Thanks again both for your comments.

Mark