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I am applying for my Master of Education for next year. :doh:
Just wondering if anyone else out there is doing their Masters?
How hard is the study load if you do it part -time? How do you cope if you have kidlets and work? Is there alot of support for off-campus?
Um I think that's it for now!
TIA :)
hi Tanstar
nice to see you back! i am also considering doing a masters next year (possibly a MBA possibly some other masters) and also wondering how i will do it with the kids, work etc... but looking fwd to some new stimulation mentally etc
Thanks MamaPan!! I am only working 2 days a week right now and I don't watch tv at all - kids are in bed by 7 most nights so I figure rather than lurking around photography and sewing blogs, and BB of course like I do now I could be doing something useful! Plus I don't know that I want to classroom teach forever, so this may help with other fields, my other reasoning is "why not" :rofl:
hi tanstar
i started my masters in 2005 - it was a master of business (sports administration). i didn't have DS then & while it had its moments, but wasn't too bad to fit things in at all. i ended up taking an early exit because i came to the conclusion that i didn't want to take a massive pay cut to move into a sporting organisation (because the pay was far less than the industry i worked in).
i think it would be tough with children but i think one of the biggest factors is motivation & also how much you enjoy the course. at the start i was so driven to move fields & i loved the course so finding time to fit things in wasn't a show stopped. once i lost the motivation (although still loved the course), my drive to fit everything in started to wane. i hope that makes sense!
i was doing mine part time & i did 2 subjects a semester. not sure how education works but mine was 2 x 3 hour lectures a week, held in the evening. however, they didn't always run for that long & we also had breaks.
Thanks Sloane! Im looking at the full off-campus ones so I think the contact hours are minimal. Alot of online lectures and resources apparently and I love teaching and education is something i have been passionate about for a long time so that won't be an issue although motivation to STUDY very well might be hehe!
i think it sounds great :) i definitely found a huge difference in my approach to study compared to my first time round at uni straight after leaving school. i was more organised, efficient & actually really interested in what i was studying. i think it's a big plus if you're passionate about the subject.
good luck & enjoy :D
I did my Masters, half before DD (and during pg) and half from when she was 18 mths old. I also work (part-time, although more before DD) for myself.
Most people doing the course had families and careers, although some had better arrangements through their employer, who was putting them through it.
Most classes had options for times after hours, or at least close to. I also did several subjects during the winter/summer school session, when I could take a few weeks to do nothing else but get a whole subject out of the way. I did my course part-time, after DD only one subject at a time. It would have taken me an extra year or two if I hadn't done the summer school courses.
I'm not gonna lie, if your DH and/or other family/friends are not able to support you by taking care of the kiddies while you are at the course or when you have to complete coursework and assignments, then there isn't really anywhere else that can help on campus. I found my lecturers very understanding in terms of juggling and extensions, when needed. There was a LOT of reading that I found the hardest to complete, and I really had to do it. There weren't the shortcuts like in undergrad. If you don't know your stuff and really participate, you won't pass.
I loved what I got out of my course, but after finding most other study a bit of a breeze, my Masters was a real challenge. It was also the most rewarding study I did. But I'm now sworn off studying forever. :D I passed my course with distinction. Very satisfying given that most of my classes I was the only Mum with a young child, working as well as studying. GL!
Hi there,
I am a mum of two who has been working part time since shortley after my son was born in march and back to full time this week, I also study my Masters very part time via distance education. It is a Masters of Clinical Education and if I were to do it full time it would take 2 years, I only do one unit a semester so it will take me about 6 years at this rate.
Most of the units have a 2 day intensive at the unii which covers about 1/2 of the unit content. The first unit I did the intensive was 3 weeks after the birth of my son so I just plodded along on my own and did ok. I'm off the this semesters intensive in a couple of weeks.
A couple of things to note....You can probably gte fee HELP, its a lot more difficult to see than HECS used to be so I paid upfront on my credit card first semester OUCH. But this semester I found out I could get HELP. YAY!
You need to not be the responsible adult for kids when you study IMO. We are great multi taskers but work and study need focus so I think its important to quarantine study time. I usually do it after bed time.
Good luck!
I'm hopefully doing Master of Teaching (online/external) in 2011/2012, whilst being a SAHD. Can't wait. Offers are released soon for my Uni.
How so? I thought everyone who is Australian is eligible for it provided they haven't exceeded their quota of it?:
You never used to be able to get HECS on post graduate courses and now you can! YAY!
What I meant was that with HECS you got your fee account with a "defer payment" box...easy
I asked my course provders about HELP funding and they said there was a chance but couldn't tell me how to go about it
You now just receive a fee account, no defer box, I had to ring up and the uni directed me to the application for HELP, so just more hidden thats all. I like to think after 2 and 1/2 degrees I was pretty savvy about these things but alas ended up paying unnecessarily so just wanted to point it out so others could avoid paying if thats what you wanted to do!
I am doing my Phd so similar workload to research masters just longer. If you have kids and are doing a research degree you don't really get any down time I find. My DH looks after DS a lot. I try to do half of the care time but as my schedule changes my DH has to pick up the slack. But if I am not doing working (as a research degree absolutely is) then I am with DS, which I love but I do get run down. I am just going into the write up phase so it gets more flexible from here on in as long as I am meeting my milestones. I left my lab last night at 10:30 and now am leaving work at 7:30 (I started between 7 and 8 both days).
So yep it is really consuming. But it is worth it in the long run.
I have only just hit the campus now so have been remote most of my undergrad and all of my post grad until now. Support will depend on the uni you are with. Have you considered a PhD? The reason I ask is that you may be eligible for a scholarship, allowing you to focus on that and not also have to work.