Considering that a Masters is something you pay a LOT of money for, it can be pretty daunting deciding to do one. However if the idea of how much an MA costs doesn't unsettle you, here are some things which certainly will unsettle you as you settle into your 12-month long degree...
1. "This stuff seems harder than it was before..."
Even if you're doing your Masters in a subject you love, such as English, Philosophy or Art History, the whole point of an MA is that it's going to be a hell of a lot harder than your undergraduate degree. Whatever you do, don't despair.
2. "I've never had to write this many words before."
Remember in first year when all you had to do was bang out 1,500 words? Remember how you complained about it? Oh how you'd love to be asked to write 1,500 words again instead of being asked to write 5,000...
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3. "My dissertation is HOW LONG?!"
8,000 words at undergrad level once seemed daunting. But now you're writing 20,000 and you can't stop crying.
4. "All my friends have jobs now..."
Why didn't you apply for all those fancy graduate programmes run by big companies like Deloitte and PwC Why didn't you decide to get a job, a real-life, grown-up job with an actual salary, instead of blowing all your savings on a course designed to increase your knowledge of feminist interpretations of Old English texts?!
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5. "I'M QUALIFIED FOR NOTHING, NO JOBS, NO JOBS EVER! (except academia, academia, and more academia).
Let's face it, if you're doing an MA, chances are you're studying something pretty obscure. Sure you've enhanced your critical thinking skills but what good is that in real life?!
6. "There is no summer. Only pain."
While all your other friends still doing degrees are able to let out a sigh of relief in the summer, you will continue to slave at the library for the next three months. Enjoy dissertation writing while everyone else is on a J1.
7. "I'm old now, aren't I?"
No longer the dewy-eyed fresher of first year, your twenties will settle over you like a solid, depressing cloud. When you're 22/23 years old (maybe even older) and people want to know what you're planning to do with your life post-MA, just remember what Mary Schmich wrote and Baz Luhrmann said: "Don't feel guilty if you don't know what you want to do with your life. The most interesting people I know didn't know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives. Some of the most interesting 40-year-olds I know still don't."
Just remember, although you will occasionally panic about what you're doing with your life, you chose to do an MA for a good reason. Make your year count! After all it's an extra year of being a student, and student life always has its perks!
