{"id":12260,"date":"2020-06-18T15:20:54","date_gmt":"2020-06-18T15:20:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/insiders\/2020\/06\/18\/to-masters-or-not-to-masters\/"},"modified":"2021-09-15T15:02:37","modified_gmt":"2021-09-15T15:02:37","slug":"to-masters-or-not-to-masters-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/insiders\/cy\/to-masters-or-not-to-masters-2\/","title":{"rendered":"To Masters or not to Masters?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Now that\u2019s the question!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Having just finished my undergraduate degree at Cardiff\namidst a global pandemic (not an ideal time to enter the job market), I have\nbeen dropped into a sea of complete uncertainty. Of course I anticipated this\nfeeling of the unknown; however, these are times that no-one could have\npredicted. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Even before I started at Cardiff, I had my eye on the MA\nMagazine Journalism programme. Not only is it accredited by the PPA (Professional\nPublishers Association), but it also boasts an outstanding alumni network\nacross the media industry. The course is described as \u2018intensive\u2019 and focuses\non the development of practical skills, building hands-on experience in an environment\nthat replicates a magazine newsroom. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the second semester you get to plan, create, and launch a\nmagazine of your own choosing which will be a great project to add to your\nportfolio. Additionally, during the Easter holidays you have to secure a 2-week\nwork placement where you can gain some real-world experience in the industry. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To be honest, it all sounds great and does very much appeal\nto me. The employability prospects after completing the masters are also fantastic\nwhich provides a bit more of a sense of security and optimism in times like\nthese. Furthermore, hopefully by next Summer the economy would have sorted\nitself out a bit more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Am I falling into the trap of doing a \u2018panic masters\u2019? I\nhonestly don\u2019t think so. I know this Masters is a fantastic one, and is very\nhighly regarded. With only 25 spaces, it is also relatively difficult to get on\nwith the selection process consisting of a standard application, tests, and an\ninterview. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So far I have got through to the interview stage of which\nthe interview is actually tomorrow. The thought of doing a Masters does appeal\nto me right now as I suppose the student lifestyle is what I have become used\nto over the past few years, and with everything so up in the air right now,\ngoing back to university is almost a bit of a comfort. Aside from this, I love\nthe sound of the programme itself and am excited to be in a position to choose\nwhat direction I will go next in life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So overall the pros and cons go like this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Pros:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Employability prospects<\/li><li>Accredited course<\/li><li>Contacts<\/li><li>Industry experience<\/li><li>Potential scholarship for doing undergrad at\nCardiff<\/li><li>Learning practical skills that can be applied to\na job <\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Cons: <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>More debt <\/li><li>Uncertainty <\/li><\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Now that\u2019s the question! Having just finished my undergraduate degree at Cardiff amidst a global pandemic (not an ideal time to enter the job market), I have been dropped into [&hellip;]","protected":false},"author":1499,"featured_media":11499,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[710,719,242,748,705],"tags":[939,803,1178,1198,1199,435,1200],"class_list":["post-12260","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-application-process-top-tips-cy","category-applying-to-university-cy","category-studying-cy","category-postgraduate-study-cy","category-why-university-cy","tag-journalism-cy","tag-ma-cy","tag-magazine-cy","tag-magazine-journalism-cy","tag-magazine-journalism-masters-cy","tag-postgrad-cy","tag-postgraduate-cy"],"meta_box":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/insiders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12260","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/insiders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/insiders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/insiders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1499"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/insiders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12260"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/insiders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12260\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12261,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/insiders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12260\/revisions\/12261"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/insiders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11499"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/insiders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/insiders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/insiders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}