this post was submitted on 31 Jul 2023
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Got an email from RMIT saying like "here are some alumnis things you can do" and one of them was study a postgrad degree. Decided to check it out and the graduate diploma and masters of the field I studied in both allows anyone to enter if you have had a minimum of 3 years in a related field OR completed a bach degree. I remember looking at the masters and it said you had to have a study score of something related to a HD, which I didn't have.
Might see how I go with work, but I kind of want to do it. Has anyone experienced studying and also working before? (And not working like hospo or retail)
It's not easy and you'll be tired a lot. But I would consider whether you need the debt. Compare the cost versus benefit.
I haven’t done a post grad but I studied and worked all the way through my courses.
Much of it’s going to come down to timetabling and seeing if it works out between work and uni.
The other one would be the workload involved and understanding what you can take on and how much you can do and balancing everything.
That sounds like a real decent opportunity! It's so great to hear about unis allowing alternative entry pathways and changing up how things are done. Cheeky tangent, I love how Swinburne offers incremental qualifications to their students e.g. if you drop out after one or two years, you're rewarded with a Cert III or Diploma in whatever it is you were studying, with the option to return for the final Bachelor year at a later point. Other unis are moving towards this model. I digress.
Over the past year I have been studying full-time postgrad and working 3-4 days each week (25-30 hours). The degree is centered around a biomedical research project and requires a lot of in-person, tedious, isolated lab work. (Oh it's worth noting that I am aiming for high marks, trying for med school). Not gonna water it down, it has been really fkn hectic doing it this way. Studying full-time and working 3 days a week was bearable...but when I picked up another shift, I didn't have a day off for nearly 2 months...would not recommend 0/10 i'm an idiot
It would've been much easier studying a postgrad degree 'by coursework' and not 'by research.' I could def see myself working 25ish hours weekly and studying coursework full-time, no doubt. Guess it depends on the subject/material, too. Biomed...is involved. And if you're not chasing HDs then yes yes, for sure its doable. I reckon the sweet spot would be part-time study whilst working 30-35 hours each week.
What's the field of study for this postgrad you're looking to get into, if you don't mind me asking?
Hmm... interesting. Yeah I'll have a think about it. Because honestly, I miss uni, it was a lot of fun. And I wonder how things would change now that I have a script for Ritalin haha.
It was creative writing, so you know the course that doesn't provide me a job in the end! Jokes, I actually learnt a lot in creative writing and it's helped me get opportunities I wouldn't have gotten, and I do love the job I'm in but it's very much customer servicing whereas writing copy is a "if there's nothing to do", which is fine... but I just want to do more writing.
Nah, creative writing is here to stay. In the age of AI saturating journalism and the arts etc. I suspect your services would be well sought after.
And funny you say that re: Ritalin. Prior to getting on meds, I'd lost count how many times I'd dropped out of uni – probably 6 or 7 times. And I transferred across 5 unis lol. I started when I was 18 and didn't graduate until I was 30. I battled through my remaining undergrad subjects over the pandemic, graduated last year and continued on w/ postgrad. My strength is academia but I never actually believed I'd complete a degree nor study postgrad, not in a million years.
The most surprising thing was that my final undergrad year was so much more difficult than doing postgrad. All the teachers and their assignments in postgrad were super flexible, as was my weekly schedule. I could do whatever I want at my own pace. It was a goddamn revelation not having to constantly chase deadlines and having the freedom to push things back as required.
I'd encourage you to consider giving it a go! Could always sign up and see how the first month is? And if you need to, drop out / defer before census.
Yeah definitely. I might look into it in a year or so. Might see what I can do with my boss.