When September 2023 rolled around I was really excited to start my Masters. I was looking forward to moving to a new city, to be back on a university campus, and to start learning about my new topic. I did, of course, have some worries. Top of my list of worries was that I simply wouldn’t be able to keep up with the work that would be required. I thought it might be useful to speak about my experience with this particular worry. Spoiler: it all ends well!
Firstly, a little bit about me
My name’s Amy and I’m currently studying my LLM in International Human Rights Law at York. I graduated from my undergraduate in 2022 and took a year out to explore my options and decide exactly what I wanted to do next. Pretty quickly, I realised that I really missed university. And I felt that I had more learning to do before entering my chosen field. York was the perfect choice for me because my specific course offered a really practical and hands-on experience that I felt other courses did not.
So, onto the worry of not keeping up
Not only had I had a year away from university, but I was also starting a new subject. I had studied International Politics as an undergraduate and was now foraying into an all new territory with law. As it turned out, studying, at least in my experience, was like riding a bike. Jumping back on said bike – and by that I mean a comfy desk chair in the library – did have some bumps to begin with. It took me a couple of weeks to shift from ‘politics brain’ to ‘law brain.’ I spent a bit too long re-reading study materials, worried I’d missed some important fact. There was also new terminology to get used to using. I’ll be honest and say all of this resulted in a not great work-life balance for the first couple of weeks of my Masters.
Pretty soon though, I was feeling much more settled
I’d set myself a routine that worked for me and made sure that I stuck to it. For me, this was making sure I only worked between the hours of 9 and 5, and kept my weekends free. As I say, this was just what works for me; there’s lots of room to be flexible in your study approach! I was also back to trusting my ability to take in the information I was studying. This was something that came naturally with a bit of time and practice. Even better, I found that my knowledge of another subject area was actually really helpful in some areas. This wasn’t just the case for me. All of my coursemates had skills and insight they could bring to our new course whatever course they had studied before. Even if they had taken some time out before coming back to university.
I won’t deny it…
There have been some topics which have taken me a bit longer to understand and I have had moments where my worry about not keeping up resurfaces. I’ve found 2 things to be a safety net in these moments. First – my routine. Even if I don’t understand something, my books and laptop are closed at 5pm and I don’t let myself spend the evening agonising over my work. I usually find that once I’ve slept on it, the topic makes much more sense anyway!
Second – my course mates. I’ve found it super helpful to remember that I’m not the only one going through this. Group study sessions have been a great way to get some of my questions answered and to share any worries I’m having about the course. If I’m still stuck on a topic after taking some time away from it and consulting my coursemates, I know my lecturers are only an email away and are more than happy to help.
To finish off
I hope this has been helpful and maybe eased some worry about the studying side of a postgraduate course. Honestly, I’m so happy I made the decision to come back and study a Masters. I hope you’ll feel the same too!
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