Reflecting on my MA experience

Considering that I founded Let’s Talk Academia at the beginning of my MA, I thought I’d write a post reflecting on my MA experience now that I have finished it. I’m going to talk about things I’ve learned, things I want to do differently in my next academic chapter (i.e. the PhD), things I’ve enjoyed and the parts that I haven’t enjoyed.

Some people say that it’s beneficial to take a year out at some point in between higher education. That was never the plan but, naturally, sometimes life has a different course of action for you. I ended up taking a year out after my undergrad (although I was meant to go straight onto a PhD, but it didn’t really happen). I then thankfully acquired 1+3 funding, meaning that I would be starting my MA in the new academic year. In all honesty, I think the gap year put me back a step at the start of my Masters – my writing was so rusty and with that came a weird self-doubt phase. But I’m a big believer that everything happens for a reason, and if I didn’t take that year out I wouldn’t have got the funding that is so precious and rare these days. But nevertheless, it was difficult to get back into ‘the game’ when it came to writing my first few essays. If I could turn back time, I would have utilised that year out to keep on writing academically, as I certainly underestimated how much a year away can affect academic writing. Even now that I’ve got a month off before I start my PhD, I’m still wary of taking time out of writing!! A gap year certainly wasn’t for me in terms of the strain it had on my academic skills, but that’s my own personal experience and I’m sure for others it would work wonders. I’d recommend, though, that if you do take a gap year, ensure that you still tap into the subject that you’re going to pursue after your time away – don’t neglect it completely.

Without meaning to sound super negative and dreary in this post, I’ve not had the most amazing MA experience. From start to finish, there has always been something negative that interfered and prevented me from having an enjoyable experience. Basically, it has been a tough year – with personal life things and the MA course being generally lack lustre (which I’m regretful to admit). In large part, it was an incredibly isolating time – I ended up moving back to my home city because I was paying a ridiculous amount of rent for on-campus accommodation when I had literally zero hour contact time! By the end of first term, I was a distance student and had literally no postgrad people around me. Even if I had stayed on campus, I would have still been in the same isolating predicament! So I thought it was more worthwhile to save money, come home and be surrounded by my partner and family instead. Thankfully, at least my supervisor is great and was always a great source of encouragement! I produced some more in depth advice about being a distance student here if you're interested. 

However, whilst overall I’d say the MA wasn’t the most exhilarating time of my life, I definitely learned a hell of a lot – both in terms of my own personal approach to academic learning/writing, and of the subject area in general. I’m so lucky and grateful to have received a 1+3 funding award, because the MA is then viewed as a time to really prepare for your PhD and get to know your research area in depth. I utilised my MA to read as much relevant material as possible which would put me in good stead for when I do start my PhD. I’d advise that if you do want to pursue a PhD after an MA, try to cater for the research area you’re interested in and write essays on topics within that area – depending on how flexible your MA modules are, of course! One of the only good attributes of my MA course was that it was incredibly flexible and I was able to pursue my research interests (relevant to my PhD) in each of my assignments.

In terms of my own personal approach to academic learning, I definitely realised that working effectively is a trial and error process. Sometimes it just takes time to figure out how best we work, and that’s ok. As my supervisor helpfully says, in academia – especially early on in our academic career – we’re learning to learn, which means that it genuinely is a long process to get to grips with what the effective ways to learn are for us. I’ve realised that environments are key to my productivity. If I work in one particular place at all times, my concentration begins to stall and I begin to feel less motivated and inspired. I know I say this all of the time, but it really is important to switch up your work environments from time to time. A further helpful habit that I got into when I was in the editing process of my papers and dissertation, was that I edited my work on paper. So I’d print my drafts and read them on paper, rather than on the computer – for some reason, I just felt like I could edit better this way as I spend hours writing on my laptop and sometimes it’s more difficult to see mistakes. When I read my drafts on paper, away from my laptop, I tend to spot more errors. Just a random tip for anyone out there that is perhaps wanting to discover new ways to edit!

I’ve also learned that it’s sometimes counter-productive to put pressure on myself to work the same hours every day. Let’s be honest, some days it’s just impossible to have a productive day – at least, for me it is anyway. Don’t force yourself to work when you’re just not ‘feeling it’, because your work will probably suffer for it. Just take a break and go back to it with a fresh mind and, therefore, a fresh pair of eyes. We just need to be real with ourselves and accept that we can’t be ridiculously productive every single day. I’ve also realised that work-life balance is something that should be taken seriously. It’s important not only for productivity, but also for our own wellbeing. Admittedly, I need to get better at it around deadlines and the PhD will be a perfect opportunity to put what I preach into practise.

Overall, the MA has been a huge learning curve and it has been far from an easy ride. There has been elements that I have enjoyed, like having the freedom to create my own hours and work wherever I want and, of course, learning more about the research area that I’m going to continue to pursue. But I have also had insight into the dark side of independent research: the loneliness and isolation. I’m going to make an effort to feel less alone in my PhD and to just embrace the experience and try and not get too stressed like I did with my MA dissertation (where possible, obvs). Whenever the challenges of academic research and writing force themselves to the surface, I’m going to make sure I remember that I’m passionate about my research proposal and I couldn’t see myself doing anything else. Bring on my next chapter: hello, PhD! 

Emily x 

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