Embarking upon an MSc - what to expect?

[derillius24]

Dear All,

This month I've started work on my MSc and I suppose I'm quite apprehensive about potentially making a cock of it.

For the sake of (any?!) interest, I'm a dentist currently working as a Clinical Research Fellow and Speciality Paediatric dentist in a teaching hospital. I do believe I'm genuinely interested in the topic of my project and my boss is fantastic; hugely supportive, highly experienced and with lots of time for me when I am being thick and / or useless at research. My project will be self-directed and pursued over two years while working full time concurrently.

As undergraduates, teaching relating to research methods and critical appraisal of scientific papers was virtually nil and I feel I'm having to play a pretty serious game of catch up right now.

I guess what I'm looking for is anybody’s personal experience of research degrees – what to expect, things to do, things not to do and how much of life I should expect to be consumed? I'm sure this will appear child’s play to any Post-Docs on here but, hey, got to start somewhere!

Cheers,

Mark

TL; DR - Doing MSc, unsure what to expect, many of the tips needed.
____________________
CG125, CBF250, DRZ400-SM, Z750, Street Triple R, Tuono V4R

[Doovy]

[derillius24]

Doovy,

Thank you for your response - that is potentially very helpful.

Cheers,

Mark
____________________
CG125, CBF250, DRZ400-SM, Z750, Street Triple R, Tuono V4R

[DrSnoosnoo]

I was a "Peer Mentor" for the Master students who work with (read, for) me during my PhD.

Seeing as it is a Master degree by research, it should be a touch "easier" than a standard one, IMO.

In a standard taught degree, you generally have VERY full days of lectures with many assignments to complete and the practical research part is only for the final half of the studentship for just 2 days a week.

How many hours per week is your studentship, seeing as it's over 2 years while working?

A tip I would suggest is to get a solid understanding of your topic of research. Give yourself a title and a brief ASAP (or receive one from the supervisor).

Give yourself a good couple of months of pure reading before starting any active research, to get a solid understanding of the state of the art. Will you be working in a group of other PhDs/Post Docs?

Speak to them, they will teach you a LOT and will help you with disseminating information from papers and with your experimental techniques, it's almost their job to do that.


All of my experience and opinion is obviously from my own experience pursuing my PhD, as a supervisor for 3 Master's projects (whom all achieved distinctions may I add?!) in polymer/colour science topics.
____________________
I'm Sam; Northern, Ginger, Lover
Did have: '95 ZZR600 '83 CG125 '97 ZZR1100 '15 Hypermotard 821 SP Do Have: '10 ZX10R

[derillius24]

Thank you for your reply, many apologies for not getting back before now. I'll be working full time around it, 9-5, but with the work I do some days are very busy, others are quiet. My boss is very accommodating in the sense that she's happy for me to work on my MSc at work when there's downtime but I'm expecting to have to do the bulk of the work in my own time. It's very much self-directed research with little in the way of formal teaching, more just supervision.

Thank you for the advice. And it sounds like you have the whole mentoring thing down!

Cheers,

Mark
____________________
CG125, CBF250, DRZ400-SM, Z750, Street Triple R, Tuono V4R

[Boom_meringue]

What are you studying and does it relate to what you do for a living?

The reason I ask is that I did my MSc in Project Management which is a large component of what I do for a living.

Doing an MSc wasn't what I expected - I expected to learn loads and receive encyclopedic knowledge. What I actually found was that the most valuable modules were the more reflective "businessy" modules which taught me stuff that I didn't know (Organisational Behaviour, Managerial effectiveness etc) which were mandatory subjects for all MSc courses where I studied.

I actually did a capstone module rather than a research project, which involved planning and running my own project, which tied everything together nicely and bedded in the things I learnt along the way.

There were a large number of "oh thats why we do X" moments which for me was the big take away from the exercise. Mine took 3 years part time while I was working and my daughter decided to join us half way through my second year. 3am online lectures with an unhappy baby on your chest is an interesting experience.
____________________
Suzuki Vstrom 1000 - looking for people to ride with