Hello, I’m Eleni one of your student career ambassador’s and this is a blog for all the students thinking about what to do after uni.
In this blog I will talk about my search on where to do a master’s degree to finally getting a conditional offer from a London university.
What to study?
Looking for a master’s degree and deciding on what you want to specialise in can be daunting. But once you’ve progressed in your undergraduate degree you can make the choice to advance further in academia – and you will have hopefully figured out your passion and what you wish to develop your career in.
Just by simply googling which universities offer master’s degrees in what you’re interested in you will definitely find all kinds of schools and many top schools as well. Carefully read through the opportunities these universities offer as well as taking into mind the location, living costs, tuition fees and what career prospects this will lead you to. There are also specialised websites that can help with finding postgraduate courses including Findmasters.com and targetjobs.co.uk/postgraduate.
Application
Make sure to check the application deadlines and requirements for the course, as some universities open applications early and fill up.
An extremely important part of your application is your personal statement which will set you apart from other candidates. Applying for master’s degrees is more competitive than undergraduate courses and you need to make sure you showcase your experience, knowledge, goals and of course personality, within your personal statement.
I initially struggled a bit with the structure and what to focus on when writing it. I visited Employability & Careers in MySurrey Hive, after booking one of the 15minute sessions on Surrey Pathfinder and went through the personal statement with a careers advisor which proved to be extremely helpful and insightful. Employability & Careers also recommend booking a longer Guidance interview for a personal statement check which will enable a more thorough look at the personal statement.
I submitted my applications after working on them and have succeeded in receiving an offer to study Medical Microbiology from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, University of London.
So, to everyone out there good luck, believe in yourselves and get searching!
Useful Resources
