​The end of my five years of law school was bizarre at the very least. For the first time in a while the next natural step wasn’t the next academic year and I was unsure of where I wanted to take my life. I was (and still adamantly am) the starry-eyed millennial. I want to travel the world, experience a new culture and have my thoughts and presumptions about the world displaced. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t also chasing a little bit of the glamour associated to having had an “international experience”.

In addition to all this, I want to pursue a career in teaching. Doing a Master’s degree was on the horizon for me, but the decision that had to be made was with regards to when I was going to do it. As is the case in a student’s life, advice poured in from everywhere on how to decide. On one hand, people said that doing a Master’s straight after college was a good idea because I was still in the zone of studying and working for grades- a state of mind that was hard to get back into after years of working. On the other hand, I was told that work experience was vital as it would open my eyes to the ways of the world and I could choose my courses based on the experience I had.

Perhaps it was the youthful impatience to “get out there” and “explore” that made me decide to do it straight away. I went through universities around the world that offered courses in Intellectual Property Law- an interest I had developed while working on my undergraduate dissertation. It was now down to choosing the university.

Making my decision

Many factors are involved in making the decision to continue with postgraduate study. Your financial constraints, the nature of the course, the facilities provided by various institutions, and, as vague as it is, a gut feeling about your future. It was a culmination of all these reasons that led me to choose BU.

Firstly, I was drawn to the structure of the LLM Intellectual Property Rights course which gave a broad understanding of international, EU and UK legal structures before delving into the nitty-gritties of IP Law. Considering I was shifting from having studied law in India, I felt that I needed to solidify my

Burning the midnight oil with friends in the Library.

foundations, which BU’s course structure did.

Secondly, from the initial stage of the application process to the very end, the ancillary departments of BU were extremely helpful. ResLife helped me figure my accommodation and student life out; AskBU was very helpful with procedural issues; the social media pages for international students addressed questions I had about life here. I felt I would be well supported here. Finally, their scholarship programs eased my financial burden considerably.

All in all, doing a post-graduate course here seemed like the best option for me. And now, seven months into the course, I’m surer of it than ever. Life can be strange and can take us to different places, but I sure am glad that for now, it’s brought me here.