{"id":1738,"date":"2015-09-30T11:49:18","date_gmt":"2015-09-30T10:49:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk\/postgraduate\/?p=1738"},"modified":"2015-09-30T11:49:18","modified_gmt":"2015-09-30T10:49:18","slug":"being-a-part-time-postgrad-student","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk\/student-blog\/2015\/09\/30\/being-a-part-time-postgrad-student\/","title":{"rendered":"Being a part-time postgrad student"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\tBeing a part-time postgrad student is, to be honest, hard work!\u00a0 But fear not, it has its plus sides too!\u00a0 Here are a few pros and cons from my own experience\u2026<\/p>\n

When I started out on my Master\u2019s, I naturally wanted to get it done as quickly as possible, to enable speedier career progression.\u00a0 So, if it hadn\u2019t been for the need to earn money, I definitely would\u2019ve gone full-time.\u00a0 However, I realised that full-time study on top of work wouldn\u2019t be a great idea if I wanted to maintain my health and my sanity, so I opted for part-time with a view to completing in two years.\u00a0 I\u2019m now a year in, and to be honest, the frustration of the fact that it\u2019s going to take me longer to finish has largely gone.\u00a0 One of the main reasons for this is that it gives me a chance to spend more time thinking through what I\u2019ll base my dissertation on, and I think I\u2019ll end up with something better than I would\u2019ve done if I\u2019d been forced to decide on something just six months after starting the course.<\/p>\n

Another really positive thing about being a part-time student is increased flexibility on deadlines.\u00a0 The teaching staff recognise that the workload needs to be spread evenly across the year, and fit with work commitments.\u00a0 Therefore, we are usually given the opportunity to renegotiate deadlines at the beginning of a module, particularly when two of the original deadlines fall close together.\u00a0 Of course, this isn\u2019t really an option for full-time study, where modules must be completed in quick succession, and the course is so intense that delaying a deadline will really set you back on other work.<\/p>\n

A key challenge for a part-time postgrad is balancing study with other commitments.\u00a0 Personally, I\u2019m really glad to be working alongside studying, as it gives me a more varied lifestyle and allows me to learn and develop in different ways.\u00a0 At the same time, I\u2019ve been surprised by how challenging I\u2019ve sometimes found it to move between the mind-sets of work and study.\u00a0 In recent months, I\u2019ve only had one day each week available to study, and I\u2019ve found that I inadvertently put so much pressure on myself to be productive on that day that often the opposite ends up happening!\u00a0 So, a top tip I\u2019d give to any part-time student is to think really carefully about how many hours you work and how much uni work you take on each year, and balance these carefully (with leisure time factored in too of course!).\u00a0 This is a balance I\u2019m anxious about for the next year, but I\u2019m aware that I may need to adapt and make sacrifices if things become too much to handle.<\/p>\n\"Rancho-slider\"<\/a>\n

One thing I\u2019m not so keen on about being a part-time student is the fact that I\u2019m not finishing the course with my full-time classmates.\u00a0 They\u2019ve been a great bunch this year, and I think I\u2019ll feel strange going into class this year with a new and unfamiliar group.\u00a0 Whereas last year I very much felt part of the core group, this time round I\u2019ll be one of the few students who dips into the third module of the year, with most of the class not knowing who I am!\u00a0 On the plus side, I\u2019m really looking forward to meeting a new group of people, who I\u2019m confident will be just as interesting and inspiring!<\/p>\n

In summary, while it\u2019s not without its challenges, I\u2019m really happy to be a part-time student.\u00a0 It\u2019s a slower route than full-time study, but offers more flexibility and room for professional development beyond the academic environment.\u00a0 If you can get the balance right, it\u2019s a great way to study!<\/p>\n

By Lauren Bishop<\/strong>\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Being a part-time postgrad student is, to be honest, hard work!\u00a0 But fear not, it has its plus sides too!\u00a0 Here are a few pros and cons from my own experience\u2026 When I started out on my Master\u2019s, I naturally wanted to get it done as quickly as possible, to enable speedier career progression.\u00a0 So,… Read more » about Being a part-time postgrad student<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1444,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1658,1663],"tags":[877,130,48,1996,2048,2141,2186],"class_list":["post-1738","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog-archive","category-postgraduate","tag-bournemouth","tag-bournemouth-university","tag-bu","tag-lauren-bishop","tag-masters","tag-part-time-study","tag-postgraduate-study"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk\/student-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1738","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk\/student-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk\/student-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk\/student-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1444"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk\/student-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1738"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk\/student-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1738\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk\/student-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1738"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk\/student-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1738"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk\/student-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1738"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}