Postgraduate study in London (1 Viewer)

[Luther Blissett]

Is anyone here doing postgraduate study in the UK at the moment? If so I need some advice. I've been accepted into a Masters in London run by the best department in the area that I want to study. I've also been awarded an AHRC grant to cover the fees.

My main fear is over being crippled by debt from loans and having to work so much that I can't find time to study (my cousin is still paying off a 10K loan from a UK Masters that she did back in the day).

Also Irish students need to have spent 3 years in the UK before being eligible for full AHRC scholarships. I want to do a PHD, so I would need to be getting decent funding if I want to study full time.

The alternative is go back to Ireland where I'd have less resources and support, but more chance of getting funding. London would definitely be more prestigious and my potential supervisors are heavyweights in their field.

It's a money versus the glory decision. Any advice from people who've been down this road before would be greatly appreciated.

 

[oh shit]

just finished my masters dissertations today, handing them in tomorrow at the LSE.
i'm from belfast so obviously not in the same boat and probably aren't much use to you... but...
coming here's definitely been worthwhile. expensive as hell, and not a particularly easy place to settle into, but it's great once you figure out how to get by cheap and make some friends. and in purely academic terms, it's unreal. between all the University of London schools and colleges you could find an interesting public lecture to go to every night, monday - thursday during term time if you wanted to. and getting to work with the bigshots isn't just about what they know, it's about learning all the tricks, trappings, and limitations of university hierarchies that really define who's who in academia... ie, the bullshit that you have to learn if you want a career in it.
plus you have great taste in music and you can't go wrong for that here.

congratulations on the AHRC award.
whatcha studying? where's at?

 

[Luther Blissett]

congratulations on the AHRC award.
whatcha studying? where's at?

Cheers for the insight. It's Italian contemporary history at UCL. A great course if that area floats your boat, but I'm still extremely undecided. Did you have to work loads while studying?

 

[oh shit]

no, i've done a little bit of freelancing but it's been a combination of some funds, some savings, and some debt

it's been worth it for the experience if nothing else.
and if i get a decent mark i'm going for a phd, so this has kinda been a necessary investment towards that (ie, more debt)

ucl's right in the middle of the university of london colleges and there's so much going on there... i'd say go for it

 

[Luther Blissett]

no, i've done a little bit of freelancing but it's been a combination of some funds, some savings, and some debt

it's been worth it for the experience if nothing else.
and if i get a decent mark i'm going for a phd, so this has kinda been a necessary investment towards that (ie, more debt)

ucl's right in the middle of the university of london colleges and there's so much going on there... i'd say go for it

Cheers for the advice. The idea studying at UCL is really tempting. As you said there always seems to be interesting stuff going on.

But the fact that I can't get full PHD funding from the AHRC (unless I move to the UK for three years first) is a total jip. One year of poverty in London is probably doable, but four just seems like madness.

The system is the same in Ireland I know (only Irish citezens or people resident there for three years are eligible for grants), but it pushes most people to stay at home and study in their own country.

 

[oh shit]

oh yeah forgot it's for phd... good luck whatever you decide

 

[Luther Blissett]

oh yeah forgot it's for phd... good luck whatever you decide

First up would be a Masters, then the PHD. They wouldn't let me apply for the PHD straight away. The Masters looks great though and is designed to help develop students for PHD studies. What are you doing your Masters in?