Young Writers Society

I realize the vast majority of the site population is not at and/or near this point in their education. But a question for those who are, what are you studying for you masters program, or what did you study?

For those who aren't there yet, are you considering getting a masters and in what?

I know that I want a masters. And I have some vague ideas, but nothing specific enough, because masters degrees get pretty specific.

What kind of vague ideas?

I'm probably not a good person to ask, since I'm in the middle of an existential crisis about life and uni and everything, so. What exactly are you looking for in answers and such?

I'm really just asking for the basics, what you're studying--which, thanks to a certain Olympic event, I know all too well. But I'm game for whatever extra information you want to throw at me--how you chose it, how you picked a program, what you can do with it or plan to do with it, what the entrance process was like... and I could go on. Basically I didn't want to ask people for aaaaall of that, but please feel free to throw an entire library of information at me.

(My own vague ideas include: something to do with psychology and/or counseling especially with adolescents, ESL or something related, applied linguistics or something related, something to do with languages, and other stuff I haven't thought of yet.)

In Finland, or at least the impression I'm under, doing a Master's after Bachelor's is taken for granted, so most people don't just leave it at Bachelor's. Or maybe I have a very skewed view of it. xD Anyway, I'm going to do the same for my Master's as I'm for my Bachelor's - translation. Perhaps the system is a bit different in the US. Anyway, I'll end up having BA and then MA!

I've got my MA in Creative Writing, which was essentially for fun, because it isn't applicable in a career, as it was more to do with preparing to be published. And since I am not trying to be published, it was just some extra writing theory and practice for me.

I'm starting an MA in Teaching (secondary school) tomorrow! I've added a graduate certificate in religious education so I can teach in Catholic schools as well. My mum nagged and nagged me until finally I caved and applied for this - she demanded I actually get a career hah!

I've just applied for MFA programs in Creative Writing which (like @PenguinAttack said) won't really qualify me for anything at all and will mostly just be for fun and extra intensive writing time. However, in the US it does "technically" qualify you to teach at the college level though a lot of universities are moving toward wanting you to have your phd to teach creative writing.

On that same note, I'm not going to go to grad school (if I get in) unless they pay me. Not worth it for me otherwise!

My sister is currently working on her MFA and she has a "scholarship" which requires involves her working in the writing center with undergrad students, but she also gets paid for that position? So it is a little bit confusing, but either way up to a certain number of credits are paid for each semester (all the credits she would need, so she would only have to pay if she took extra) and she makes enough to pay her bills, so that's all that matters right?

Point being, I believe a lot of master's programs have some kind of arrangement like that which allows you to go to school "for free."

For those kind of programs, it really depends on what program it is. Mine, for instance, did not do that at all; however, I got off relatively easily, since I was able to get grant money to cover a good chunk of school expenses. However, that didn't cover anything else, let alone any kind of uni-related job/stipend. So, while I was fine living at home and working part time, it also was not sustainable outside those circumstances.

On my program itself: I ended up in my degree with a combination of mentors, both in the profession and academic advisers during undergrad. My program is slightly ironic in terms of choice - it's both the closest to me geographically in the state, but also entirely online and the most affordable.

So, online school meant I could move back home, and drastically cut living expenses (we'll talk about how that worked money stuff aside another time ^^); online school is kind of odd, and I'm still not entirely sure how i feel about it, even now that I have my degree. I mean, it was great in that I could go to school whenever I wanted, which made work so much easier, but it was also really freakishly isolating, especially after YWS and other online communities I've either been a part of or been on the fringes of. Plus, there's a lot of other things, like career fairs, that are just not as easy to handle online - and my school is relatively cutting edge in that area, from what little else I've seen (which, granted, isn't a huge amount, since I haven't gone looking).

The thing I really like about my degree, and my school in particular, is how versatile you can make the degree, from the very traditional to borderline CS.

Entrance for me was relatively easy. No GRE, and my GPA as an undergrad was high. I don't recall needing to write any essays like I did for some undergrad applications, either. However, this degree also did not have an undergrad degree requirement (i.e. I didn't have to major in it or something related as an undergrad in order to get in), so be sure to check that when you're debating degrees.

I think I just rambled a lot - was any of that helpful?