This week Her Campus caught up with Masters student at Leeds University, Laura Johnson to find out more about doing a masters.
What course are you doing?
I study Chemisty
Do a lot of people on your course end up doing a masters?
Quite a few, maybe 1/3 of the year which is a lot compared to some degrees.
Have you always known you wanted to do a masters?
Yes definately- I applied to do an intergrated masters, meaning your course becomes four years like any normal masters course would but you don’t do a dissertation in third year it becomes part of your 4th year reaserch project.
How come you opted for a master over a year in industry?Was it an easy choice?
I was planning on doing both but was unsuccessful in getting a placement year so it wasn’t really my choice not to do a placement. They’re really competitive for the type of thing I wanted to do. But it made me even more set on doing a masters.
How does it differ to third year / last year?
A LOT more contact time which I did’nt think was possible with chemisty- it’s a bit like a full time job, but it’s nice cause you end up being friends with the people in your reaserch group. You do have to self motivate yourself a lot more so that you get all the work done, there are no deadlines throughout the term only at the end of the year.
What advice would you give ot anyone doing a master’s degree?
Only do one if you think you can motivate yourself enough and are really interested in the subject. You definately can’t coast through, you’ve pretty much got to be prepared to commit to a full time job.
You said yours was an integrated master? Do you know if it’s mainly sciences that offer this option? If so- can you still apply to do one in third year?
Yes, I think it is mainly only sciences and chemistry in particular as the project year counts as a dissertation. You can change up until 2nd year so it’s a really good way of doing a masters I’d say. Obviously it’s not offered on every degree.
Have you any idea what you want to do when you finish uni?
I’m hoping to go in to pharmacitucals, making drugs and whatnot.
Will you miss Leeds, or has four years been enough?
I’ll definately miss it, but I’m so ready for a change now!