Delivery of sessions

Despite the current situation with COVID, lectures and seminars have still been delivered to a high quality, with our learning being the top priority for the staff. Sessions are now all online, except a few face-to-face sessions. I won’t lie… it has been hard, trying to focus at home and constantly staring at a screen, especially with long days. I have sessions all day on a Monday, 9 – 5, and by the end I am ready for a well-deserved nap 😊. At undergrad, the longest session I ever had was two hours, but now some seminars can go on for three hours, so make sure you grab a cuppa and some snacks to help you stay focused throughout.

Contact hours

As expected, the number of hours that we put into the course is more than that at undergrad. However, it is still possible with your hard work and effort. Although there is a limited amount of face-to-face sessions, you are expected as a postgrad student to attend all classes.

Top tip: do not miss any sessions, unless you have a valid reason and will catch up, as, trust me, you will fall very easily behind and feel lost compared to a student who attended that lesson.

We are not spoon fed

As a postgrad student, you must remember that you are now at the start of your career and cannot be told everything when it comes learning. You are not handed everything on a plate and are expected to do further reading outside of lessons, to further your knowledge on topic areas that you are interested in. This sounds like a lot, but if you enjoy the course or a specific subject area, focus on that. You don’t need to know everything, but tutors will notice if you have done this further learning or not. I have had the same tutors since undergrad and they have told me personally I have improved, which lets me know that hard work does pay off.

Opportunities to learn

Yes, we all had opportunities at undergrad to gain some experience in the field, but when I tell you now is the time that this is important, I mean it. As a postgrad you should be dedicated to learning and finding new experiences wherever you can to aid you in your career path. Now this is scary stuff, but more opportunities are posted to us at postgrad level to help us get in the right direction.

All in all, there is no doubt that postgrad learning is more challenging than that of undergrad, but with the ongoing support and your hard work, it will be one of the most rewarding experiences.

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