Anyone done a Masters in a completely different area to their degree?

[BroodyBridget]

Did you find it much harder than your degree?

Did you feel that you'd missed out by not doing a degree in the new subject?

Is there anything you wish you'd know before embarking on it?

Just a few questions as I ponder the next 1-3 years of my life

Yes. I did history for undergrad and marketing for a masters. Both humanities. Didn't feel like it would have made a difference doing an underhand in marketing, especially as I was already working in marketing when I did it

Yes but the subject was a mistake and I should have done something else. (Was pressured by my parents to choose that subject rather than another! But neither subject were the same as my degree and I got accepted onto both.)

It wasn’t too hard at all, most of the people on my MA hadn’t studied it for a degree, either.

Both DH and I fall into this category.
I would actually say it was pretty normal particularly if you did an arts undergraduate degree and then wanted an MA to help your career.

Agree with lots of others, particularly in the 'old days' when I went to university there weren't loads of vocational degrees on offer so it was very much the norm to do a first degree in a traditional academic subject and then further professional qualifications later on - even in professions like law you will still usually find most older school lawyers did a BA first and then a 'law conversion'. In my profession (HR) it only started to be possible to do a first degree in HR maybe 20-25 years ago, and its still largely offered by ex-poly universities so many people will do their first degree in another subject followed by a level 7 or masters in HR afterwards, arguably this is still seen as the more prestigious route particularly if your first degree is in a 'useful' subject like psychology or a modern language (which mine isn't!) and from a RG or similar university.

I found the masters very different from my BA, I did it part-time alongside working full time so I probably did less study overall, certainly less academic reading (but then again I got a 1st for my BA and scraped a pass for my MA so the lack of work clearly showed!). The MA was more coursework than exams and a lot was practical rather than theoretical so less intense I'd say. I hadn't done any stats or qualitative research in my BA degree so that was a bit of a stretch but manageable and there was plenty of help available...

Some really helpful comments made there, thank you all

Ba religious studies, ma in heritage management. MA was related to my work, so had practical knowledge of topic. Are but was juggling it with working full-time but glad I did it now

Yes although I'm still doing the MSc.
I do wish I had a better grounding in submitting work within this discipline- it is a little daunting not having the confidence of a previous 3 or 4 years of using texts and epistemologies and not having people go 'why is that revelation to this?'.

I've had good marks so far. Hopefully the dissertation will go ok too.

BA in languages and Masters' in HRM, much later.

Yes. Did a science first degree and an MBA. Different style of learning / studying required for both. That difference took some getting used to at the start, but became second nature by the end.

BA in Commun/Journalism 1st MSc Sociology/Information Science (hybrid degree) 2nd MSc Psychology.

My 1st master's was a waste of money second one we shall see

I did an English degree then a Social Work masters. A bit linked but nobody on the course had done social work as their undergrad.