To think I can take on a master

[mojoawol]

Not sure if this is the right place to post this, so if I need to go elsewhere, let me know!
I'm 47, work full time, single mum with 2 boys (13 and 6) who are with their Dad alternate weekends. I've seen a research masters that looks really interesting, local to me, they offer part time course over 2 years. I would need to keep working full-time to pay mortgage/bills etc and would have time in evenings and weekends to study. But wonder if I'm being totally unrealistic about workload.
(Not even sure if I'd be accepted on the course at this stage - graduated 20 or so years ago, so it might all be academic, if you excuse the pun), but has anyone else done something like this and have experiences/advice/comments to share?

Just realised the thread title should say 'masters' - looks like a star wars thread!

I thought this was going to be a naughty thread

OP I haven’t personally done a Masters but i have friends who have and I understand it can be quite intensive - they only worked PT (if at all) and i think mentally it took a lot out of them. So juggling a FT role plus everything else on top might be quite tricky.

I don't know about Star Wars - S&M came to mind when I saw the title!

Be honest with yourself about how much time you can reasonably find to study, but if you're motivated I can't see why you couldn't do it. I did my MSc with the OU over 3 years and it wasn't too onerous.

Is it wrong that I thought this was a bdsm thread?

Cross posted - not just me then

See now, I had visions of you having sons at Eton or Harrow and wanting to go in and chin a teacher for giving your kid too much Latin prep in lower IV.

To answer your question, yes, find out more. I have friends who completed degrees part time whilst working full time and with small children who were with them every weekend.

As long as you ring-fence your study time (EOW, when your sons are doing their homework) it's doable.

I know several people who have done full time PhDs with multiple children. I'm sure you'll be fine.

MRes (Master of Research) are very demanding, even part time. The majority of people who undertake this particular course are intending to go on to a Ph.D afterwards, often with a view to pursuing a career as an academic.

Totally different ballgame to a coursework Master's, which is what the majority of people do.

Feel I have let some of you down

Mystery - approx how many hours per week did you spend studying?

And can research work even be done in evenings/weekends??

I did a masters when my DD was 2-ish and did it p/t over a few years. I didn't find it any harder than the batchelor's degree, but that may be because I enjoy studying, and I did both degrees at the same place - so a total of some 6 years' academic input.

I did the minimum hours for most of the time, but made sure that I did a lot of background reading and reading around the subject, and I always took notes.

I thought you were talking about martial arts...

I did the OU MSc over 3 years, with an FT
(~50hrs/wk) job and no DC, but that was a few years ago now.

I suppose it depends how much support you'll get from the uni, and how into it you are... what's your motivation? Will it help your career, or is it just for fun?

I studied in fits and starts, mostly at weekends when I'd lock myself away to meet a deadline, but not every weekend! I'm now doing a part time PhD and for my project it's easy to work evenings and weekends. My university is nearly 200 miles away so I do nearly everything online.

And can you give us an idea of subject area? Presumably you're not going to be genetically modifying fruit flies in the garage?

I did it - working full time, 2 kids, but it took 4 years and was in Education so my research was in my classroom. Hard work but I had a buddy which helped enormously as we supported each other.

I’m doing an MSc at the moment, with 2 small children, a 4-day a week job and a small start-up on the side. DH takes the children often at weekends, and I go to the office early a couple of times a week to catch up. I also read on my commute. I swear if I get this degree i’ll call it my “tube degree”. Sometimes I feel like my head will explode, but i’m really interested in the subject, so I don’t find it hard to motivate myself or find the time, mostly. I say go for it. Everyone carves out time in different ways, and you’ll find yours.

P.s. my university says 22 hours a week, but I doubt i’ve ever actually done that much.

I have two toddlers, am working full time and started an MA last year. I'm not a lone parent but my partner works opposite shifts to me, so I have to fit in studying while the children are in bed. It is hard, most of the time I just want to go to bed in the evening, but the sense of accomplishment I'm getting is making it worth it.

The course leader was very helpful when I questioned whether it was worth applying originally, with lots of guidance on the application. Good luck OP.

I did my MA over a year, technically full time though the teaching was in the evenings, while working full time. I was young and energetic, and it helped that my job at the time wasn't at all demanding, but some of the other students who did it over two years had more commitments (work, small children) and made it work for them too.

You will get very good at finding small bits of time to work in. I used to do my morning commute an hour early then sit around the corner in a cafe. I also used to catch the bus instead of the tube, because although it took longer I didn't have to change anywhere and could just grab a window seat and plough through journal articles for an hour.

Wow, lots of really inspiring stories.

The course is language, culture and identity. Really interests me. Part of me wants to do it for my self, partly to perhaps have a mid-life career change.

If a course is promoted as part-time over 2 years, is it possible to extend it? I guess speaking to the course administrator would be a good next step...

moj I started my MSc in my 40's too (and my BSc just before I hit them), so I understand the worries about returning to study. It took me a while to get to grips with the required structure & formatting necessary, mainly as I'd been out of education for many, many years, but once I got the hang of it, I really enjoyed it.

Google scholar is great for tracking down articles and your Uni should have access to a number of subject-specific journals. If they don't some are free, or you can read the abstract and get an idea. In the past, if I've found a journal article that's particularly interested me and I've not been able to download it, I've emailed the author to ask if they know where there is an accessible copy (after introducing myself, and outlining what I'm studying and so on). Some have been kind enough to send me copies of those and related articles.

BTW, my course was advertised as 2 years and I did it in 3, as I had to take some time out for a bereavement.

Do it! Sounds hugely interested. I do a lot of learning for the sake of learning, sometimes informally, sometimes on short online courses.