AIBU to not finish my masters?

[MarkBorrigan]

I'm approaching 2/3 of the way through my masters. I have 3 essays (12,000 words combined) to write and a dissertation (15,000 words) left.

I have not enjoyed this degree, I wanted to leave two weeks in but I didn't quite have the courage, and I was hoping the content/teaching and my enjoyment of it would improve. It has not. Both of my lovely parents have been very ill this year, my DM had breast cancer and a mastectomy on the day of my first round of deadlines - amazingly I got my first set of essays in, and the marks were ok, two merits and a distinction. Thankfully my wonderful mum doesn't need anymore treatment, other than Tamoxifen. My Ddad has also been ill, in and out and hospital, right up until as recently as this week. I have been undergoing blood tests for the same genetic disorder that has been making Ddad so ill - thankfully I don't have it, but it took 9 months to find out.

This has all had a serious impact on my ability to concentrate. Then, now bare with me here, my degree got heavily affected by the strikes over pensions, I have lost 5 weeks of teaching, and the whole degree has only 20 weeks of teaching in total. I respect their right to strike but it has seriously impacted on my ability to write my next round of essays, I just do not have the knowledge there as I haven't been taught it. I also feel quite let down and am lacking inclination, if I'm honest. My grandad has also been in hospital this week. I feel like I've been so unlucky this year.

I work 25 hours a week and I am getting married in September, if I do my dissertation I will have less than a week between submitting it and my wedding day. If I manage to submit the three upcoming essays due the middle of May I will leave with a Postgraduate Diploma. For context, this is not a degree that leads towards a specific career path, it's in the social sciences. I already have a first class undergraduate degree. Given the circumstances, WIBU to forget the dissertation and completing the full masters and just aim for the diploma?

When I was doing my masters, I was 2/3rds of the way through when I decided that I’d had enough. I spent a few weeks mulling over it and decided that I couldn’t carry on as it was putting too much pressure on me and on my family as my husband and elder son were picking up the pieces, re the house, meals and shopping. Plenty of people told me to follow my instinct. One person told me that she’d been in a similar position about ten years previously, had given up and regretted it every day since. I was incredulous but she insisted that she regularly thought about it.
That conversation made me reconsider, I decided to just get it done and I wasn’t too concerned about what my final mark would be-just to get it done was the goal. As I worked on it, though,my attitude changed and I began to get interested in it once more. Eventually I was actually working to get the best honours in it that I could.
I’ve had my masters for over 7years now, and I am so grateful to that person who told me she regretted never finishing hers.
Best of luck with what you decide. If your family situation is after settling down again (health) and your partner is happy to continue to support you dog and chef-wise, think strongly about just getting it done.
You’ll have your wedding and future life together to look forward to when it’s all over!

I have felt like this while doing My degree im an older student and a single parent . I can totally understand how overwhelmed you must feel !! Iv had times when there has been other stuff going on . Illness , family issues etc and an essay deadline looming and Iv just sat and cried with the stress of it all . I'm so so glad I carried on though !

I hated my masters course and was so relieved when it finally finished. At the time I Would have told you that a post grad cert or an MA would make no difference but I have ended up in a country where it makes a world of difference. I look back with satisfaction on that time as despite the issues I did finish the thing.
Also DC grow up and in what turns out to be a short while your life won't revolve around them in the same way.

I almost quit mine, but was able to switch the dissertation to extra taught modules and extra units. I also took a break. I'm glad I got through it in the end

I'd talk to your tutor. Discuss options. I deferred my dissertation for a year when my mum was terminally ill. I did lose momentum tbh but still got a decent result. I think you need breathing space

My MPhil was a big disappointment but I finished it anyway despite it seeming pointless and despite receiving what I thought was a great job offer, which I had to turn down because I decide to continue studying (it was a university that dosn't permit side jobs). However, after my studies my career went in a completely different direction (because the field I was in unexpectedly died out in the region I live in) and now I am making three times my previous salary in a job I could only get because I had a graduate degree.
I'd say defer, you can still walk away later.

I stopped 2/3 of the way through a Masters and came out with a PgDip. It hasn't made the slightest difference to anything I've done since. No regrets.

Defer, take a break but don’t quit, 2/3’s is too far to walk away, you will always regret it, get some space, clear your head and just focus on the last 1/3 when the time I see right for you xxx

I’d finish it. It may make a difference later on.

I would finish it. I nearly gave up on mine but pushed through at the end. The feeling if achievement was great and it has opened doors for me in employment that I didn’t know about at the time I was studying. You have other plans for th next few years so coming back later may be more difficult. I would get it over and done with now.

I changed careers half way through my masters, so by the time I came to write the dissertation, I was in a different and demanding job, and undertaking a seperate post grad diploma to qualify in my new field. I hated every minute of writing it, had two different post grad qualifications on the go from two different unis at the same time along with my full time job, KNEW it wouldn't be useful for my new career and had to work through some almost PTSD type feelings over how traumatic the decision to leave teaching had been.

But you know what? One of the proudest moments of my life was walking across that stage to get my MA, and it was absolutely worth it. (finishing the pgdip 6 months later and finally being free was pretty cool, too)

Don't think of it as 15,000 words, think of it as however many words you can write a day, but just do it. It is so worth pushing through.

Yabu.

Finish it up. You have a bit to do yet but you have come so far. It would be a huge pity to drop.it now.

Seek help for your stress. Maybe ask for a week off?

I don't know a single person who didn't hate their B.A. thesis or master's with a passion by about a month in.

I work in student support, and strongly second the advice to talk to your tutors as - depending on your university's regulations - there will be options available to you. These could include cashing in for a PGDip, deferral, extenuating circumstances... if afterward you still feel that withdrawing is right for you, then that's fine too - but it's worth asking. Good luck whatever you decide.

You’ve really had a lot going on but you’re so close to finishing now, just push through. I was under immense pressure at about the same point in my MA. New country, new baby, husband working crazy hours in a new job and 50,000 words to go. I really felt like quitting but I pushed through and I’m so glad I did. It was worth it. I actually wrote the bulk of my dissertation in just 2 weeks. It wasn’t ideal but it was the only time I had grandparents on hand to babysit. Don’t quit! You’ll get there in the end.