To think it’s possible to study for a masters with 2 young children?

[Eatyourbanana]

2 children under 3.
Studying for a masters (3 years) full time.
Is it possible?
Or am I going to be swallowed up?

YABU - it’s too much
YANBU - you can do it!

Will they be at home with you all day or will they be in childcare /preschool at all?

@Didntwanttochangemyname Sorry should of mentioned that!! It’ll be mixture of both. They will be in childcare some of the time but I can’t afford full time. They would attend nursery 2 days a week.

3 years for a Masters seems a long time (or short if it's UG and PG combined). The discipline will make a huge difference. Some areas such as humanities will have less contact time than lab-based subjects.

3 years full time? Seems very unusual for a masters. If it’s full time then I doubt you’d be able to do it with 2 days childcare to be honest.

I've done it distance learning whilst also working ft and have 3 kids.
Doable but must be structured and firm with your time.

Confused by your 3year full time thing!

It all depends on the course and your aptitude -

Are you ok with academic writing? Is it a subject area you already know well at this level, is there any placements, contact time at uni etc

I did it via distance learning whiale working full time. But I will say I scraped by doing the bare minimum and didn’t benefit and learn as much as I might otherwise have done. In hindsight I wish I’d waited a few years to give it the time and attention I’d have liked to.

My 23 colleague recently passed her masters working full time and was pregnant/with a tiny baby for the duration. So yes, it’s possible. Difficult but possible. Look into childcare funding.

Three years FT for a masters? Are you in the UK?

FT is usually one year for a masters. Part time is 2 years. I know in the US it's two years for a full time ,asters, but I've never heard of a three year master's degree.

Are you sure it's three years?

Either way two under 3s home three days a week isn't exactly conducive to studying. Do you have a partner?

What subject?

If you have childcare, yes, it's absolutely possible. It's not different than having a demanding job with 2 small children, which lots of people do. I did a PhD after I became a parent (7 years - nearly fulltime most of it - this was not in the UK, though I live in the UK now). Here most master's are only 1 year, but there's no reason you couldn't do a 3 year degree, as long as you have the support and childcare (you'll probably need more than 2 days, unless you have a partner who will be doing bedtimes so you can work in the evenings or taking them during weekends), and also as long as the outcome is financially beneficial. With my PhD, I make significantly more than I did before, so it was very worth it. Not every master's will reward you with a promotion or increase in earnings, so that's worth considering before you commit.

I'm doing it at the moment (DC are 4 and a baby) Half way through my dissertation now...should be writing instead of mumsnetting!

Difficult but doable imo. and its nice to have something to think about that's grown up.

I did an MSc with 3DC as something to keep my mind active. Eldest started school part way through but aside from that no childcare for the others. As pp said it's difficult but doable.
I am confused about it being 3 years full time though, the ones I saw were part time if they took 3 years.

I think that it would depend on two things:

Do they sleep? It is going to be very difficult to study if you are sleep deprived.

Would you have partner or family support to look after the children for a weekend day sometimes so that you could catch up on work if needed?

My partner studied when we had small children and the weekend top up days were essential.