Post graduate courses, any advice/experience ?

[Fluffpuff]

My dd1 had been offered a place to study advertising and marketing at Leeds Uni. The course seems very good but she is unsure how useful it will be. Has anyone done/know anyone who has done this course? Dd also looked at journalism course at Brighton Journalist Works and media and journalism at Newcastle. Would appreciate any input.

There's a big difference between journalism and advertising/marketing ... which does she want to do?

I would have thought it's easier to get a job in advertising & marketing than journalism so I'd go for the first personally

It depends what she wants to do afterwards...

DS1's girlfriend did Advertising and Marketing at Bournemouth. She did a years paid internship with IBM and now has an extremely good job at a renowned marketing company.

What does she want to do? My brother's girlfriend did a similar course (can't remember the title) at Goldsmiths and it really suited her because she had a very clear idea of what job she wanted, and she'd asked around and discovered they wanted her to have that Masters. She's got her job now and is happy with it all.

If it's funded, maybe it doesn't matter so much, but if not it's a fairly expensive way to spend a year if you're not really sure what to do afterwards, and I think there will be people who assume a masters with a title like that is a 'soft' option - my brother's girlfriend got a lot of comments like that when applying for jobs that weren't her dream job (in case she didn't get dream job), where people knew a bit less about what she was learning.

That's great, was she doing a masters or a BA? Also did she find her own internship or did the uni?

Don't think dd is certain about what she wants to do after she graduates, but I suppose that's true of a lot of students, especially as the job market is so bad at the moment. Journalism is something she is very keen to do but not sure how easy it would be to find employment. I have looked at some job sites and they do ask for a qualification in marketing/advertising and as her degree is in drama, a masters in something more vocational is probably needed.

Speaking as a recent graduate who took a more vocational MSc to get some experience in/knowledge of the field, I am constantly getting job rejections on the basis of my lack of experience. My field isn't very easy to get experience in but journalism might be better - why doesn't she take a year out, live at home and try her utmost to get experience and a job before doing the masters? It's the one bit of advice that, quite honestly, I wish I'd listened to as I'm in dire financial straits at the moment and haven't upped my chances by a considerable amount.

Has she tried work experience on the student paper/student radio; local paper; local free paper; the Guardian do paid internships; entering journalism or writing competitions; going to her careers centre and asking what previous students have done? Careers centre should be able to check a speculative letter for her, which she could send out to all local and national papers asking for work experience. Some universities have a mentor scheme (mine does) where previous students volunteer to answer questions about their field from any interested current students. Some also offer work experience.

I realise work experience is not what you asked about but, having done a MSc and spent all my savings, it is the one big thing I wish I had done differently and tried first. Journalism is a lot more competitive than my industry and I don't think the requirements are any different, from what I've read. She can always do a masters later if the less expensive options don't work out.

fluff - are you asking me? (Sorry, confused). If so, yes, she did a Masters. The point was, though, that she'd done her research and found out beforehand that the kinds of jobs she wanted to do wanted her to have that Masters, and she found that when she was making insurance job applications for less-than-the-dream jobs, she found it wasn't an advantage (and occasionally a disadvantage). So I got the impression it mattered a lot that she knew what she wanted to do before she started.

I've got to say, I don't understand why anyone would do a vocational masters without getting a good sense of what they wanted to do with it. I don't think it's 'true of most students' they don't know what they want to do - true of undergraduates, maybe. But if she does a masters that is vocational, most other people will be doing it because they want to go for a fairly specific career or career-group. It is a heck of a lot of money to spend if she doesn't know what to get out of it, and I would think her chances of getting funding would not be great if she's not sure why she's doing the course.

I really hope that doesn't come across as harsh - I did my masters fairly recently; my SIL did hers just over a year ago, and I'm just very conscious of how focussed you need to be to get what you need out of them.

Sorry LRD only just started using mumsnet so not totally au fait with how it works. My dd thinks advertising and marketing is something she would be good at and wants to try and pursue this. Journalism is also something that interests her so that's the dilemma, which to choose? She could just try and get some work experience but a lot of jobs in advertising/marketing do like you to have a qualification in it. Ditto journalism. Backing up her drama degree with a vocational qualification seems sensible to me but of course it is very expensive so she wants to know if it is going to be worthwhile.
My dd has done student radio and has had work experience with LBC and liked both but it's very difficult to get into. She thinks ad/marketing might have more job prospects.

Oh, no, don't apologize! I just wanted to check.

Can she perhaps find out what jobs graduates of these MAs go into - I spoke to my SIL and she says that was a way a lot of people had worked out whether it was right for them or not, and apparently lots of universities either have that information with their course details or can provide it if you ask.

I have heard from SIL it's a bugger getting work experience. She got her internship set up before the MA but still found it really competitive. But she does love it now.

If she could work out a good argument for which job she was going for and how the degree would benefit her, she might be more likely to get some funding, too?

Hi, dd is getting in touch with past and present students on the course so hopefully that will help. She is also looking into funding but there doesn't seem to be much available. I have suggested she applies for jobs and see what turns up and if it looks like an MA is going to be of benefit then do it.

Just a thought but I would strongly advise against going into journalism as it is a very over subscribed career choice with many grads working for very long periods of time for free.

Print media is thought to be on its way out and although a journalism degree has many transferable skills~ she may be better doing the marketing degree. Either way a lot of work experience is necessary for any jobs at the moment and I would say shes best finding paid placements until she knows exactly what she wants to do.

Might be worth looking at The Bridge 21c as they offer paid placements in marketing.