‘Emergency masters’ at Cambridge is a thing…

[Emergencymasters]

DS is now final year of humanities degree at Cambridge. Doing well - high 2.1 and possibly a 1st. He has just announced that he wants to do an ‘emergency masters’. I had no clue what this is - apparently ‘emergency masters’ is commonplace slang at Camb for students staying on for an extra year coz they don’t want to leave (not coz they love their subject!)! All very well but we will have to fund. Happy to do this - will be a financial stretch though - as DS is living his best life at Camb but just wanted thoughts from wise MNs

He would need as a humanities graduate to do the Law conversion course - Cambridge does not offer this and a masters in law at Cambridge would more usually be for a law graduate ..

Just to confirm it is wrong to pressure a DC to do a master's right? (Assuming you offer to full fund it). Because it will "make them stand out from those with only a bachelors"

OP I now recognise you since your police career comment. I thought your DS had had his heart set on joining the Met as a detective for years and was adamant that was the way he wanted to go?

If that's still the case then given that he wants to stay on, but given also that he might make his Blue this academic year, I would say (if he were my DC), why not apply for the MPhil in Criminology rather than History - nil cost until he confirms next summer - and at the same time apply for the Met grad detective scheme?

DS3's MPhil was History rather than Criminology but the fairly specialized area he researched was what prompted him to want to become a detective in the Met rather than having had that as a possible career prior to the second degree. He had been thinking of a PhD at Yale until then. He also absolutely loves the job still (early days; nearly at the end of his second year). I would say that his MPhil did add value in all sorts of ways tbh. He certainly doesn't regret not joining his three lawyer siblings in their profession (all London based: human rights solicitor, public law barrister, Magic Circle).

That way he covers all bases. The MPhil in Criminology looks excellent tbh (just looked at the spec) and isn't restricted to applicants with a degree in Law. Very good idea and puts a different slant on things. Not much use if he's going to head with all the other lemmings for Magic Circle though - in that case, I would say an absolute waste indeed arguably unhelpful.

It does seem highly indulgent to spend £30k or whatever it is on a postgrad qualification when you have two careers in mind, one of which doesn't need a PG at all, and the other does, but not this. Unless you have already told him you will fund as many courses as he fancies, I would not be impressed if a DC "announced" that I would be shelling out for a useless masters.

I don't really get the hockey thing - who cares about that to the tune of £30k of someone else's money when it's not even a definite? How are you going to feel if he gets injured or someone better comes along and takes that spot? And then he expects yet more money for a law conversion course?

pintery this DS won't need a penny if he gets a Training Contract with a Magic Circle firm - the two of mine who went to MC firms had everything covered including the one who had to convert from History.

A bit emotional to say that DS might get injured playing hockey....

Emotional? Athletes at that level get injured all the time

Hockey players get all the usual stuff from fast paced running and quick changes of direction, plus there are sticks and a hard ball flying about. When DS played there were always people out through injury, it's not a particularly unreasonable suggestion.

Yes it’s ridiculously emotional to try to establish a causal link between the OP funding an MPhil and therefore being somehow to blame for a potential injury.

Mine played uni level hockey - never injured. Obviously it can happen but on that basis why not warn against undergrads applying to uni if their intention is to play for the uni? Three years! Possibly four! Terrifying negligence on the parents’ part.

Yes it’s ridiculously emotional to try to establish a causal link between the OP funding an MPhil and therefore being somehow to blame for a potential injury.

I don't think that's what she meant - more about whether she'd regret spending the money to support his sporting ambitions if for whatever reason they were stymied How are you going to feel if he gets injured or someone better comes along and takes that spot? - not guilt if he got hurt.

That's right - sorry I thought it was clear enough. No wonder I was struggling to work out which emotion you meant.

Ah ok sorry that's a bit more comprehensible!

Would the money be better spent on a house deposit?

Ten years ago, I was toying with doing a Masters. I got a First from a redbrick for my undergraduate degree and could easily have stayed on the conveyor belt. My Professors were encouraging a Masters but I didn’t feel I could justify it during the Cameron/Osborne austerity years when family finances were strained.

A decade on I am happy with my choice. The world of academia now seems like a lifetime ago. I am a different person with different priorities. I have a spreadsheet that can tell you to the ratio between my savings and the cost of a £250k property within commutable distance of Euston. Ten years ago I had a spreadsheet that could tell you my degree average and what I needed to achieve in certain modules to achieve a First. Life changes after graduation.

As some PPs have mentioned, my DCs and their friends call them 'panic Masters' because they are what people do when they are panicking about what to do next, either because they haven't a clue or they haven't decided on a career path.

@Emergencymasters just a word of warning – DD2 did her Masters at a specialist school rated on a par with Oxbridge for her particular field of STEM and she quickly realised she wouldn't have the time to represent her university at sport, as she had done during her undergraduate degree. This may well vary from course to course, but it something your DS should be aware of.

Makes me think of Imperial College London.

Good guess. LSHTM.

No worries. Thank you so much for engaging

😂😂😂 I do- hence why I took the trouble to post. Have learnt that emergency/panic masters are ubiquitous- not just an Oxbridge thing. Jog on and perhaps stop piping up unless you can be helpful

Aside from the emergency masters thing, has the coach genuinely said that your DC will get a blue? Seems unlikely that a coach would promise a blue; much could change with selection and performance between now and the varsity match …

if he wants to be in law - any law "masters" that lets you go into law is basically a professional qualification (a conversion course) and NOT an acadmic masters.

Places stick a dissertation on the end to enable it to get masters funding but no one in academia would consider it a proper masters. (and cambridge etc don't do it anyway)

A proper LLM can be done by non law students - my friend did one in media law - but they had 20 years experience in the media and production.

The Criminology MPhil would be for the police option presumably. It would have no bearing on a law career.

Why would you do that? Ridiculous

My cousin did it and became a clinical psychologist.

@dressedforcomfort Gosh! Someone who knows what specialist/niche areas some of my friends and acquaintances did their second/third masters for.

I would be looking especially carefully at people’s experience of work when they progress straight from an undergraduate degree to a masters. No experience of paid work or a holiday masquerading as work / work experience would put me off, but it wouldn’t be a total dealbreaker. People who have worked in entry level jobs such as retail, care and catering usually have a good understanding of punctuality, good attendance and having to undertake more mundane tasks as part of the package.

My DC did what is here being referred to as an “emergency Master’s”. They applied late, realising they didn’t want to stop studying. They got a high II.2 in their first year, a II.1 in their second year and a First in their final year, when everything was finally falling into place academically. They topped this with a Distinction in the Master’s.

You can get funding via a Master’s loan from SFE, and it’s paid back separate to the undergraduate loan. Anyone on an Integrated Master’s course (Engineering, Science, Maths, Computer Science) is very lucky to have their undergraduate funding continue.

Sport and study can be compatible. I know someone who got a rowing Blue and a Distinction in Part III Maths (Master’s year). He didn’t do anything else, though, apart from rowing and maths.

The Cambridge MA is quite separate to any academic qualification. Your BA(hons) in Law or English or History, etc doesn’t become an MA in Law etc. However, some former students try to pass it off as an academic qualification, but anyone in Student Services at the University will give short shrift to any educational verification request asking for confirmation of a MA in Law etc. @kindercatmum’s DH may be one of those former students. There is standard wording: At Cambridge, the MA is conferred by right on holders of the BA degree of the University and on certain other senior members and is not available as a postgraduate qualification.