Masters degree and summer holidays

[BerryTwister]

Hoping someone can help.

DS1 is about to start a Masters degree. We’re hoping to get one last family holiday in, while the kids are still happy to go away with their boring old mum!

DS2 will be doing A levels next summer.

DS1 summer term ends at the end of June. DS2 A levels will be finished by then too. So I was thinking of an early July holiday.

However, the information on the masters degree website was a bit confusing, so I emailed, and was basically told that although teaching finishes at the end of June, the Masters degree is seen as a 12 month process, so students are expected to be around until September doing their dissertation and having meetings about it!! Apparently international students are actually expected to formally apply for leave to go abroad (DS isn’t international, but they told me that info anyway).

Surely this can’t be true? Surely masters students are allowed summer holidays?!!

Well that's odd, no HR dept I've ever worked with would give out info re leave availability to some random on the phone.

Where on earth do you work? It is not normal for partners to phone their spouses workplace to discuss annual leave.

And so what if he’s working full time. He’s an adult! He needs to learn how to manage his time and life admin. I’d be very unimpressed if an undergraduate students mum contacted me, never mind a postgrad!

My PhD supervisor told me to approach it like a job and give myself about that much proper holiday (so 20-25 days plus bank holidays) and to plan holiday with research deadlines in mind just as you would in a job. Totally normal to take a week’s summer hols- he just needs to plan for it and let his supervisor know. It’s definitely not that you can’t take a break, more that you have to manage your own time and don’t get long holidays like an undergrad.

I’d be very unimpressed if an undergraduate students mum contacted me, never mind a postgrad!

Indeed! I’d be actually “snippy” about that!

Look, just book your week’s holiday for when it suits your family. If your DS is sensible, he can do his work around that one week of apparently essential holiday.

You’re overthinking this. Book the holiday. And your DS can manage his own diary around those dates. Maybe you can provide an email template? Dear supervisor, Mummy has booked a holiday for me w/c xxxJuly, so can I please request to reschedule or miss my supervisory meeting that week blah blah. I’m sure he’ll work it out being a Master student and all.

Why couldn't your son email the tutor or admissions team himself? No reason for you to have done it. Anyway to answer your question, Master's students most certainly go on holidays, as long as it is not during term time or clashing with any assignment submissions. So in this case, over summer, he can go on holiday or even go home, if there are no classes. Supervisory meetings are always arranged based on availability of both student and teacher. Rules for international students are different.

@MickyMoonshine I’m a GP. I like to be organised because I have a busy life and job. And as a single parent of 2 lads, I’ve learned that the best way to get a job done is to do it myself. It’s not ideal but it’s a fact. Not that this has anything to do with what I posted about (unless you’re implying that you would change your assessment of a student’s work if you were contacted by a parent about a non-academic issue, which would actually raise some concerns about your impartiality I think!!)

One week is fine, OP!

@Wadsworthy thank you. I just wanted information about how it works, so I appreciate that. Of course I forgot this is MN, where some people can’t miss a chance to criticise someone else’s parenting. You’d think after 20 years on here I’d remember this fact. And yes, most people consider holidays essential.

I think this depends on the uni and is a fair enough question to ask. I did a Masters at Oxbridge - you hand in your dissertation in June and I then had a lovely summer off afterwards!

My dd is just coming to the end of her Masters course. It runs from September to September, end in 3 weeks . Unlike her undergrad they only had 2 weeks off at Christmas and Easter. They did have 3 'study weeks' in July which were non contact time and she managed to join us for a week abroad.

Thank you so much to the posters who’ve given me useful information, I really appreciate it, and it’s been very helpful.

The OP’s first post said September. You may have missed it.

Same. But I'll make an exception for thor

The other academics have given good advice. I can add that I offered supervisory meetings throughout the summer - apart from my holidays of course! We agreed a meeting plan. They had their topic and school guidance on dissertation and approach. The library has copies of sucessful scripts on what is expected. But be careful. You do not know what was a good or sub par submission.

Most students needed these meetings more at the beginning of their research period. These would be weekly for the first 4 weeks until the student was confident on their approach. Less frequent thereafter (if at all). So you can maybe think about that when booking the holiday? And yes most students take a week off as soon as their exams finish. The poor staff have two weeks to mark them and then take leave themselves. I also had 4 to 6 dissertations to supervise each summer. So it was really key for students to be proactive and book slots.

A dissertation does not need to be ground breaking science. Its v v important to follow the structure of an academic study. For example - the literature review attracts a weighted mark. Supervisory sessions provide this sort of input to the student. They are intended as a sounding board not to assess the students work.

The dissertation is very much the “non taught element” and I took the view it was entirely up to the student to plan and deliver their work. I made it clear that a lack of planning on their part would not constitute any urgency on my part as the submission deadline approached. In fact Im pretty sure that I was teaching the next years cohort in the final weeks of their dissertation writing up. Hence not available at the last minute to provide ANY support.

I wouldn’t change my assessment of work as that would be unprofessional but I would wonder if I’d made a mistake offering them a place. I’d be concerned they wouldn’t be cut out for masters level study.

Tbh we wouldn’t speak to a parent anyway. Our policy is to only speak to the student themselves.

At one time the dissertation couldn't be started until the results for part 2 were available particularly on the exam based ones

I understand your surprise OP. We’re in the same boat … DD starting her Masters in September which finishes mid September. You just expect it to be a school year, not a calendar year. We’re looking at a short break in February then something early October once she’s finished. Breaks need planning rather than being set by the Uni.

@Wheresthebeachyou might want to wait until your child has started in mid September and has access to the academic calendar AND the assessment schedule. This should be available in their first week or they can just ask any of their lecturers.

We had a mandatory week of full time teaching and field visits in February each year. A MSc or MBa programme can be quite packed and a fast pace because there is alot to get through within the time available. Often front loaded at the beginning of the semesters.

Personally, I wouldn’t book anything until your child has started a degree and got a clearer sense of the timelines. Depending on the nature of their dissertation, they may want to still be near the library over the summer period in order to access things. Everything is quieter at the university at that time of year and it can be a nice opportunity to work on things in a more focused way. That Summer of writing my masters degree is a really great one in my memory because there were a few postgrads in the hall we were living in and we had it to ourselves and had a really special Summer. So booking something in now before they’ve even started the course would feel a bit premature to me, and I say that as someone who does like to be organised and can understand your frustration as a parent of wanting clarity on it.

I was talking to my own son about exactly this! He will start a Masters in September and it's exactly as you say...they have to do research during the summer months and it does officially end in the September!