Give me the low down on doing a part time Masters when you're already busy

[robino]

We're all busy, no matter what our situation but for what it's worth I'm a SAHM with 3 DDs aged nearly 5, 3.5 and 10 months.

If I were to knuckle down, be brave and sort myself out I could start a part time Masters in September. By then DD2 would be in reception. Attendance at university one day a week, DD3 in childcare for that day. DH works away a lot of the time. Reliable sleep is still some sort of distant dream although could have improved by September.

I have some sort of reassurance from my not entirely reliable dad that he could come over for a day maybe 3 weeks out of 4 to give me some time to study during the day.

Tell me how horrendous it could get! Or tell me that you managed it while also working full time with no help to persuade me that I can do it.

How much do you want to do it? Do you love the subject matter?

You will need to be highly motivated.

I am a full time teacher who has just spent her Christmas holiday working on a Masters project whilst her DC watch too much TV and eat too much junk food. I am tired , guilt ridden, stressed and fed up. But it can be done and it's not for ever.

I would say that if you feel passionate about it and are extremely motivated then go for it. If not then do not under any circumstances!

I do not know what I was thinking when I started my course. I am a single parent with very little support and I work full time.

DS started school at the same time I started my course. Mine is a two year self study programme with minimal (ie more or less non existant) support.

Perhaps if the actual course I was doing was any good I would feel differently but it is rubbish and I find it very hard to motivate myself. Fitting in time to complete the assessments is really hard, I am so tired by the time DS has gone to bed that I am not able to think straight let alone undertake postgraduate level study! The only way I can manage it is if one of my friends takes DS out for the day at the weekend, but then of course I feel guilty that I am not spending much time with him!

I think that if you are well motivated and very organised then you may find it easier as you will still have time to spend with your DC if you are not working, but I imagine that you would have similar issues with exhaustion in the evenings.... colleagues who are also doing the course who don;t have children seem to get on well studying in the evening but that does not work for me, maybe I am just lazy - am going to try harder this year to study in the evenings.

I think that as you will have one day a week at univeristy that will work well as gives you structure.

Fascinating I'm not entirely sure how much I love the subject; don't have a background in it. I am considering training to be an Ed Psych but the first step is to do a psychology course with recognition to become a chartered psychologist. This would seem to be the shortest route to that given that I have no psychological background; I would gain entry onto the course through my degree, PGCE and experience as a teacher.

Gilmore, I don't think I could do it with no contact, well done!

fascinatingcreature. Snap! I'm also a teacher who has sacrificed Christmas to write up my MEd. I'm also knackered and stressed and still have 4,500 words to write by Weds....
(sorry for the highjack!)

I did an MSc in psychology with the OU starting when DS1 was 7 and DS2 was 3. I did most of it either in the evening or at the weekends when DH was available to look after the children. I had good intentions of fitting it round the children in the day time but I need at least an hour to settle down to studying and having small children around is not conducive to that unfortunately. I wish I was one of those people who could dip in an out of the reading bit at least but I couldn't as I have to take notes as a I read or nothing stays in my tiny brain. Anyway, the only time I was child free long enough to settle to studying was evenings and weekends so I had to get on with it then, whether I was in the mood or not!

Previously to that I did the post-grad conversion in psychology to get the GBR (or GBC as it is now) when DS1 a baby, well the last 9 mth module anyway. That was tough as he was bf and it was difficult to get anybody else to mind him for very long and he didn't sleep well plus DH was away a couple of nights a week so it was hard. What tended to happen was that I worked in bursts - nothing for 2 or 3 weeks and then I worked all available evenings and weekends to get an assignment done. It worked for me but the danger is that you leave everything to the last minute and you hit a problem that means you can't work when you need to - a poorly child or some other domestic crisis - and everything goes belly up! Thankfully the OU are quite forgiving!

I am very jealous of you studying to be an ed psych though - I would love to do it but have insufficient experience of working with children. Take the plunge. It will work itself out somehow I am sure.

My colleague has no children and currently takes a day off work a week to study for his Masters. He reckons he needs to study for 20 hours each week (i.e. the equivalent of 2 1/2 working days, so in addition to that day off he also studies during the weekends and weekday evenings). Sounds a tall order for you if, for e.g, your father is not able to provide the help you describe. I admire anyone with small children who manages to study while juggling childcare.

Bigbaubledbertha unfortunately the OU courses are no longer suitable for GBR for new applicants otherwise that would have been my choice!

Thompson twinsis your colleague doing a part time or full time masters? I assume part time?

Whilst I have been assured that I would get a place without doing any previous psychology I have been warned I may find it tricky. I have just found out that they are doing a 16 week distance learning preparation for psychology course in April. The cost is obviously a factor but it would give me a better idea if psychology is for me and how studying would fit in with our family. The true downside? It assumes 40 hours a week studying! I suppose it would either kill or cure me...

Wow! I didn't realise they are having such a big shake up at the OU. I was just having a look at the OU website because I hadn't heard about any of this (only finished a year ago). You could still get GBC with the OU by doing the psych degree. You need to do 240 worth of psychology courses and the full degree requires 360. However, if you already have a degree you might be able to get credit for that that to cover some of the other 120 points so you wouldn't have to do much else - you would need to check this. The post grad conversion which I did was only the core 4 courses anyway. It might be worth having a look at if that is your preferred method of studying - they reckon on 16 hours a week which is a vast improvement on 40 hours!! On the other hand it is quite a long haul unless you can manage back to back courses with no gaps in studying - probably 3 years at least. That might be relevant depending on how old you are.

Quite a big change isn't it? Did vaguely consider just doing the psych degree but a part-time masters is likely to be much quicker! It's only the preparation for Psychology course which is 40 hours a week study for 16 weeks; wouldn't HAVE to do it to get on the Masters I'm looking at but as I haven't done ANY psychology I think it might be an idea to at least try it out before I plunge headlong into a masters.

I will be 35 this year, the EdPsych training is 3 years after I have gained GBR; I probably need to get cracking!

I'm half way through a part time masters with the OU and I have to say the step up to masters level was more difficult than I expected. I have some flexibility in how I study as my DCs are teenagers and I do some freelance work as well as some voluntary work but I have had times when I hated the whole thing.

Fortunately I have been able to have a bit of a break between modules to get my breath back and by the time I restart in May I'm hoping I have a bit of renewed energy for it all!

I think I would look closely at the content of the masters and see how much the prospect of studying of it excites you. If you have some enthusiasm for what you're studying that helps when you are feeling fed up with it all.