3 minute read
Taking your studies to the next level
If you’re serious about your future, then you’ll need to carefully consider how continuing your studies to master's or PhD level can help you achieve your ambitions.
Career essential or desirable
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For some career areas, further study is a minimum requirement for entry into a profession, such as teaching and law. A PhD is now essential if you want to pursue an academic career. In other career areas, such as journalism, and marketing, a masters – although not essential – can be advantageous. The same is true if you’re looking to become a patent attorney: a PhD is not a requirement but it is desirable.
Passion and expertise
You may be motivated to continue your studies because you have a passion for your subject or want to specialise in a particular area. Depending on your longer-term career direction, a higher level qualification may be attractive to a future employer – for example, within the scientific or engineering fields. A postgraduate diploma in brewing will lead to opportunities within the food and drink industry and a life science PhD will be attractive to employers in the pharmaceutical sector.
Time to develop
You may be unsure what careers will suit you so continuing your studies offers you more time to decide. However, we recommend that you take advantage of the wide range of extracurricular activities available to enhance your personal and professional development alongside your studies. Employers will be interested in hearing about the additional skills gained during your masters or PhD as well as those developed through other activities. There are some opportunities specifically designed for postgraduate students such as Researcher Academy Placements and the new postgraduate stream of the Nottingham Advantage Award (page 16)
Ifigenia Constantinou
MSc Occupational Psychology
I’m excited about the career prospects
“I first heard about the MSc in Occupational Psychology during an event hosted by the Careers and Employability Service, and I quickly became interested in the subject. I was inspired by how I could make an impact … on employees so that they can be productive, fulfilled and enjoy working, while the organisation they work for is flourishing. Learning more about a topic that really interests me has been enjoyable, especially seeing how theory would apply to real-life conditions. The knowledge and skills I am developing now will be integral to my career in the future. There are countless opportunities to develop transferable skills and so many activities to get involved in. From being an academic representative to volunteering and participating in the Nottingham Postgraduate Advantage Award, I am grateful for it all.”
Read Ifigenia's blog post
Amanda Kale
First year PhD Creative Writing
The PhD community is active, engaged, and welcoming
“I will start by saying a PhD was never in my five (or even ten) year plan. But after completing my masters, I knew teaching in higher education and engaging with a community of writers, researchers, scholars and other creatives was the exact home for my career. There’s no correct way to be a PhD student. I began feeling like I needed a handbook on the way to act, behave, produce work and so forth. The term imposter syndrome comes to mind, and I had it bad. However, I quickly realised I wasn’t alone. In reaching out to supervisors, administration, and other peers, it became apparent that undertaking doctoral research is entirely what you make of it. Every person takes up the task differently, and there are no wrong answers.”
Read Amanda's blog post
Your next steps
Check out our website for information about applying for a masters or PhD, and funding options: