Master of Science degree..? Tick!

degree
Hello beautiful people!

I HAVE COMPLETED MY MASTER'S DEGREE!!!! 

Yay :) That's the most recent and biggest life change for me at the moment. This is also why I've been terrible with blogging (I'm sorry!) but my degree was my priority and took up most of my time. I now have lots of time to myself before I embrace a new journey in my life. I miss university, my life there and all my friends, but I'm excited for the different challenges that are ahead of me.. Life goes on and things are always changing. As always I'm going to take each day as it comes and live in the present. There's no need for me to make big plans ahead of time!

Soooooo. Let me talk a little about my degree. I studied at The University of Manchester - a very prestigious university and one of the best in the UK and worldwide. It is well-known for its quality of research, something that was a major part of my degree. I studied Clinical and Health Psychology. This is studying how psychology affects our mental health, and how psychology affects our physical health. My research project was 1/3 of my degree. My project explored the effect of sleep on emotional wellbeing, by investigating emotional face recognition memory amongst good and poor sleepers. I will talk about my research specifically (what I did and what I found) in a future blog post. I am yet to find out my results and my degree classification.


It's crazy how fast this year has gone and it's even crazier how hard this year has been. It has really been a big roller coaster for me filled with lots of learning and change. I've definitely changed as a person - for the best in my opinion. I've matured a lot. Oh yes. I feel like I've come out a much stronger and wiser person, and most importantly, an adult. Experience in life is key to growth, and my year has been filled with plenty of this. My postgraduate year prepared me and developed me as a person in ways I didn't even expect, and certainly much more than my undergraduate degree. Not only is the academic part eye-opening, but you meet so many different people and see the world a bit differently because you're older now. 

Academically speaking, I am a much more capable person now. My Master's was 12 months long but it felt like I was doing my three year undergraduate degree in one year - that's how tough it was. I guess that explains why the course was so competitive to get onto and why it is valued so much. And at the end of the day, it is at a high standard university so they are bound to make us sweat.. Postgraduate level is a definite jump from Bachelor's, obviously, but you only realise that when you're there. You have be fully committed and focused. The workload is not only higher but more rigorous. The marking is stricter. You are required to be almost fully independent in everything (more so than compared to undergraduate level). Well, as much as I doubted myself at times and thought I'd never make it through, I did, and I cannot express the relief and contentment I felt when I saw my research project printed out in front of me. I made it through, and I'm proud of myself. I remember saying to my friends on submission day "never again!" But who knows what's in store for me in the future. 

I value education a lot and I don't think I will ever fully retire from studying. If any of you are looking at further education I suggest you follow your dream and go for it. It's worth it. It's life changing. 

Bye for now! Lots of love,
Ayesha xxx

MOOC's! Free education online

Coursera
Hello!

Today I wanted to introduce to you "MOOC's" - massive open online courses. What's that? They are short (non-credit) online courses available in a variety of different subjects which anyone can take. 

I think they're an excellent opportunity for many reasons:
1) look good to employers/uni's
2) broadens knowledge on subject area
3) provides insight in a subject area you want to explore before actually going into it - helping you make a career choice
4) can act as a prerequisite before starting uni 
5) great for people who are not able to get the education they want
6) easy to manage with other daily activities
7) it's distance learning - can study from the comfort of your own home

So here's the useful part.. the websites which you can take these courses on. I've found that there are actually a lot of websites that offer such courses but I've only explored and liked three of the main ones. All three offer courses from leading universities worldwide.

The courses vary on difficulty; while most are great for complete novices in the subject, others may require you to have some background knowledge. Some may be of a higher level that graduates may be better at, whereas some can be introductory. Some courses require more work hours on course material per week and are challenging. Either way, anyone is free to sign up to any and as many of these courses as the wish. 

I have personally taken a course myself, as after graduation I was still interested in furthering my understanding in Psychology (I'm just a big geek really). I took mine on Coursera delivered by Johns Hopkins University. I signed up for ID verification which meant that on successful completion I would get a certificate from the uni and have my ID verified to prove it was in fact I that took the course! But, for this you need to pay a fee, otherwise you only get a statement of accomplishment instead of a certificate and ID verification). The course itself was still free.


 I really wanted to share this as not many people know about this.. I only found out about 6 months ago myself! It's such a great opportunity for anyone, so I hope some of you can benefit from this. If you're looking to start university soon it might be useful to take a look at the courses they offer related to your subject, as it might give you a head start for your degree course. All courses are short, from few weeks to maybe a few a months max.

 Take lots of care!
Ayesha xxx