Time between your Bachelor and Master

The idea of postponing your Masters studies for a year or more has recently attracted a lot of student attention. Here are some cases when you can benefit the most from a gap year. 

Students sometimes miss out the importance of considering their Masters choice very carefully. This leads to many finishing their postgraduate studies only to find themselves unhappy with their decision and financial resources, energy and time wasted. 

Additionally, there are cases where individuals realize the improbability to finish their unsuitable course and drop out in the middle of the semester. And while this situation might seem a bit more favorable than the previous one, it still remains a fruit of a rushed decision.

In order to avoid all of this, you should carefully plan your time after graduating with your Bachelors and choose the most suitable pathway for you. Don’t just blindly apply for a postgraduate course that follows up your undergraduate studies, especially if you have already experienced trouble with the discipline, or even worse – it did not match up to your expectations. 

Master's degree in the same field as the Bachelor's?

Generally, the sole idea of the Masters is to allow students to further specialize in a certain field or add up another set of theory and practice to their background by altering their area of interest. In turn, a good combination of undergraduate and postgraduate studies can promise rich prospects in the future depending on personal aims, values and dreams. 

In other words, consider the idea of enrolling for a more suitable to your taste, skills and knowledge degree and don’t be afraid of your educational background. Most universities are now open to undergraduate students from other disciplines and simply require the preparation for an academic test and in some cases, depending on the chosen field, an additional year of study. 

Unfortunately, the downside of applying for the perfect course is that you might have to devote more time for preparation and admission or even face missing out the beginning of your studies. This is possible due to the variation of periods of study corresponding to the chosen university and programme and of course, a decision to enroll abroad. But is this drawback a valid reason to give up on a dream study and typically rush to apply elsewhere?

Given the fact that you have a typical year before you can launch your Masters there are countless ways to spend priceless time on a handful of activities. And in order to highlight them more accurately, here are some examples:

• Apply for an internship or job
• Sign up for a language course 
• Find and practice an active sport
• Spend time with your family
• Travel to a set of countries or a new continent
• Volunteer

And if you were willing to devote yourself entirely to a combination of these and even more you would surely understand the essence of a good decision. A year spent on gaining job experience and catching up on a language you have always wanted to speak sounds far more appealing than rushing to finish a Masters you never wanted to, right?

You would have the ideal amount of time to carefully consider a decision to pursue a given degree and prepare yourself in the best possible way for every challenge. Simultaneously, you would have the chance to invest every month in a new activity and raise some eyebrows among your fellows when you talk about your latest experience – a trip to Japan, a certificate in Spanish, a first paycheck or a driving license!

What is more, a break between your studies would allow you to prepare mentally for the next step on the educational ladder and on a broader scale, reward you with a better sense of achievement in life. In addition, you would fully understand the price that you would have paid for bidding blindly on an unplanned study.