I’m Going Back to Uni

Hello, everyone! I thought I would share more of a personal post for a change so I’m going to be sharing my thoughts on starting my masters.

Last September, I graduated from the University of Lincoln with a BA (Hons) in Media Production. I remember sitting in Lincoln Cathedral during my graduation thinking that I never want this to end. It was such a perfect day, but also very sad as I had to say goodbye to a lot of friends. At that point, I wasn’t entirely sure in what I wanted to do – I knew that I wanted to work in postproduction, specifically on documentaries.

Throughout university, I told myself that I would never do a masters as I was fed up with education; I have a funny habit of doing exactly the opposite of what I tell myself so guess what I’ll be doing… I decided to look into different postgraduate courses to see if there were any that interested me and I decided on Documentary Journalism MA at Nottingham Trent University. I love Nottingham and it’s near where Daniel is from so it seemed like the perfect location. I loved the course too as it seemed like the perfect gateway for me to start the career that I want to go into.

Now that I have moved to Nottingham and I am days away from starting my course, I am kind of scared. I’m worried that I won’t be able to make any friends – especially as it took me a little while to make friends on my previous course. I think because I’m not living in student accommodation, I am more nervous as I won’t have the opportunity to really get to know other students. Also, I don’t know anyone on my course and I do get quite anxious around new people so yeah, I am pretty worried about starting. I’m also worried that I will not actually like the course and it will just be a wasted year, but I’m hoping this will not be the case. During my undergraduate degree, I learnt to enjoy academic writing and I became to be quite good at it. However, I haven’t had to write anything in the past year so I hope that I don’t forget how to write academically. I am scared that this isn’t the right path for me but I suppose there is only one way to find out and I know I will regret it if I never try.

Despite all of my worries, there are plenty of things that I am excited for. I’m excited to get stuck in again and to have a routine back in my life. I enjoy having deadlines to work to – even if I do leave everything to the last minute. I’m looking forward to deciding which societies to join (I’m thinking of joining the blogging society, and documentary society). I’m excited to do everything that I’ve missed over the past year; meeting new people, working in new groups, moaning about the workload, starting new projects, day drinking, having meetings in pubs, laughing with people who have the same struggles as you, and just being around people who understand you. I am excited to try my best but I am worried that this time, university won’t live up to my expectations and that I won’t live up to their expectations. I’m still not entirely sure with what I want to do with my life. I know that I want to make documentaries to help people and to highlight the inequalities around the world but I know that is easier said than done. On my course, there is a three-week work placement which I am really excited about. I know that this will be such a good opportunity. It might not seem like it but I am optimistic about going back to university as I’m hoping that positive thinking will give me the best outcome.

I didn’t plan this post at all, I sort of just put all of my rambling thoughts together so I apologise if this was a bit of a mess. So yeah, here’s how I feel about going back to university. Are any of you doing a masters or have you done a masters before?