finishing the msc in 2 years

finishing in 2 years | Mike McDonald | September 7th, 2002

How feasible and/or desirable is it to try to finish the course in 2 years?

Mike

Re: Welcome Mike | Raymond Sheehan | September 7th, 2002

Finishing in two years: I'd be curious to know if anybody knows anybody who has...And how did they do it. Feasible, yes. Desirable... not so sure. If the qualification is primarily the passport to a "better job" or whatever, then the incentive to finish must be great; if it's part of one's professional development, then spending more time on it might be what's desirable. The course certainly deserves more time than two years, but there is a lot in it which one must realistically archive with the intention of coming back and doing it in more detail later.

Raymond

Two year completion | Thomas Bloor | September 9th, 2002

A trip down memory lane...

I don't know the figures, but when the DL course was set up the standard pattern was completion in two years. At this point the course was done "lock-step", i.e. everyone took the same components in the same order at the same time. All started at the beginning of the academic year and there was little choice of content (most components were compulsory and a few competing minor "options" were available during a fixed period). The in-house full-time course was one calendar year and it was assumed that part-time DL could be done in two years with the possibility of extensions in special circumstances; these had to be approved by the department and the university- a complicated procedure with committees and signatures, etc.- and participants applying had to concoct some good excuse for postponement- illness, pregnancy, births, deaths, earthquakes and so on.

The university's absolute limit was five years, but it was unheard of for anyone to actually take so long and it would have involved an awful lot of red tape. However, the demand for smaller extensions proved to be so great that eventually the requirement for special permission was dropped, saving a great deal of anguish, time, and effort for participants and staff. Since the University regs allow five years, all CPs were now free to take five years if they wished. This change coincided with the increase of choice of content and sequence and an increase in possible starting dates. However, human nature being what it is, if you tell people they have only two years to complete, many people will meet that target and most others will complete inside three. If you give an outside limit of five years, most people take four or five with only exceptional cases completing in two or three. So the answer to Mike and Raymond is: yes, lots of people have done the course in two years, but mostly when that was the officially stated norm and the programme more or less forced it along. I don't know how many people do it now, though I expect someone more currently involved could find out.

But Raymond also says: "Feasible, yes. Desirable... not so sure." I have to go along with that. It can be done- has been, frequently- but it's a tall order to do a serious day job and get through the MSc in two years. I think it would be a mistake to make five years the target, though, because that way lies disaster unless you are very organised and exceptionally impervious to the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.

Thomas Bloor

Honorary Fellow

Parkinson's Law | Jerry Talandis Jr. | September 12th, 2002

Thomas Bloor wrote:

However, human nature being what it is, if you tell people they have only two years to complete, many people will meet that target and most others will complete inside three. If you give an outside limit of five years, most people take four or five with only exceptional cases completing in two or three.

Isn't what Mr. Bloor describes an example of "Parkinson's Law?" I'd be interested to know more about this "law," as I see it happening in my life all the time. Anyone know more about it?

Jerry

Editor's note: Here is a good article about "Parkinson's Law" from professor Cyril Parkinson himself.

Re: Parkinson's Law | Andy Boon | September 12th, 2002

In response to Jerry:

Let's take an adhoc survey of participants and time scales!

To start the ball rolling:

I started the Aston Msc in June 2000. So far, after 2 years 3 months of study, I've finished 7 modules (FND, 5 double credit modules and 1 single credit module). I'm now working on the last double (CSD) and then the dissertation. So, I plan for a 3 year finish.

How about everyone else???

Andy in Japan

Re: Parkinson's law | Jerry Talandis Jr. | September 12th, 2002

Wow, Andy, that was fast. We must be online at the same time.

Anyway, I started in April 2001 and have basically finished 3 modules (FND, MET, TYL). My goal is to do three mods/year and give myself a year to do the diss, thus aiming for a 4-year finish.

Jerry

Editor's note: It is now nearly three years since I posted this message! I'm currently at 4.25 years and will be lucky to finish in 4.5. AND, this is taking into account the "new program" that is actually shorter than the old one! :-(

Upgrading articles for publication | Eddy White | September 13th, 2002

As for the course overall, like Andy, I also hope to finish it by the end of the year which would make it just under 3 years. Mind you, I did opt for doing all three exams for the linguistic modules.

Eddy

Re: Parkinson's law | Paolo | September 13th, 2002

Hello, Paul from Nagoya, Japan here.

I started in 7/98, finished the FND in 9/98, but then the year '99 was full of distractions and personal crisis so it wasn't until 2000 that I could get back and focus on my Aston studies. (Excuses, excuses...)

I have completed all the modules (FND, MET, TDA, IIC, MAP, CSD, LEX, and LT) and now am furiously trying to get my data for my dissertation analyzed and start writing it up. I took two exams (IIC and LEX), which was a great way to get a lot of studying done, and there is nothing like an exam date looming ahead to keep one focused. I recommend that more people opt for exams, if it is possible in your countries.

I have several friends here in Nagoya that were on the program when they had to finish it in two years and I remember what their lives were like (hectic, frantic, with families, full time jobs, etc.) I also know a couple of people who started after me (after the change to the five year deadline) and completed the program within two years (way ahead of me!) and said that it is indeed possible. I also happen to know that they are very, very focused when it comes to studying and had set very definite finish goals for each module and stuck to their plan. (ee naa- Japanese for "it must be nice!") They also wanted that discount for completing the program in 2 years!

Before I started the program, I had assumed that I could be fairly studious because when I first came to Japan, I took a full-time Japanese language course (five days a week, five hours a day, for one year) and then went to my full time teaching job in the evenings and then went home and studied for at least 3 hours a night, just to keep my ahead above water. We had homework and preparation every day, and that pressure kept me focused. The Aston program was different because there weren't such deadlines.

Well, back to the data!

Paul

Time to do course & recasts | Francesca Michalski | September 13th, 2002

Adding to the informal time survey, I have been doing the course for two and a half years and am on the last module. I plan to finish in about a year and a half making a total of four years. I started aiming at two and then realised that I was losing more pay by studying more hours than the discount for finishing early would've given me. This led to a readjustment in time schedules. I started studying twelve hours a week (the first year) and have gradually dwindled to an average of about .... dare I confess?... 4. Shall we add time studying a week to this survey?

Francesca

Time taken | Maria Leedham | September 17th, 2002

Hi all,

I'm a relative newbie, having only started in March 2002. My plan is for 3 years, but I can see that possibly slipping. I've done FND and am editing a MET assignment for the October deadline, plus I've read through half of IIC as this was relevant to my assignment. Interesting to hear from people further along. The exchange re assignment marking was v. useful- thanks!

Maria Leedham

Oxford, UK