Masters

[wellinghall]

As some of you will know, I am planning to take a year out from mid-08, with a view to doing a MSc in Maths (or something like it). I'm currently looking at Leicester, Nottingham, City, Kings College London, and LSE. Does anyone have any experience of any of these universities? Also, does anyone have any experience of going back into education after several years in work? All comments will be appreciated!

Comments

[philmophlegm.livejournal.com]

Bunn did post-grad at Leicester, so I'll prod her to give you her thoughts.

[gramarye1971]

I did my MSc in International History at the LSE, and I can sort of echo weekend's statements -- I know that well over half of the postgrad mathematics students at the LSE were overseas students, and though I can't speak to the mixing or non-mixing, I'd imagine that it's much the same as at City. (My department was full of some of the more annoying kind of Americans, so I chose not to do much mixing with them.) But LSE's in a nice central location and the facilities are quite good, especially the library.

[purplecat]

I worked at Nottingham, though not in the Maths department. That said, I liked the people I met from the Maths department. Nottingham is a very business-focused university (for want of a better word) and intent on expanding into Asia (specifically Malaysia and China) - that doesn't, however, mean you'll be faced with lots of lecturers who don't speak English but you may find the teaching a little sausage-machine like, depending on the MSc you choose. My advice, if you want to avoid that, would be to go for an MSc with smaller student numbers (i.e., fewer than 30 students per year, if you can find one, and definitely fewer than 100 students per year). I can probably make a few informal inquiries about the realities of Masters' level teaching in the Maths department if you would like me to.

[nja.livejournal.com]

I work at Leicester, half of my lot (Engineering) share a building with half of Maths (and a few other bods). The theory was that if various people with an interest in mathematical modelling were thrown into the same building, lots of fantastic interdisciplinary mind-melding would go on. In practice, there has been a lot of argument about who is allowed to use which printers, and who gets priority booking the meeting room. Oh well. It was also the result of a messy divorce between Maths and Computer Science, who had an arranged marriage a few years ago and never really got on. Maths has about twenty staff (much smaller than Nottingham, for example), similar number of PhD students, no idea about numbers on the MSc courses.

[meglorien.livejournal.com]

I have never been extremely long without being a student, but I do remember my experience when I got back to the student benches after a couple of years teaching. It was a rather strange feeling and I felt very behind some of my coleagues, because although work exercises you mentally (depending on the job, I know) it does so in a different way. I felt that I had to readjust my brains to the situation. I don't know how it goes with Maths, but with Literature I did have to do some catching up with theory and stuff like that. After the initial shock it was great, though. There were a lot of challenging exercises and I learned an awful lot. I think I even appreciated it better than I had before having a full time job experience. Do remember that your work experience can and should be brought with you to your classes and that it may be an advantage.
I don't know if that helps anything. I've just started being a student again today and I'm very happy about it. I love being a student, so I'm a bit biased. Good luck!

[kargicq.livejournal.com]

I did my Ph.D. at King's, but it was on a part-time basis, and I had very little contact with other students (other than annual departmental away-days and the odd seminar). The few I met seemed nice, and it's in a good location. No idea about the maths department, though. Sorry -- not much use, am I?

[bunn.livejournal.com]

I can't think of anything to say. I don't know anything about their Maths dept, not even where it's based.

Leicester itself would be a strong contender for 'dullest and least attractive town in England' and I can't think of anything else to say about it or the university.

[gayalondiel.livejournal.com]

all the best people go to KCL ;D

[asklepia.livejournal.com]

I'd recommend King's purely on the basis that it links to a lot of medical schools in London. No idea what the maths is like.

I went back and did a Masters in Health Administration after 11 years working, and it was literally the best year of my life. The course was designed for students working full-time and studying part-time, so all the lectures were between 4 and 8pm. It suited my body clock so well I was almost giddy with happiness! Unfortunately I then returned to my day job where I'm expected to be at work by 8 (which doesn't even qualify as dawn in my book) and have been grumpy ever since.

My advice on returning to Uni would be that if you are studying full-time, make sure you get a course load heavy enough to keep you occupied. I was able to do a 150% load which was just right - any less and I'd have slacked off completely. Mind you, I was single at the time so it might be a bit different for you.