Since September I've been enrolled in the University of York, undertaking an MA in Romantic Literature (the time period, not the genre) and given that I'm nudging half way through, and almost at the end of the taught portion, I thought I might do a quick overview of how I'm finding it and what it's involved so far, for anyone who might be considering a masters in literature, or just curious about postgraduate education.
In comparison to an undergraduate degree, there is a pretty noticeable difference. I won't lie, I pretty much slept through much of my first and second year, and even in my third year I coasted for the most part. At postgraduate level that's really not an option; the modules are very compacted, and the material on the reading lists is closely connected and all feeds into the same discussion, so it's important to keep up with as much as possible. Even missing one seminar can throw you off and leave you behind in the discussion, wondering what everyone else is talking about, and how the texts you're reading now connect with the discussions of the previous class. There are also no lectures, at least on my course, to start you off on getting to grips with the material, it's very much up to you to find a way into understanding the material and it's context (and I think most postgrads would be lying if they said they never used Shmoop or Spark Notes just as a jumping off point). During my own course, as a sort of substitute for traditional lectures, postgraduate students are invited to attend both undergraduate lectures that apply to their course, and talks from visiting scholars about a wide range of related subjects which is an amazing opportunity! It's gears you up for researching widely and really exploring your own interests, as opposed to just gathering research to pass an exam or do well in an essay.
You're never really 'done' with work either, it's not a case of working through the reading list and rocking up to class. Students are expected to do their own personal research, and there's never really an end to how widely you can read, especially on a writer such as Austen or the Shelley's. This can sometimes mean, if you haven't planned your time carefully, you end up with a constant hum of guilt because every free second is a time that could be spent studying!
It is hard, and very demanding but it's also really rewarding. In a postgraduate class you can guarantee that everybody wants to be there, and is genuinely interested in, and excited about the subject (though griping about the demands is just as much a bonding experience as the shared enthusiasm), which means that those awkward silences in undergraduate seminars where nobody answers the tutor's questions. The freedom afforded to postgraduate students does create a certain amount of pressure, but it also means that within your area of research you are free to explore areas that interest you specifically. There are no prompts for assessed work and presentations, and my last two module essays were on texts that made no appearance on the reading list, but that had caught my attention and interested me personally, and creating a piece of work from scratch like that is incredibly satisfying!
Doing an MA is really less of a structured learning experience, and more of an opportunity, and what I mean by that is that seminars are a place for the class to discuss ideas, as opposed to being taught by the tutor. In my experience when you are doing an MA you're paying not to be taught, but for access to the resources, both in terms of material and leaders in your field of interest, by which to teach yourself, and begin to find a foothold in academia.
I suppose I should close by considering whether an MA is worth it - I am planning to go into the academic world in some capacity, and so for me the MA is really a necessary step to prepare for the level of knowledge, dedication and skill needed for a PhD. But I think that even if academia isn't where you envision your future, a master's degree can provide an edge in terms of learning to acquire knowledge and skills, communicate and apply yourself on a more sophisticated level than an undergraduate degree provided. Having said that, it is expensive and VERY time consuming, and I can totally understand why plenty of people leave education at the stage that they do, and start to make headway on different paths.
Essentially I think the thing that really made me decide that I wanted to pursue an MA, was that I really missed university. Not the social life and the free time (well yes that too), but the way that I'd leave my seminars with a mind feeling a mile wide, and the excitement of hunting down research and building an argument and discovering just how much scope there was for exploring literature and how much value it could have in the context of the wider world. For me, the decision to return to university was borne from a realisation that the world of academia is the intersection of the Venn diagrams in which I can pursue a career that I love, and that has some capability to pay my bills. (I know there isn't a huge amount of money in academia, but there's more than in my other passions which include cat cuddling and marathons of Drag Race.)
I hope this was interesting or helpful in some way, and if you have any questions about applying for and undergoing an MA (in literature specifically) feel free to comment or email me, I'd be happy to help.
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