Is a Master’s Degree the right way to Jumpstart your career?
Last week on 17 July, EdNet Consultants organized a webinar on ‘Is a Master’s Degree the Right Way to Jumpstart your Career?’. The session was moderated by Niharika Sondhi, who has personally mentored thousands of students in carving successful academic paths over the last 20 years. She was joined by a panel of students who have been inducted into world’s top institutes, including the LSE, UCL, Columbia University, NYU, and SOAS.
The panel discussion shed ample light on the benefits of going to a graduate school. It was a great opportunity for aspiring students in the audience to glean important information about applying for a Master’s degree. The panelists, sharing their own experiences, recounted why they sought admission into graduate schools after having considerable work experience. In this regard, one of the panelists, Roshni, mentioned that her Master’s in Human Resource management (HRM) from NYU after working as a recruiter for more than three years helped her ‘fill the void of knowledge’.
To enrich the perspectives of our audience, Tanvi’s contributions were helpful. A lawyer by profession, Tanvi is going to pursue her LL.M. from UCL with a specialization in litigation. She reinforced how assisting top advocates in New Delhi along with participation in international moot courts strengthened her profile for Master’s application.
Contrary to this, Deep Karan opined that he did not feel the need to work before going for graduation with specialization in finance (LSE) since he was quite clear about his future course of action. In a similar vein, Sumedha, who is going to pursue her Master’s in South-East Asian Studies from SOAS, put forth her comments. To add to this, Abhinav, an IIT scholar who is soon going to join Columbia for a Master’s in Computer Science interjected, “My family’s viewpoint was instrumental in my decision to go for a Master’s. Without any prior experience, my internship with IISc, Bengaluru gave me a chance to apply concepts of abstract math for the first time. More importantly, I realized that my chief interest lies in the dynamic field of AI and ML focused on reinforcement learning.” The same goes for Ojashvee, who found her true calling in the field of data analytics and has recently secured admission at Columbia.
Most often, students are unclear about the right time for applying for a Master’s. As such, when exactly should one embark on the application process, remains doubtful? Almost all panelists stressed on the fact that an aspirant has to be very sure. A Master’s degree requires immense effort and integrity that comes from an innate passion for the stream or discipline that one has chosen. It is a specialized course of study and one can definitely not go there ‘with a clean slate’. Moreover, a Master’s course is not inexpensive, so it’s the least to say that one has to be extremely confident and well-prepared.
In the latter half of the session, the panelists Roshni and Vaishnavi rightfully pointed out how gaining work experience and doing a Master’s aided in realizing their hidden potential. For Roshni, the shift from recruiting to consulting after her Master’s was fruitful accruing professional growth. For Vaishnavi, the shift from Economics to Interior Design was organic as the break after her Bachelor’s presented an opportunity for discovering new skills and talents.
The one-hour-long discourse was quite comprehensive and multi-dimensional providing brilliant insights to the audience members. Its key takeaways include how a Master’s can enhance an individual’s career prospects through skill upgrading, proliferation of knowledge, and robust networking. All in all, the panel discussion was a resounding success as there was a lot for prospective students to learn straight from the experts’ advice.
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