Hi Emilija! Thank you for being such an important resource for prospective students, especially from outside of the UK. I am applying to postgraduate programs (Education and Social Justice) in England, and the University of Birmingham is one of my top choices. A big reason I want to study in the UK is to travel around Europe and really get a full international experience. I am from the United States, so this is a whole part of the world I do not know. I want to balance my education with exploration in the best way, so I would love to hear more about your experience and how you managed. I appreciate you taking the time to read and respond to this inquiry! I hope you are safe and healthy, and I wish you the best.
Hi,
I’m so happy to hear that Birmingham is one of your top choices! It definitely merits being in that position. It’s the perfect hub for a truly international experience.
With the amount of work, and courses I had in the International Studies in Education MA Program, there was ample time to travel. I made my schedule so that I always had no less than a 3 day weekend, which was long enough to visit another city for a couple of days. The Birmingham airport is great for budget flights, and is easy and quick to get to – much more convenient than flying out of London, where getting to the airport not only will cost you more than the flight (if you go with Easyjet etc) but it also takes upwards of over an hour if you live in the city. (Would absolutely encourage you to purchase a RailCard student pass – the discount it gives you will pay itself off incredibly quickly if you’re keen on traveling around – go see the rest of the UK!).
In regards to balancing your schoolwork and travel – it’s incredibly important to keep on top of your readings and essays. I did my best to only do classwork (the days I had classes), and would reserve the weekends for additional readings, and prepping my thesis work (which was easier to do while traveling). I found this to be manageable for me, but it meant many late nights during the week, especially in and around term paper/exam dates. I did have a point in time where the coursework was overwhelming, and I had to postpone traveling for a few weeks. And other times I couldn’t keep up with the readings, so I found myself on a beach in Cyprus reading 45 pages about Professional Development in Education (not the worst thing to be doing in the world). For me, traveling was, and continues to be an incredibly important part of my life. It’s a type of learning that you can’t replicate in any other way – so, I would do whatever necessary to fit it in my schedule, and I always made a point of finding some sort of connection of what I was experiencing in a new place, with my program at school. Of course, that depends on the type of travel you’re interested in.
To maximize the opportunities at Birmingham, see if you can go there and already have a theme for your thesis in mind. Read – read as much as you can about it, take notes, and build that foundation for yourself before you get there. Once you have to start writing and narrowing it down, you’ll already have those first few chapters essentially done. Same with your courses – make them fit to match your thesis topic – all those readings will work in your favour. Remember that Grad School is about studying something you’re fascinated with – pushing beyond what we all know, to discover something new (whether it’s obvious, or not, or a very minor point or idea – that’s what you’re there exploring). I’m not sure how the course selection works for the Edu & SS, but if they can get you the reading lists before you get there – read, start reading and taking notes and get to Birmingham already two weeks ahead! You’ll thank yourself eventually for doing that.
One key element that was genuinely a deal breaker for me, was living less than a 15 minute walk to the Education building. There was no temptation to slack on going to classes, and the library was so close that it was easy to go work there for a few hours and then go home etc. No thinking about commuting etc. I also lived in a privately owned house, and rented a room. It was not a student house – I lived with an older couple, and they rented out the rest of their rooms on Airbnb. It costs a little more than the average student house in Selly Oak, but significantly less than student accommodations hosted by the Uni.
Also, you will have a Mentor – they’re fantastic resources. They’re great to check in with (more regularly than they require), bounce ideas off of, have discussions about anything and everything with, and they’re there to help hold you accountable. They will also, call you out if you’re slacking on your writing (they may be the secondary grader on your assignments), or if they can tell you rushed in your work. So, as much as wanting to do everything, do everything in moderation – travel, explore, read, join clubs, party – but never let all the fun stuff impede you from producing your best work.
I hope that outlines how I managed, and a bit more about how I personally did Birmingham. Feel free to reach out here again if you have any other questions!
Have a fab week,
Emilija