Helped me achieve the career path I wanted to pursue
My name is Pilar, 2 years ago I was struggling at my current job, and I couldn’t get promoted due to toxic work environment and staff shortage during the pandemic. Therefore, I decided to take a challenge and started to look for Masters degrees programs in the UK. I found out about Across the pond from my neighbour who got accepted right away after applying easily. I was extremely motivated and inspired to do the same. Hence, I applied through Across the ponds to several universities, and I got accepted into two. The first one was Oxford Brookes University, and the other was Middlesex. I chose Oxford Brookes because I’ve heard it had the program I was looking for and was rated highly among the UK universities. I merely decided to study in the UK to pursue my dream career and expand my knowledge in my field. Thanks to Across the pond who made the process extremely easy for me, they provided for me all the necessary to do’s and directly sent all the paperwork from my previous university to the new one in no time. In fact, I was really shocked I got a fast response.
After I got my visa, I booked the ticket to London a month before my course to enjoy travelling in the UK before getting busy with my studies. I visited many landmarks in London for instance, Big ben, Tower of London, Piccadilly circus, the British museum etc.. I even went south to see Brighton in the county of East Sussex, England. It felt very different of course than the regular seas you see. Just the English beach of pebbles (sand) and cold water. Moreover, I went to Bournemouth by the south coast – Dorset which I really liked and Windsor in Berkshire, England.
After a month travelling, I went to Oxford where my university was located. A very small town an hour away from London. During my course I found out several differences to where I studied in the US. Initially the coursework is 100% research there is no such thing called extra credit like US system does. It is only one chance at the end of semester to submit your paper so the whole research you do depends on only one paper the whole semester. I found that very challenging indeed.
Another thing, When you are writing the final research paper and you want feedback before you submit, the professor is not responsible to view your work or give you any feedback. Totally Unlike US system. However, Oxford Brookes had a virtual writing centre of academic bureau tutors to help students and provide them critical feedback. In my first research paper I was hesitant to use it but I did because the writing style was different than US. In Brookes they only used Harvard style which I was not used to but that academic centre was able to provide tips and explanation in how to write it. Also, I had several help from many tutors view my work before submitting to provide critical feedback. So if you are like me and like to ensure someone revises your work you can schedule an appointment with them for further assistance.
On campus after my lectures, I sometimes would go to the library to do my research. There are plenty of computers available and of course the online library resources are endless. I do have to point out that when you do the research ensure that you also use google scholars besides the university resource. Some professors will not recommend it just because its not from the University. But it helps 100% and I have used it millions of times to get research done. Furthermore, most of the sources on it are credible. So I recommend for future students to use Google scholars as a plus to the university library in their dissertation or client project.
As for my accommodation I stayed within the university housing accommodation. I do not recommend that at all to any student for several reasons. Mainly if you want to have peace of mind and make good room mates stay away from University accommodations and go to external ones.
Pertaining to my course, I was studying international events management. My course was very interesting because I learned a lot about sustainable events and digital marketing that I was certain it will benefit me in my future career.
During coursework I did have spare time. I decided to fully take advantage of that by travelling in the UK. I did not like to stay in Oxford much because it was a very small student town with not much activities or huge social life for me. Therefore, every 3 weeks or any weekend whenever I had the chance, I would go visit my friends and cousin in London and spend a lot of time there. I truly enjoyed that mostly than Oxford because it was a big city with plenty of places to go to and many professional people you can meet other than students. Once you pass 25 years old you should connect with professionals. Trust me it will help you in your future career.
Besides, after April my course was fully online so I had a job offer in London in my field which was liberating for me to study and work at the same time. So, I took the chance and maintained my work-study balance still like a student. Of course I still had my studies online and my academic advisor providing me feedback during summer virtually. I really enjoyed being busy and going to public libraries in London to do my research and meet new people everyday at work or even in a pub was an amazing experience.
I’m truly thankful I had this experience and achieved my MSc in international events Management with a merit that in fact helped me achieve the career path I wanted to pursue. Not too long ago I accepted a job offer for a Marketing management training program in a company in LA all thanks to my degree and the constant support of my family and friends and of course Across the Pond's.
As a future advice for future students, you will learn a lot on your own from your own research, some lectures are just theoretical, you will enjoy reading and writing even if you hate it and most of all travel across the UK because you only get one chance to do that while you are there.
- Pilar