postgraduate Archives : Jenny Wren Rambles

Potential Postgrad Postponement?

Looking at how the pandemic has progressed for me in Japan and what this might mean for my postgrad plans in the fall.

A whole lotta questions and indefinite answers.
Photo by Emily Morter on Unsplash

The recent pandemic has led to a lot of changes and disruptions. There is no vaccine yet and there’s no way of knowing for sure what the near future holds. This means that my postgraduate plans are at risk of being postponed, and before that, whether I can even get out of Japan is unsure. My current situation is that I am working from home while schools are planned to stay closed until May 6th. I’m mostly staying at home in my apartment except for grocery runs. In the meantime, I thought I’d sum up what my experience has been so far and what my contingency plans are.

Background

To start, some quick background on my situation. I’m currently in my 4th year on the Japan Exchange and Teaching Program (JET). I teach at a prefectural high school and was planning to finish my contract and return home this summer in August before starting my postgraduate program at Bristol University in September. I live in Hyogo prefecture, one of the prefectures with several cluster outbreaks and one of the original 7 prefectures that Abe declared a state of emergency for before it was extended to cover the whole country. And currently, school is closed until May 6th and I am working from home.

The Beginning

Japan gets a lot of tourists from China, so when cases spiked and travel restrictions were enacted on China’s end, Japan took notice due to the large drop in tourists at popular sites. Many places banked on reservations for tourists traveling during the lunar New Year, and the decrease in tourists was noticeable in places like Kyoto and Nara which are regularly packed. However, at this point, Japan seemed less concerned with the possibility of the disease spreading and more concerned with the economic repercussions. In February, there was a new tourism campaign where posters of nearly empty sites were put up encouraging people to take advantage of the rare lack of tourists.

Top poster: “It’s been a while since there were more monkeys than humans”
Bottom poster: “Crossing easily…excuse me.”

I’ll admit, I did make a trip to Kyoto (2/24) as there were still very few cases (2 in Kyoto at the time) and an uncrowded Kyoto was too much to resist. I headed to Arashiyama since I had already planned to go and enjoy the hot springs and had made a trip only a few weeks before that. I planned to limit where I would be going, just the hot spring, the main shopping area, and park so I wouldn’t be traveling that far and I could get there without going through Osaka, a travel hub. The lack of visitors was refreshing but locals were already feeling the sting. I talked with an artist selling postcards of his work and he said that an art conference he was planning to attend in Tokyo had been canceled. Stories in other areas were starting to come out of drastic declines in visitors and sales while it seemed Gion was happy for a break from the tourist hordes.

Left: Spring 2018 when my mother visited, the famous bamboo path crowded as usual.
Right: Winter 2020 the same bamboo path with far fewer tourists. You can actually see the path!

Watching and Waiting

As a member of an international exchange program, belonging to several program-related groups on FaceBook (prefectural, regional, etc.), and having friends from a variety of different countries, I had a lot of virus-related information flowing through my feeds. I also had some insight into what was happening in different areas of Japan. Many were skeptical and suspicious of Japan’s handling of the virus. The cruise ship quarantine was botched and a story came out of people disembarking from a flight from Wuhan, which had passengers who tested positive for the virus, who did not get tested. Testing was voluntary but if you tested positive hospital quarantine was mandatory. Have fun picking through that logic loophole.

A lot of us suspected Japan was refusing to test and covering up cases in a bid to have the Olympics continue as scheduled. (We were unsurprised when suddenly after the Olympics were postponed there were a large number of cases reported in Tokyo.) Finally, there was an outbreak in Hokkaido and Japan had to start taking things more seriously. Hokkaido closed schools, but things still somehow felt far away as everything in my area seemed to be business as usual, except for masks being completely sold out.

Sign outside my local drugstore:masks, tissues, and toilet paper out of stock.

I decided not to do any more travel for the time being and start gradually buying some extra food supplies to have on hand. The end of the academic year was coming and I was focused on getting through my last few classes, preparing for spring English programs, and saying goodbye to my 3rd-year students. Then, the evening before my school’s graduation(2/27), Abe made a surprise announcement. Large crowds were a risk factor for the spread of the virus and it was graduation season. Ceremonies were to be minimized, shortened, limited in attendance, or altogether canceled. Schools nationwide would be closed until the spring holidays to try and curtail the virus spread. Parents and teachers rejoiced at being given no notice and no time to plan for this change and suddenly have to make arrangements for their children at home while still going to work. (sarcasm)

Schools Close (The First Time)

Luckily for our school, students would still be able to have their ceremony but there would be a hand disinfectant station at the gym entrance and all but the core parts of the ceremony were cut. After ceremony celebrations were to be kept short, although seniors still took a couple of hours to take pictures and say their goodbyes, and as usual the English club party was on the long end. Once students had left the teachers had one of many meetings to try and figure out what was next. Essentially, the school was closed to students, spring day camps were canceled, and no club activities for 2 weeks. ALTs began to watch what was going on closely as we had already been watching how the virus was hitting other countries.

With the best interests of students, staff, and ourselves in mind, ALTs wanted to stay at home during this period. Despite an implied need to limit outings and keep gatherings small, the board of education would not let us stay home unless we used paid leave. Usually, this is the norm during spring break but we were hoping that in these circumstances the rule would change. It did not. I took a couple of Mondays off and one week of half days. Waiting to see more aggressive containment policies or signs that the virus was being taken seriously, as we watched nearby Asian countries take more serious measures such as South Korea’s aggressive testing or Taiwan and Hong Kong’s strict travel and quarantine restrictions. Surely Japan would do something any day now?

Starting to take it seriously?

More and more cases were starting to pop up. Online, ALTs shared that coworkers were coming in coughing, sick, but being denied testing. Or, not wanting to get tested because of the social stigma. Japan, perhaps still in denial, limited the testing to those who had been abroad recently or in contact with someone who had. Typical of Japan, they said they didn’t want to fill up hospital beds as positive cases were required, per law, to stay in hospital. It didn’t occur to them to change the law for asymptomatic cases. And despite aggressive testing leading to positive results in places like Italy and South Korea, Japan decided to focus on backtracing cluster outbreaks. In other words, wait for an outbreak to happen and then take action rather than try to identify and isolate before it spreads.

Like in the U.S., some governors seemed to take things more seriously than others. Before a holiday weekend (3/19), the governor of Osaka requested that those in Hyogo, which had growing numbers of infection, refrain from traveling into Osaka and vice-versa. Osaka is a large city and a travel hub which is the perfect recipe to spread the virus. The Hyogo governor, instead of supporting the moderate restraint requested by his neighbor, claimed he was being overly cautious. I wonder what he thought when news came out that Hyogo residents that had attended a concert in Osaka then tested positive for the virus?

Not what you thought. . .

With community spread confirmed and cases growing by the day, Hyogo finally had to face the facts. The school closure was to be extended with some modifications. Were those modifications online classes? Nay! Despite the image many may have a high-tech Japan, it is far surpassed by its Asian neighbors which were able to set up virtual classrooms for their students to stay on track through quarantine. Computers at home in Japan are not as common as many rely on smartphones for their internet browsing. Schools continue to almost exclusively use chalkboards with limited use of technology in the classroom and many teachers lack experience or confidence in using it.

A typical classroom at my high school. Teachers write everything on the blackboard. Each floor has 2 large monitors (not all of which work) that can be rolled in but are bulky and difficult to position so everyone can see because there are so many desks.

So what were the modifications? To reduce the number of students at the school, they split the attendance and had each year group come on a different day to pick up/turn in assignments and receive updates. Clubs would be canceled (there was a brief period during the first school cancellation when clubs were allowed with reduced duration, only 2 hours allowed). In the meantime, ALTs were in an uproar. The best way to reduce the spread of the virus was to stay at home, and it looked like schools were resistant to this idea. Many ALTs e-mailed their embassies, their prefectural advisors, CLAIR (manages the JET Program along with the government), and Boards of Education outlining their worries and reasons why we should be allowed to work from home.

Logic Finally Wins. Sort of.

Many excellent points were made. ALTs travel throughout Japan and internationally a lot more often than our co-workers, so there was a higher chance we could have picked up the virus. Many are not fluent in Japanese and could have trouble navigating the healthcare system if we were to get sick. We are also far away from our home countries and families and so lack social support in the event of having to quarantine ourselves. On top of this, we were dealing with the anxiety and worry for our families back home. We don’t receive sick leave and the amount of paid leave varies. This means that if we become sick, we may run out of paid leave, and because our contracts may not allow unpaid leave, we could lose our income and position within the program. Otherwise, we could have our pay reduced because of missed working time.

As educators, we are also very concerned with protecting our students and coworkers. If students continue to attend school it increases opportunities for students to spread it among themselves, or to us, and vice versa. The staff room also breaks most of the “3 c’s rule” Japan has been touting to reduce risk. Avoid closed spaces with poor ventilation, crowded places with many people nearby, and close-contact settings. Desks are close together in tight rows and people covering their mouth when they cough or sneeze (let alone washing their hands with soap) is not as common as you would hope. Many teachers may be older and so at increased risk from the virus. Meanwhile, ALTs, which are supposed to be assistant teachers, have fewer administrative responsibilities and a lower workload. Most of us are used to using technology in making our lessons (google drive, PowerPoint, etc.) and are better positioned to do our work at home with our personal laptops.

With all this considered, in addition to official recommendations for social distancing and self-quarantine, we had good logical reasons to work from home. However, that would be deviating from the norm, the established rules, and Japan doesn’t like that. Even in a global pandemic. Luckily, it seems there was enough pressure, between embassies, ALTs, and finally an announcement from Abe declaring a state of emergency for 7 prefectures. Word came down that ALTs would be allowed to work from home given some additional paperwork and restrictions.

Work From Home

Sorry, some ALTs. In some places. In my case, prefectural ALTs directly hired by the BOE would be allowed to work from home on days students didn’t come to school. That would be 2 days a week. Meanwhile, municipal ALTs living and working in the same city as us could not. (Not long after this staff from a local elementary school would test positive. The municipal ALTs did finally get work from home permission.) It was very haphazard. At any rate, we took it as a win. Implementation of this varied among schools (some people had already been allowed to work from home and others had different requirements for showing their work) but it was better than nothing and honestly more than I expected to get.

The new rules were we had to fill in a form showing which days we would work from home and then outline what work we planned to do for those days. We have to email at the beginning and end of our shift and cannot leave our apartment within those hours except for our lunch break. We also have to report what work we have done during the day by the next working day. (This part has been vague in my case since I haven’t been told what exactly they want so I’ve just been attaching whatever I’ve done to my end of shift e-mail.)

Schools close. . .again

This lasted all of a couple of days before there was another change. Despite splitting year groups, having hundreds of students still commuting to and from school from the surrounding cities on public transportation doesn’t do much to reduce the chances of catching and spreading the virus. The first week into the modified schedule and school was abruptly closed again to students. Some students in Kobe were among another spike in cases. This meant that students would not be coming to school at all and we could increase the number of days we would work from home. It also meant that the Japanese teachers would also finally be allowed to work from home some days.

Getting Back to the Point

Sorry, that was a long ramble and I still haven’t addressed the main subject of this post: how the pandemic may affect my ability to start my postgraduate program. As this whole situation has devolved there has been a weird disconnect between the inaction and small changes I was experiencing in my daily life while there was a massive influx of information and updates online within the JET community and the news I was reading. I may go through some of those moderate changes in a separate post but let me explain how it is finally starting to affect my future.

When cases started to increase in Japan and international flights were being reduced, the U.S. Embassy sent out e-mails advising travelers to return home and refrain from any unnecessary travel. Initially, this was aimed at short-term travelers in Japan who might not have the income, health insurance, or resources to be able to quarantine in place. Later, another e-mail was sent advising English teachers specifically to either return home immediately while there were still flights or be prepared to stay in Japan indefinitely. It will come to no one’s surprise that as an American I opted to stay where I had affordable health insurance and income and not risk my family’s health with an international flight back or my financial security with the U.S.’s hyper-inflated healthcare costs. (Let alone use up funds earmarked to pay my tuition.)

The main problem here is whether I will be able to get a flight out of Japan in August. International flights out of Japan are down to about 6% of the normal volume. In light of this, and Japan’s lagging response, a fair number of ALTs cut contract and flew home early to be with loved ones. (This may also have helped push BOEs to allow work from home as that would be preferable to suddenly having no ALT, no replacement, and getting left dealing with their remaining belongings and bills.)The situation is constantly changing but seeing as we are most of the way into month 2 of the outbreak and conditions are not improving, it’s hard to say if things will have settled down by the summer. Even if they do, we don’t know what restrictions may still be in place. I would have to make 2 international flights, one home to the U.S. and then on to England. If quarantine was still required for international arrivals that could add up to 4 weeks for me. That doesn’t give me much time to move back to the U.S. and prepare for another year abroad.

In light of this uncertainty, I have been e-mailing people within the JET Program, the embassy, and my University to find out if there are any plans for if conditions do not improve. Bristol is so far still holding to the September start date. Within the JET Program, some areas may be considering extending our contracts into the summer if ALTs are not able to get in or out as planned. In the meantime, contracting organizations have been encouraged to support ALTs leaving and paying for their flights home. Normally, COs pay for our flight back after completion of our contract. Leaving early would void this and the ALT would be on the hook to pay for their flight. Now though, with the global situation and the fact that schools are closed for the foreseeable future, they are being advised to consider our contracts as fulfilled and still pay for our flight.

Contingency Plans

Like I said before, I’m going to stick it out until the end of my contract. Hopefully, things will improve by the summer and I can return as scheduled. If not, there are a lot of alternatives I have to juggle. The main factor being Bristol. If I cannot get to Bristol in time, I would need to defer. Difficult because I have already used my one deferral and haven’t heard back yet on the possibility of a second. If they push back their start date that might give me enough time to move and repack. If I can and do defer, I will probably look for an internship to pass the time and work on my career skills. Possibly return to one of my previous internships. It’s all still up in the air. Not reassuring or helpful for making plans.

In the meantime. . .

I’m enjoying work from home, although having to turn in work every day when normally my work at school would be sporadic is a little annoying. It is nice though to do things at my pace in the comfort of my home. Before stores closed I picked up some additional craft supplies and I already had a healthy stockpile at home to work with. Surrounded by books, crafts, and my trusty internet connection, staying at home isn’t that bad. I still go into school once a week to help record and upload English videos for the students, and since my school is right down the street I don’t have to use public transportation. Now that Japanese teachers can work from home too, my exposure to other people is limited. So I’m going to keep holding down the fort here and wait for any more updates.

Picked up some more embroidery patterns and thread.

The Search for Accommodation

After living abroad in the same apartment for 4 years, it occurred to me that I would actually have to search for accommodation for pretty much the first time in my life. Up until now, housing had always been provided or quickly offered. I lived at home for most of my time at University. When I decided to move closer to school, I spent a very brief time looking at apartments and craigslist ads before my boss offered to rent me a room in her house. I stayed in a dorm during my year abroad and then went back to living at home while searching for jobs and internships. The internship I was accepted to had a house for interns to stay in and when I was selected for the JET Program, housing was taken care of by my contracting organization.

So that leaves me, a 28-year-old soon to be postgraduate student, having to search for accommodation abroad for the first time in her life. Now, technically I was guaranteed university housing for my first year. But University housing isn’t always the cheapest or best quality. (I also later found out it would not work well for my specific program) I wanted to minimize my costs as much as possible and find someplace I could be comfortable in for the duration of my degree.

What surprised me:

Going into this search, I expected things to be expensive and competition to be high, but there were still a few things that surprised me.

1. High-end Student Apartments

Going through some of the student accommodations offered by private companies, I was surprised that there were several marketed as high-end apartments. I don’t know how things are across the pond, but isn’t the student experience about making the best of basic accommodations and getting a place that’s up to code, clean, and functional? Smart-TVs, design-led, modern, high-spec kitchens, I’m reading through these descriptions and wondering who can afford this?

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve seen bottom of the barrel basic dorms that I could barely stand one night in. But I’ve also been in student apartments that look totally fine and liveable without having luxurious modern design and built-in TVs. Maybe this is on me for even looking at private accommodation providers in the first place. Maybe this is a cultural difference. I understand the attraction in terms of social life and convenience, I mean, who wouldn’t love a smart tv and in house cinema you could rent to watch movies with friends?

2. Prices

I knew since I would be living in the city, and a University city at that, I would have to pay city prices. But given my limited rental experience, the numbers were still a bit of a surprise. (And that was before converting the currency、ouch) Trying to look at other options revealed that elsewhere prices weren’t much better and house shares often had the added cost of bills to consider. Not looking good. I was also momentarily confused by the fact that rent was listed on a weekly basis? I’d only ever experienced paying rent on a monthly basis, maybe prorated if I leave halfway through the month, but generally given on a monthly basis. So for like half a second, I thought the rent wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. And even when I thought I found somewhere reasonable, there was another surprise.

3. Speed of Reservations

Big city competition means places get snapped up as quickly as they’re listed. Those accommodation provider apartments had already been mostly reserved a year in advance. My mother found a listing for a place I thought would be perfect, a small apartment with its own kitchen and bath, and when I sent an email to enquire only a day later it had already been reserved. Reading through the student Facebook groups I had joined, any listing quickly had multiple people commenting with their interest. Others said that if you didn’t have notifications for various apartment sites set so you could answer immediately, someone else would take it before you had a chance to see it. That just increased the pressure to find something and make a decision on it fast, which I was reluctant to do because of the high costs and the fact that I couldn’t check the places out in person, not to mention the disadvantage of being in a different time zone.

4. Conflicting Reviews

Wanting to do my due diligence in research, I tried to find student reviews for the university and private accommodation. The problem was that some of the places I looked at either had very few reviews or had very conflicting reviews. I wasn’t sure if I should trust the handful of negative reviews bringing up valid issues about temperature and air circulation or give more weight to the more numerous positive reviews. It also sounded like the university postgraduate housing blocks were in noisy areas with a lot of construction. My current apartment is right on a road and I’ve had enough of being woken up by large trucks driving by. I wasn’t interested in trading that in for construction noise.

What I was looking for:

Going into it, I thought I had reasonable wants for my accommodation. After living in my own apartment for 4 years I have gotten used to not sharing and wanted to continue that streak, but I’ve done okay with a shared kitchen in the past. The main features I was looking for were:

My own bathroom and shower
Near transport and/or the zoo where my practical sessions would be
Preferably in a quiet area
Bills and furniture included

Is this reasonable? Or delusional? I don’t really know, being an inexperienced renter and all.

I wasn’t going to have a lot of money to spend on furnishing someplace for such a short time, and bills included would just make budgeting and payments easier. I’ve never been big on parties or nightlife so I wanted to stay as far away from that as possible so I could concentrate on my studies. I would really only be traveling to maybe 2 places regularly for classes so as long as transport links were relatively close that would suffice.

What was suggested:

The University accommodation office‘s website had a lot of information and links to read through, which I did before starting my search. There were links to private accommodation providers as well as specifications and costs for University housing for postgraduates. They also had some tips for choosing a place and what to look out for. The problem was they strongly advised against signing an agreement for a place without seeing it in person. Difficult to do when you are living halfway across the world and will only have about a month turnaround moving from one country to another and starting school. This worried me since I didn’t want to commit to something and risk getting scammed or have a bad living situation. The speed at which listings were getting filled though meant I wouldn’t have time to arrange a trip to do an accommodation search. I also didn’t want to wait until the month before classes started when competition would probably be highest.

What I went with:

The downside to starting my search so early was that most listings weren’t for the next academic year, but were for short term winter or summer lets. Seeing how fast things were getting snapped up though, I was afraid to wait too long. I tried to get a lettings agent to help me with my search, but they didn’t respond after I told them I was out of the country. I responded to a post on the school search board and again, never got a reply. Finally, I found another place that looked nice on the student union’s lettings page. I contacted the live-in landlord through the page and was able to ask a few questions and set up a meeting in just a few days. It wasn’t a self-contained apartment but it did hit some of the points on my list.

So what did I end up with?

House share
Shared bathroom and kitchen
Quiet residential area near park and shopping street
Large bedroom with bay windows
View of the garden
Bills inclusive
Includes cleaning of the room, linens (which are provided), and common areas

Initially, I was kind of against a house share since I had seen so many that were listed as being for like 7 people, which I felt was too many for me to deal with. I also really, really wanted at least a private bathroom since I’ve never actually had to share before and, let’s face it, sometimes when you have an upset stomach you kind of want a private bathroom to deal with that. After seeing the listing, the house rules, and speaking with the landlord though I decided it would be doable for the short time I’d be there. The house has 2 bathrooms and only 3 other rooms are being rented so I wouldn’t have to share use with that many people (one of the school dorms said bathrooms may have to be shared with up to 9 people. No thanks!) and she said it had never been a problem. It was also in a great residential area which would be quieter than the dorms in the middle of the city.

A big plus for me was the proximity to the park where I could go for runs and enjoy some of the green space as well as being close to one of the main shopping streets with supermarkets, restaurants, and independent shops. And of course, having bills inclusive and furnishings provided would make things a lot simpler for me as an international student. The price was just slightly cheaper than the postgraduate dorms (although still a tough swallow once I converted the currency). Overall, the convenience and location made it worth not having a private bathroom so I made a deposit and have secured my accommodation in advance.

I think searching for accommodation can be pretty stressful, especially if you are searching from outside the country and can’t make it there to check things out in person. I was really afraid to leave it last minute and risk having to settle for something I didn’t like or would cause more stress or be too expensive. Given the conditions I was under, the best I could do was search through the University run listings page. I’m looking forward to enjoying the big windows overlooking the garden and thinking about what things I can bring to personalize the room a little (a favorite blanket or some postcards perhaps), so until then I can relax a little and enjoy my remaining time in my little Japanese apartment.

Applying to my Master’s Program

After deciding to go back to school and choosing a program, it was time to actually apply to my master’s program. There were a few things I needed to do before getting started though.

Before Applying:

Check program requirements
Check necessary documents for application
Check the due date

1. Check Program Requirements

First, I needed to check the requirements for the program itself. Since I would be studying abroad, I had the additional step of dealing with a different grading scale in the U.K. so I had to check the equivalent qualifications on the University website to see if my grades matched up to the academic requirements.

Submitting an application means more time on the computer researching and writing.
Photo by Jacqueline Kelly on Unsplash

2. Check necessary documents for application

Academics

I needed copies of transcripts and my degree which meant having to pay for new official copies from my University. Luckily, my University offered pdf transcripts that I could upload so I didn’t have to wait to receive them in the mail. Unluckily, I still had to pay for a hard copy, which would ship to my parents’ house, to access the pdf copy.
Makes perfect sense, how else would they squeeze more money out of me?

CV

I was not very familiar with CVs as we usually use resumes in America, so first I had to figure out what the differences between these were. Basically, this came down to CVs being longer and more detailed, in that they showed all your skills. But I was also advised for my application to try and keep it short. So, still like a resume, I guess? At least in terms of length. I reached out to program alumni for some clarification/advice on how to organize my CV and what they gave priority in theirs. Based on their advice, I tried to tailor my CV to the program and put the more relevant animal experience first with my other experience in a separate section.

Personal Statement

What are they looking for in applicants’ personal statements?
( Motivation and Experience)
What do I want/need to tell them that they can’t get from my CV/transcripts?
(Uhhh, how passionate I am and what a great student I’d be?)
How do I distinguish myself from other applicants in my storytelling?
(Make a Lion King reference? (I did really do this by the way))
Writing my personal statement was rough, but I gave myself plenty of time to work on it and had my family read over it to give me some feedback.

Reference Letters

I needed 2 references, preferably academic but one professional would also work if relevant. Luckily I had a few professors and supervisors friended on Facebook so they were easy to contact. I had also had multiple classes or worked for an extended period with them so they were familiar with my work. I gave them copies of my CV and personal statement and had no problems getting my letters.

3. Check the deadline!

I was planning on applying early and deferring for a year, but I still wanted to get my application in well before the cutoff. Or at least, plan it that way so that if I ran into any trouble I would be on time instead of late. The only problem was, there was no date listed for international applicants. After contacting the department to clarify, I was basically told that they would keep applications open for international students for a balanced cohort but submitting earlier was best.

First, I made a list of everything I needed and worked my way down it, checking things off as I went. I tried to get the easy things taken care of first, like starting the online application form and submitting a transcript request. The CV also wasn’t too hard as my previous resume was already animal-focused since I had used it for my internship. I just needed to update it and rearrange it a little. The personal statement was the hardest, and after many outlines and drafts, I was finally able to complete it after about a month and 10 or so drafts. Then I could forward it to my reference writers. Once I had all my materials finished and uploaded (including my reference letters) I did one last check over everything and hit submit.

Once everything was submitted I could relax a little before waiting and hoping to hear back that I was accepted. About a month later I got an email that a decision had been made on my application. I had been accepted to the program. I was super stoked to hear I had gotten in and after giving myself a couple of weeks to relax I had to turn my attention to the next major hurdle: searching for funding.

How I Chose My Master’s Degree Program

After a lot of thought, weighing the pros and cons, and coming to the decision to go back to school, the next step of my postgraduate journey was choosing a master’s degree program. Easy, right? Just sift through hundreds of programs at different universities around the world. To make things easier, I made a list of different things to consider when researching programs. This is how I chose my master’s degree program.

1: Research vs. Taught

There are 2 main types of Master’s degree programs to choose from: research and taught.

A research degree offers more independence in your study because there aren’t regularly scheduled classes or exams to attend. Instead, you get to plan and conduct research on a topic of interest with help from supervisors. This is great if you have the self-discipline to do it. (I do not.)

Taught degrees, on the other hand, are more structured. They have scheduled classes and exams, similar to an undergraduate degree. They also sometimes have a research component to them so you can still get academic research experience. If you know what kind of career you want(I do), a taught masters can be a great way to get the experience and instruction in the specific topics you would need for that career.

I didn’t mention it in the last post, but another reason I hadn’t considered doing a postgraduate degree was that I thought that all postgraduate degrees were research degrees. I didn’t have much confidence in my ability to carry out a large research project, and couldn’t think of one thing I wanted to research. I was also worried that spending all that time on research would leave me unprepared for the more practical side of an animal care career. On top of that, I feel I do better with a more structured, predictable schedule to work with.

Taught degree it is then.

2: Degree Concentrations

Decision 1 down, now it’s time to narrow down a degree concentration. There are 3 main things I considered when looking at degree concentrations:

What are my interests?
I’ve always been interested in animals and already had a Bachelor’s degree in biology with a focus on conservation, so a program that covered topics related to conservation and animal care was what I was searching for.

What are my career goals?
Going along with interests, what kind of career was I aiming for? What type of concentration would help me get that job? Looking up job listings in the field and seeing the qualifications and requirements of the job gave me an idea of what topics would be helpful to study, but I also wanted to keep my options open and learn skills that could apply to a variety of jobs. In my case, not just animal handling and care in a captive setting, but techniques useful for field study as well.

What is my previous experience?
When applying for a postgraduate program, they’re going to want to know how your academics and experience make you a worthwhile addition to the program and capable of completing the course material. While I only had 2 internship experiences, these were in 2 different aspects of wild animal care and conservation: wildlife rehabilitation and zoo work. Looking back at these experiences, I enjoyed both so programs requiring similar work would be a good fit and also meant I would be well prepared for the coursework.

3: Course Content

The next thing to look at is the actual content of the course.

What core classes do I have to take?
Are there additional classes I can choose from?
Is there a research component?
Is there a practical component?

This is where I had to do some combing through the course catalog and program page. I read through all the class descriptions to see what would fall in line with my interests and match the needs of my future career. I also wanted practical experience so I was looking at what programs offered that as well as how much. A few other things I looked at were:
What additional opportunities are available, such as fieldwork or the use of special facilities?
What is the research component and how is research conducted in the program? For example, does the school provide connections with other schools or facilities for completing research?

After I narrowed it down to 2 programs at 2 different schools. I tried looking up student reviews of the programs, attended an online info session (which ended up not having anyone for that specific course available to chat with), and joined the postgraduate student Facebook group for the other school. I was able to get in contact with 2 graduates from the course and get some additional information about what the course was like and what they liked about it. This helped me decide that this was the degree program I wanted to go for.

4: School

So I found a program I like, time to take a closer look at the school.
Now, I may have this a bit reversed compared to other people.
They might choose to look up which schools have a good reputation for their degrees first and go from there. I prioritize the program content over name recognition of the school. While name recognition may make your degree stand out on applications, if the program isn’t something you’re passionate about it seems like a lot of effort and cost just to put a famous name down on your degree.

(By which I mean, I didn’t think to look up what schools have a good reputation for that type of program, but I also don’t care about name recognition so…)

Here is a list of some of the things I looked at when prowling the university website;

I. Is the school/faculty reputable?

I know I said reputation wasn’t my top priority, but it’s still something I’m going to look at. Partly to know that the school is good, but also to have a realistic expectation of how difficult it may be to get in.

II. What kind of research are they doing?

I also want to see what kind of research they are doing. I thought that this might help me get an idea of what research I could do as well as see what impacts the school was having.

III. How employable are graduates?

I put a lot of thought into choosing a program that will assist in my career goals, so something to look into is what kinds of jobs are program graduates getting and are students from the University overall able to get employment post-graduation.

IV. What are the school’s priorities? What is its atmosphere?

This is a bit vague, but basically, I was trying to get a feel for whether the atmosphere of the school resonates with my interests and needs. How are the grounds and study areas? Does the school support the things I care about, like environmentally friendly initiatives?

V. What amenities/services are offered to students?

I was going to be living away from home (again) and spending a lot of time on or around campus, so I wanted to know what services are available for students. Assistance with finding accommodation and funding was high on my list, but other things I looked at were the campus gym or study areas, student groups and clubs, accessibility, etc. In terms of accommodation, what is available? What are the costs?

#5: Location

In addition to scoping out the university’s services and amenities, I also wanted to get a feel for the city it was located in. How easy would it be to get around? What kind of entertainment/recreation is available for when I have free time? What is the atmosphere of the city?

This was to give me a better idea of what studying the program at the university will be like. I wanted to be excited to study there and feel like I would be comfortable living and studying there. The less stressed I am the better I can perform in courses and maybe even have a social life!

One final note to think about was if I was going to study abroad for my degree. This adds additional considerations such as language barriers, extra costs, and paperwork. However, the positives could outweigh the negatives. In my case, the U.K. was attractive because of the shorter program length which would help minimize costs.

6: Cost

Speaking of costs, education costs money and I am but a poor student. There were a few different aspects of postgrad costs I had to think about when choosing a program. First, of course, is the cost of tuition. Depending on the length of the program and if I would be an out-of-state /international student, the tuition could be higher. Then there are the living expenses. Will I live in University housing or rent privately? How much will utilities, food, and transport cost? What other expenses might I have, like for research?
And while we’re on the subject of other expenses,

Debt

Coming from a country of exorbitant student debt, loan payments were another expense to take into consideration. Looking at the cost of international tuition in the U.K., it was close to what I would probably pay as an out of state student back home. With the shorter program length, this could be manageable. I also had a manageable amount of debt (about 1/3 the national average), so I wasn’t drowning yet.

If you don’t want to drown in debt, it’s good to have something to keep you afloat. And that’s where funding comes into play. When looking at schools and programs, I also looked at what scholarships and funding were available. This meant program and school-specific grants, grants aimed at international students, and really anything I could find online that I was eligible for. I made a list of scholarships and grants I could apply for while trying to calculate how much I could save up.

When I initially decided to get a master’s degree, I had no money. By the time I started seriously researching programs and planned on applying though, I had paid off my student debt and would be able to have some savings before starting school. By studying in the U.K. with a shorter program length, I could minimize tuition and living expenses. There were some scholarships I planned on applying to, but if necessary I could take out a loan to help cover my living expenses and not be too burdened since I was starting debt-free.

Using this list, I made a spreadsheet with the different categories so I could make quick comparisons and narrow down my choices. Deciding to go back to school can be overwhelming, but breaking it down into smaller parts, and focusing on one thing at a time, really helped me get through the decision process. And in the end, I chose the University of Bristol’s MSc Global Wildlife Health and Conservation program.

Why I Decided to Get a Master’s Degree in Conservation

To kick off this blog, I’m going to explain why I decided to get a Master’s degree.
Which in this case, starts with why I DIDN’T want to get a Master’s degree.

It’ll make sense eventually, I promise.

After high school, I spent 6 years getting 2 Bachelor’s degrees and I was tired. When I was finishing my degrees, my main goal post-graduation was getting into internships, and there were some good reasons I didn’t feel the need to get a postgraduate degree.

Why I didn’t want to get a Master’s degree

#1: Not a requirement for my career field.

In general, the basic qualifications needed to get a job as an animal keeper in the U.S. are

A Bachelor’s degree in Biology, Zoology, Animal Science or another related degree such as an Ecology or Environmental Degree
Practical experience
Sometimes you can swap the degrees for extensive experience and some places may want something more specific, such as large carnivore experience.

Let’s look at a few examples of jobs and what their requirements are.

San Diego Zoo Research Assistant

**Bachelor’s Degree and at least 2 years of experience.**

Hoofstock Keeper job, Phoenix Zoo

**Bachelor’s degree and at least 6 months experience.**

Zookeeper Peoria Zoo

**4-year degree and 1 year of experience.**

Notice a common theme?

Experience is key.

When it comes to animal care, having the practical experience to do the required job and the responsibility to carry out those tasks safely is emphasized more than an advanced degree. After getting my degree, building up that experience was more important to me than going back to school for a degree that wouldn’t necessarily increase my chance of getting a job and could put me behind on experience.

Number 2: Academic Burnout

I mentioned this before, but I was tired of school. To get into University, I tried to maintain high grades and take as many honors and advanced placement courses as I could in addition to extracurricular activities.
I spent nearly every summer during my college career doing summer classes, working part-time, or doing volunteer work/internships. Now that I was finally coming to the end of 19 years of schooling and hitting that milestone of graduating from University, I was ready for something else. I wanted to start working and gain experience in the field I had been studying for all those years.

Number 3: Cost

I was very lucky and most of my education was covered by financial aid. However, I did not come out of school debt-free.
I was unable to get a job until my 3rd or 4th year of college and the bulk of that money went first towards covering gas for my 3 hour round trip commute to University, and then second towards my rent, food, and gas once I moved closer to school. This wouldn’t have been so bad, but then something unexpected happened.

Despite consistently living in the same state for well over 10 years,

Despite having a paying job and paying state taxes for over a year,

My university reclassified me as an out of state student, more than TRIPLING my tuition. This risked my ability to get into the classes I needed to complete my degree and forced me to take on loans in the meantime to ensure my education would not be interrupted.

Hey look, it’s our old friend, student debt.

I’m getting a little off-topic here. Long story short, after a long, emotional fight, I won and the University had to pay me back the overcharged fees.
The point is, I now had student loans to pay back and no savings since everything had gone towards my living expenses. Coming up on graduation, not only was I looking into internships, but I also had to worry about loan payments. Considering all this, taking on even more debt to pay for an expensive postgraduate degree was not at the top of my list of things to do after graduating.

So What Changed My Mind?

A. Developments in the Amazon
During my year abroad, I came across a news article online. This article was the turning point. It was an article about China’s plans to build a railroad through the Amazon.

When I was in the 3rd grade, I had a teacher that taught us a lot about the rainforest. Everything in the classroom was rainforest themed, and even our lessons and activities related to the rainforest. One that sticks out in my mind is when we were given a paper to color in that formed one piece of an Anaconda. After we all finished coloring, during recess she hung it up on the wall circling the classroom so we could see just how big an Anaconda was. The experiences I had in this class fed my interest and curiosity in the natural world and culminated in University where I was finally able to achieve a dream of visiting the rainforest on a 2-week field course.

All this to say, the Amazon rainforest holds a special place in my heart.

Back then, the rainforest had been under threat from humans and *surprise* that hasn’t changed. The idea of China building a railroad through such a crucial habitat was horrifying. In the article, a professor from James Cook University in Australia had explained why this was a bad idea and would only open up the forest to further damage and exploitation. Glad to see someone with sense, I looked up the University and started reading through the degrees they offered. Seeing some of the concentrations and classes were in areas I was interested in, I started to weigh the idea of going back to school and how I could afford it.

B. Bracing for Competition
Another reason I thought a Master’s degree could be beneficial is to stand out a little more from the competition. Jobs for zookeepers, wildlife biologists, and animal care specialists are highly competitive. This means standing out from other applicants who may have the same education level as me but more experience would be difficult. Getting an advanced degree, I thought, might help me gain some useful skills and give me an edge over other applicants.

C. It’s all About Connections
When searching for a job, networking and building connections are crucial to getting the heads up on job openings, and having a personal connection to vouch for you can make the difference in a sea of applicants. This is true for many jobs but perhaps even more so in the close-knit animal care community. Given my limited experience (at that point I had only volunteered and interned at 1 facility), going to another university for an advanced degree could give me the chance to expand my network of connections. It could even open up field research opportunities which would let me experience a different aspect of the career.

After a lot of thought and a few detours, I made the final decision to get a Master’s degree. In the end, I found a different program at a different university but I am now on the postgraduate path. I am excited to dive into a subject I’m passionate about again and I hope you will come along for the ride.