The majority of my MSc time is now officially over, as a few days ago we received our finalised marks for our completed modules. I got a Merit, with an overall average of 64% (and my 90-second-late essay was reprieved, which was nice). Due to how our marking system works, the maximum I can now get is a Merit even if I somehow aced the dissertation. I’m finding that knowledge helpful- it means I can’t be worrying about trying to reach a grade that’s actually impossible to reach.

In undergrad, we all had the feeling of a clear divide between receiving a 2.1 (which would make it easy for us to progress after uni) and receiving a 2.2 (which would cause us problems after uni). With a Master’s, either there is no grade divide, or it’s much less important.

Also, completing the main modules means we’re now eligible for a PGDip (postgraduate diploma). This means the only thing left to get the full master’s degree is completing the project module. And this is where, from a great start, things haven’t progressed as I wanted.

I was expecting to be well into data collection now, but I’ve only just started collecting sample data. The main culprit was a communication failure- ambiguous emails meant I spent three weeks waiting for my supervisor to get back to me about how to pilot my survey, while she’s spent those weeks assuming I was already piloting it. After realising what happened, my first attempt at finding participants was to try the uni PhD groups- which resulted in 3 participants, so that wasn’t a great start.(Being a uni-specific study really limits my available options for piloting).

Initially I didn’t want to tell my supervisor that things weren’t going to plan, (I’m not good at all with bearing bad news or taking criticism, so the idea of asking for help is anxiety-provoking to say the least). However, I did tell her, which turned out to be a good decision as she commiserated and offered to forward an email to staff to get some participants there. So that’s progress, hopefully- I should find out how many participants that gets me during the week.

Just over 4 months to go.. once the survey is ready and live, the project should fall together a little more.