Undergraduate to Postgraduate

What are the big differences?

Postgraduate study is a whole new world, and you might be feeling a bit unsure about what’s to come. Here are just a few things for you to start thinking about.

Self-directed Study

Undergraduate degrees do include selfdirected study time, but they also have regular learning sessions throughout the week. At postgraduate level, contact hours are usually lower than an undergraduate degree, which means your motivation and commitment need to be higher than ever – especially when the study intensity and depth of inquiry are increased at this level.

Top Tip: Take your self-directed study time seriously. This is not something to be slotted in around other things here and there, you need to dedicate a significant amount of time to this every single week, without fail. Setting specific times for this in your weekly calendar will help you to stay on track.

Specialisation

A postgraduate degree is usually a lot more specific than undergraduate, which gives you the chance to specialise in an area of the subject you’re most interested in. This may be for career progression or career change reasons, or perhaps you’re just really passionate about something and want to dig deeper. Whatever the reason, by the time you’ve completed your postgraduate degree, you’ll be an expert. Top Tip: You might already know what you’d like to specialise in, but if not, it’s time to find out. Have a look at university courses to get an idea of the different areas you could study within your subject of choice – you might come across something you weren’t even aware of, but that sparks your interest.

Your Ideas

Postgraduate students are often expected to present and justify their own ideas. But, postgraduate study is about more than finding relevant sources that support your argument or theory. It’s about your ability to appraise and critically evaluate those sources, and to make use of a variety of scholarly and research literature when doing so.

Top Tip: The more in-depth research you do, the wider your perspective, and the more pertinent your questions. Why not start by finding a relevant source for a topic you’d like to explore, and start to ask questions about the opinion, view or judgement of the source, and how the author got there.