Which Masters is more beneficial?

01mirelly

I am looking into applying for this September. One is the MA in Climate Change in Maynooth and second, the MSc in Environmental Science in Trinity.

I have a lot of broad interests within Geography and outside it but I always come back to geography and mainly on Physical and Environmental Geographies. It is these areas I would like to work with but in a limbo situation on which way to narrow it down and trusting myself to make a right decision.

Any advice would be appreciated.

JustAThought

01mirelly wrote: »

I am looking into applying for this September. One is the MA in Climate Change in Maynooth and second, the MSc in Environmental Science in Trinity.

I have a lot of broad interests within Geography and outside it but I always come back to geography and mainly on Physical and Environmental Geographies. It is these areas I would like to work with but in a limbo situation on which way to narrow it down and trusting myself to make a right decision.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Degree from Trinity opens doors and is instantly recognised and respected around the world.

Ma-Who?

01mirelly

JustAThought wrote: »

Degree from Trinity opens doors and is instantly recognised and respected around the world.

Ma-Who?

It's MA as in Masters Post Grad.
I already have a level 8 (degree) and level 9 (MA Geography) but feel I need to narrow my interest area specific to physical and environ sectors somehow.

Black Swan

Trinners has a great world reputation as a research institution.

JustAThought

01mirelly wrote: »

It's MA as in Masters Post Grad.
I already have a level 8 (degree) and level 9 (MA Geography) but feel I need to narrow my interest area specific to physical and environ sectors somehow.

Sorry -too obtuse -that was intended as a pun on Maynooth. Ma-Who. Tey selling Maynooth on a national or international level -it s just not going to work for you . Comparison between both -no brainer -go with Trinity - internationnaly respected, recognised & respected worldwide -M is a third tier institute that holds little traction or respect outside of the town its based in -don't stop your career before it starts -it's a no-brainer -go with Trinity.

NoCrackHaving

I study/work in this field in the UK now and would recommend always picking an MSc over an MA, just get a far better technical grounding in your subject-eg lab work, field work, numerical modelling etc.

gavwaldo

01mirelly wrote: »

I am looking into applying for this September. One is the MA in Climate Change in Maynooth and second, the MSc in Environmental Science in Trinity.

I have a lot of broad interests within Geography and outside it but I always come back to geography and mainly on Physical and Environmental Geographies. It is these areas I would like to work with but in a limbo situation on which way to narrow it down and trusting myself to make a right decision.

Any advice would be appreciated.

hey 01mirelly, what did you go for in the end?
i'm thinking of going back and doing a masters. i did a ba in history/geography and then the hdip in ed but struggling to find teaching work. what i'm looking for is a masters that both makes my cv look better in gaining teaching work but also give me the chance of getting a non-teaching job with that masters there's no jobs in any history masters but geog has a possibility. have a interest in both the ma and msc you mentioned. would you recommend doing the straight geog ma that you did?
cheers

slowburner

Unfortunately the op's account is closed.

El Siglo

gavwaldo wrote: »

hey 01mirelly, what did you go for in the end?
i'm thinking of going back and doing a masters. i did a ba in history/geography and then the hdip in ed but struggling to find teaching work. what i'm looking for is a masters that both makes my cv look better in gaining teaching work but also give me the chance of getting a non-teaching job with that masters there's no jobs in any history masters but geog has a possibility. have a interest in both the ma and msc you mentioned. would you recommend doing the straight geog ma that you did?
cheers

I know people that did the geography MA, and to be honest having originally come from a geography background I'm glad I never did it. Too much human geography, feck all what I'd call physical (there's climatology in Maynooth, there's a minute bit of physical in UCD). However, anything Quaternary related you'd have to go to England (e.g. Royal Holloway). There's always going to be a lot of human geography stuff so I suppose if you're interested in that, then have a look at the courses out there.

However, I did the MSc in Environmental Sciences in Trinity (09/10) and I'd have to say that it gives you a lot. It's a really good course and they've even added stuff to it that I never did. In terms of what it does, effectively it's like physical geography but with lab work and actual data acquisition (i.e. going out into the field, sampling a river, bring back to the lab, ICP-OES analysis on the material, geochemistry data). It's very well structured and the course director is a total legend (Carlos). It covers a fair bit of the key stuff you'd need if you wanted to do an environmental science type job (environmental chemistry, statistics, waste water, hydrogeology, environmental policies etc...). However, jobs in Ireland are thin on the ground (non-existent really). More opportunities in the UK and a fair bit more abroad. The advantage of this over an MA in Geography is that if you really like physical geography, this gives you the tools to do it (i.e. techniques, statistics, GIS) as well as the knowledge of environmental processes.

Good luck with whatever course you proceed with.

gavwaldo

thanks el siglo,
that gives me plenty of food for thought. did you go to england in the end? in ucc i was a big fan of the climatology modules by una ni choimbh, much like your carlos legend i guess. the human stuff was boring but handy to pick up easy %. i looked up that msc in trinity that you did, looked really interesting. another question....was your b.a. all geog or did you do another arts subject? the reason why i'm asking is that mostly i was humanities as in history and geog and the only non humanities stuff i did was the climatology and a module in quaternary, i did alright in the climatology but i think that was as a surfer i was mad keen to put in the extra effort but really struggled with the quaterneary and only got 44% in a 3rd year module which might mean that i'm not suited to the earth science stuff even tho i'm interested in it. i'd be really interested in any insight you might have?

El Siglo

gavwaldo wrote: »

thanks el siglo,
that gives me plenty of food for thought. did you go to england in the end?

No, during the masters I applied for a PhD in sedimentology at Queen's University Belfast which I'm now writing up the thesis for. The Quaternary Science masters in England is pretty good, but the drawback I've encountered with it is that nearly all of the graduates end up becoming biostratigraphers (i.e. microscope work, looking at pollen etc...). So it wouldn't be my cup of tea to be honest.

in ucc i was a big fan of the climatology modules by una ni choimbh, much like your carlos legend i guess. the human stuff was boring but handy to pick up easy %.

Human geography tends to be that way alright. It got on my nerves because the lecturers tend to overemphasise the subjective study of things (e.g. 'how does it make you feel?'). Not all of it is bad, but the stuff I had to do was just pretty boring as well.

i looked up that msc in trinity that you did, looked really interesting. another question....was your b.a. all geog or did you do another arts subject?

I did Geography, Planning and Environmental Policy (effectively Geography and town planning). It was 90% human geography, absolutely no physical, no GIS, no statistics, no lab work, no fieldwork (if you count going to Dun Laoghaire as a fieldtrip).

the reason why i'm asking is that mostly i was humanities as in history and geog and the only non humanities stuff i did was the climatology and a module in quaternary, i did alright in the climatology but i think that was as a surfer i was mad keen to put in the extra effort but really struggled with the quaterneary and only got 44% in a 3rd year module which might mean that i'm not suited to the earth science stuff even tho i'm interested in it. i'd be really interested in any insight you might have?

Yeh I wouldn't let that deter you. Although if you really want to do something physical-related then you're going to have to work hard when you do study the stuff. I wouldn't let exam results be the decider in whether you pursue physical geography or not, it's exams like that which deter students from pursuing physical and end up in human or really 'light' stuff (e.g. environment and development masters etc...). I did probably as much, if not, less physical than you at undergrad and also didn't do too well at the Quaternary module. I did one stats module in Trinity and only barely passed that as well. Nowadays, 1/3 of thesis (probably more really) is effectively statistics and mathematical geology and I focus on multivariate statistics (PCA, HCA, PLS) along with compositional data analysis. So trust me when I say that what you have done up to now doesn't matter a bit when it comes to when you're doing something that you're interested in. Quaternary and physical geography isn't really taught as well as it should be in Ireland because it eats up budgets, it requires equipment, fieldwork, facilities, training, expertise etc... which is a lot harder to provide for than delivering 22 hours of lectures, an essay and a final exam which are absolutely anathema to how science actually works (e.g. as a scientist you're taught to value 'bad' data as much as 'good' data as it's still data and tells you something).

So the geography graduates in Ireland are nearly always skewed towards human and to the loss of physical. The ones that do end up in physical, end up in Quaternary or really more appropriately, they end up looking at the last couple of hundred years and usually involving some lake cores. From what I gather, there's only something like five postgrads in Ireland who'd class themselves as geomorphologists, there's probably between fifteen and twenty lecturers in the same boat. From personal experience, there's probably even less sedimentologists looking at unconsolidated sediments (e.g. beach sand).

So, we're in short supply of good physical geographers. Don't let bad results deter you from pursuing study in this field, but have no illusions that it'll require hard work. However, the main thing is that you're interested in the field and particular aspects of the field (you mentioned climatology). So, have a think of it, read a few papers on stuff you're interested in (I've attached one from a colleague of mine, very readable). Don't just take my word, go out have a search around. The TCD MSc worked for me, it might work for you but make sure you're interested in stuff beforehand.

In those regards, good luck!

gavwaldo

thanks a million el siglo, you've reassured me on the suitability stuff. not afraid of the hard work bit, that year in the hdip in ed was non stop. plenty of digging to do. i'll let ye know what happens. best of luck with the rest of your phd and future career.
.

MiNdGaM3

gavwaldo wrote: »

thanks a million el siglo, you've reassured me on the suitability stuff. not afraid of the hard work bit, that year in the hdip in ed was non stop. plenty of digging to do. i'll let ye know what happens. best of luck with the rest of your phd and future career.
.

Two MSc courses you might consider from UCC also.

Geographical Information Systems and Remote Sensing

Applied Coastal and Marine Management

I did the GIS and Remote Sensing MSc last year, (well, I deferred the dissertation to this summer, so I'm still doing the course in a way) so if you've any questions, feel free to ask away.

BraodsConvo

Just like the previous contributors to this post, I am looking for some info in regards to what postgrad to do.

looking at the GIS in UCC and wondering what MiNdGaM3 would make of the course?

Like the previous contributor (sorry I cant remember your name) I am an undergraduate, taking a joint honours in history and geography. attracted to environmental/sustainable areas but realise that a lot of these MA, lack hard skills that employers will want.

Any advise in regards to a MA that focuses skills that employers are looking for

Didn't really take any of the technical classes, done GIS in 2nd year but didn't apply myself to it. I am curious as I took more theory based classes would I be able for GIS, is it very technical? Almost like computer programming?

Sorry if this message is a bit all over the place, any advise appreciated.

NoCrackHaving

BraodsConvo wrote: »

Just like the previous contributors to this post, I am looking for some info in regards to what postgrad to do.

looking at the GIS in UCC and wondering what MiNdGaM3 would make of the course?

Like the previous contributor (sorry I cant remember your name) I am an undergraduate, taking a joint honours in history and geography. attracted to environmental/sustainable areas but realise that a lot of these MA, lack hard skills that employers will want.

Any advise in regards to a MA that focuses skills that employers are looking for

Didn't really take any of the technical classes, done GIS in 2nd year but didn't apply myself to it. I am curious as I took more theory based classes would I be able for GIS, is it very technical? Almost like computer programming?

Sorry if this message is a bit all over the place, any advise appreciated.

Why not? It just seems a bit odd that you clearly don't enjoy the harder/more technical side of geography but yet are considering a masters in it.

BraodsConvo

In response to NoCrackHaving - I done 2nd year over 5 years ago, I have now returned to complete the final year of my BA.

I choose modules this year with an eye to some environmental / sustainability MA so undertaking planning, environmental economy etc but now I am not so sure on this line as there doesn't seem to be that many jobs.

I am looking towards an MA like GIS that gives your hard skills that employers are looking for.

So any feed back on GIS would be appreciated or any other MA from a geography back ground with relatively good job prospects. (A little bit optimistic, I know ha)

Thanks