Masters?

I've been abit discouraged and abit down about the future of my career and so decided to explore studying for my Masters last Friday. I've always wanted to further my studies but had no idea which area I should specialise in. I thought about doing a Masters in Communications but am realistic that its usefulness in the country town I live in may be limited. I want my post-graduate qualifications to be useful for my career too - I sound like a realistic Singaporean, don't I?

And then I came across the job ad for a regional planner with the government. The boss of that department was the nice guy who explored other job opportunities for me even though I was unsuccessful for the admin officer job I went for. And I thought about it and realised that perhaps a qualification in planning (like town planning) will be useful in both the country and the city. It will also certainly be useful in my current job in understanding how our district is changing and how current plans and permits will affect its future landscape.

So I went to the websites of several universities - La Trobe, RMIT, Monash - and decided on RMIT's Master of Social Sciences (environment and planning). Monash only started a Bachelor's Degree in Planning this year and La Trobe's planning courses were for the architectural department (not what I was looking for).

And I sent off an email to the nice guy to ask him if the RMIT course was relevant and he said it looked fine and he's exploring some options for me and will get back to me. Isn't he nice!

And I've spoken to my parents about it. Thankfully, they are encouraging, cos I need to borrow money from them to pay for the course first (apparently, I can claim it back on my tax return). Phill said people must think what kind of a husband he is not to be able to pay for his wife's Masters but I told him I couldn't even pay for myself. And I'm also encouraging him to pursue a Masters course with me. As my mum said, "better do it before the baby comes".

I'm not sure if I'm Masters material but I've downloaded the application form and will send it off shortly, before the 10 November deadline. I hope and pray I do get it because for once, I am quite upbeat about my present position, knowing I have my studies to focus on, and am more hopeful about the future.