[00:00:04] Amy: Hello, everyone. Welcome to our first introductory talk for our Postgraduate event today. My name's Amy and I am the student engagement and recruitment manager here at the university. I'm also proud to say that I studied my masters here at the university and gained my qualification in English literary studies as well. So I did talk to give a little introduction today and talk to you about why you might want to study with us just to do a little bit of housekeeping first. You can feel free to ask any questions if you want. This is a beginning intro session, but you might find that you want to ask some questions at the end of it. You can feel free to type those in. We just say to be mindful that is a public forum with starting to type. Those in will go over some of the details about stated masters. We want to do it and some of the things that you need to know about personal statements and application. And then we'll look over those questions after we've done that as well. There's lots of different reasons why you might want to study at Postgraduate level.

Some of you may want career career progression or maybe a change in career direction. Some of you may just have a passion for the subject that you want to study so far and want to learn more. So whatever your reason, there are a range of benefits to continuing your studies after gaining an undergraduate degree. So because I, for many of you might be a change looking for looking to open up different avenues for you in your career. My son is going to stand you in good stead, getting high level qualification, moving up the career ladder later on in working life. And last but certainly not least, Postgraduate study surprise more chances to enhance your love for your chosen subject to suggest some ideas of what you might want to take up. Postgraduate level study in Hons in your career.

What you can do how a master's degree will maybe enhance your chosen career and open up opportunities for you. Well, a Masters sometimes is a requirement for certain roles, so especially as you maybe become more senior in an organisation, it might be something that they look for when you're working. It also shows your employer that you are dedicated to your career and to your personal development as well, and you might be able to demonstrate advanced knowledge in a specific area, but also be able to demonstrate other transferable skills skills such as enhanced communication organisation, high level reasoning, thinking skills as well, and lots of different things that will enhance your career.

Also, change in your career. So sometimes people will look at Postgraduate study as a way to make a change. So as well as delving into your undergraduate subject in more detail of a career path. We have people that make the move into a different area, and so choosing a master's degree doesn't necessarily mean sticking to your past subject choices. Explore different areas you can specialising in something they see. You might wish to study something different what you said the undergraduate level. You might have developed a career and wish to move into another one. Your career goals aren't always clear when you start university or go into employment. So it's okay to change your mind. But financially, many people will have work in different areas throughout their life. We haven't just called that one job for life anymore. Master's degrees degree is a quick way to study progress in a new trade that may be starting completely from scratch, and you may already find your transferable skills. From previous study, the work that you can apply as well and having experience in multiple fields can benefit you in the job market as well. Here you'll find just a list of some of our master's level courses that were open to graduates from other subject areas as well.

You'll find that these are just a few listed, but it might be that you're looking to convert or move into that different area. So we're looking at applying for a master's degree one to think about what you need to do as part of your application process. Now what I will say in advance of starting this there is I'm going to cover the application process for UK students. So if you would like more advice about making an application as an international student, we have got separate dedicated sessions taking place covering this. So you'll find that there is a section running for two or five p.m. and there's also a later session at forty five, forty five or 6:45 p.m.

In case you want to go to other talks. And there's a clash there, so have a look at the open day web page to find the link for that as well. So if we think about your applying and what your application will look like, so what's the first thing to say is applying for a master's degree is a little bit more straightforward that applying for an undergraduate degree. That the most courses you can apply directly to the university. There are a couple of exceptions things like teacher training and law courses. But the application process for these courses will be covered separately in their respective subject sessions. So make sure you go to those sessions and to apply online.

What you need to do is find the web page for your chosen course and then click the apply link. And then this will then allow you to create your own line account with the university, and then you can start filling in your application. So just like a job application, it will ask you certain things about you. So your education history, your previous or current employment will also ask you to write a personal statement which will cover in a little bit more detail in the next few slides. And I want you submitted your application. It will come through to our admissions team. They will then contact the relevant course tutor to review your application. And then once this has been processed and you have fulfilled any interview or portfolio review requirements, then you will get an email about your offer. So. Thinking about a couple of things to know, to be aware of just before you apply, if you currently studying your undergraduate degree with those that BCU, you've got a fast track option when you apply online and we already have that information about you. Also to note, some creative courses may ask to see a portfolio of work before they give you an offer. This, again, would be sent to you via email, so you have a look and check if that's part of that. Also, there's lots of advice online about what could be included.

A portfolio and I mentioned some courses may require an interview. Again, you'll be able to check if your course, your chosen course requires an interview in the subject specific sessions running today. So take the opportunity to attend those and find out if it does. You can also get in contact with the course tutor via a website or by their email as well. Last thing to know is no formal deadline. So what you'll find is it is best to get your application in early. Some of our more popular courses do fill up. So although there's not that formal deadline, which is, say, often get it done as soon as possible. Also worth mentioning that some courses will have a January start date and some have a September start date. So it's really important to look out for that. Bear in mind to make sure you don't miss out again.

That information can be found on the course page at the top of that information. What different they've got in it will tell you what month and also the year, but also brought in a personal statement is part of your application. So let's give you some advice on writing yours. So first of all, think about what you might want to cover is a little bit like a cover letter for a job application. So it's your chance to show the course tutor while you're interested in studying the subject and how suitable you are for the course.

So topics you could include are listed here, so you might want to look at your future plans. Talk about that. What do you intend to do when you graduate with your master's degree? So what is it going to allow you to do? Once you've studied that qualification, what's it going to unlock, really? Also, you may want to think of your previous education. So what did you study undergraduate level and how does it relate to the course you're applying for? It doesn't have to be content focussed. It can be skills based as well, and that's something to think about, especially if you're changing the subject area, perhaps that you are studying. Also, what your work experience? So what skills will be developed throughout your work experience and how will they apply to your degree? And if you've got that wealth of experience within your career that you can talk about, but again, those skills that you can take from include do so might be directly related to your subject or things such as time management communication.

Think about how to apply them and how it would make you successful on the course. Also, your interests and activities. What do you like to do outside of work and study? Add a bit of personality, shows a little bit about yourself, but also make it relevant and make it count towards your application. So what can you include that shows us something about you and how you may perform on the course or how you have an interest in your subject area? And also, if you want to, you can apply some information about why you're applying now.

So it might be perhaps the impact of the coronavirus pandemic has led you to rethink your career path and maybe you want to change, or maybe you want to move up in your career, but have a think about what's making you put this application now and feel free to include that in your personal statement. So a few bits of advice and tips, really. You'll think about read through all the course information first and use this as a guide to help you. So for example, if there's a specific module that really interests you on the course, then talk about it might interest you. Or maybe you have some experience in that already tells them that highlight that. Make sure that you give evidence when you make a point.

So don't just say things like you've got a great project management skills that back it up with some evidence provide an example of something you've done to demonstrate that make sure that you make some notes of what you really want to include. Said planning before you start writing is really important. And maybe think about prioritising the things that you think are most important from those notes and perhaps give the best impression of you. Also, once you've written out all your ideas, make sure you structure it well. So have a proper structure with an introduction and conclusion that links together. And then also, we ask you to be honest. Yes, you try to make a good impression. But you need to make sure that everything you say can be backed up by evidence of. But also, when you meet the truth or perhaps go to interview, you can expand upon those and show them and talk about them in a lot more detail as well. If in doubt, use today's sessions to ask coach tutors what they would like to see in their personal statement or their application for that particular subject area.

This is your opportunity to ask those questions whilst you're at the sessions.

If you have any questions about application, a personal statement. Feel free to put them in the chat if you haven't already. I'm very aware that some of your sessions will be starting shortly and I want to make sure that you can head off promptly to those. I'm more than happy to stick around, then answer any questions you might want to ask. So if you stick around to ask questions, feel free. But I do want to take this opportunity to thank you for joining us. Our Postgraduate virtual open day today, and I hope that you find it finding an informative experience that helps you make your choices about Postgraduate study here. The BCU. So thank you very much. OK, so I'll just go through some questions, as I said, feel free to head off, if not, so we'll have a look through what we've had. Ropes. So look. So let's have a look. So 12. Has anyone been able to book their application interview? So information about interviews, if it's about booking a session today, if you pop along to your drop in your question answers, then you can then maybe organise see if there's anything available. Normally, people have done nine events.

If you didn't get opportunity to do that today and always get in touch with this and see if there's any possibility. Following on from that and just going through, everybody's had a good chat, so that's great. But. OK. So email coming through not being able to book, so if you've got any queries today and you've not been able to get in touch with anyone, what I would say is you can contact maybe our course enquiries team. So what we'll do is try and drop that email address in the chat for you and see if we can kind of resolve anything for you. Then perhaps we'll drop that in the chat amongst yourselves, which is great to see, as well as reference what reference is preferable. So reference from work or school? How many references? So really good question. You might want to look at getting you can get a reference from your previous study and that might be applicable to you. Depends how long ago you finish you study, but also what you might want to do is look at it in reference from an employer, particularly if that's an area that you're looking to go into or if you if you've been out of academic study for a while. So you might want to have a look at getting a range of those, I'm getting in touch with them. You might find that really important to get in touch as soon as possible as well because it may take time for people to access those and kind of get back to with those as well.

A specific demo of the application, you've covered that, so nothing necessarily as a formal deadline. Check coarse pages for that. But what you'll find is that you can get them in as soon as possible, and we do have some really popular courses that do fill up quite quickly. So that's what will make sure you get that in as soon as possible. And any queries regarding cats, I know Sicily's popped him up there to contact our international admissions team, and she's put the email address in there. So that's great. No, we've had a couple of questions about that. Maybe some of them. Think a lot on deadlines. If you caught requires cause an interview, will you be sent an email inform me how to book a slot? Yes, on the portal. So what if you do require an interview and you're asked to interview?

There is guidance on how you do that and in your portal that you create when you set up the application, there will be information about that or you'll get sent to it via email as well. How long does it take to give off this? We can't necessarily give a specific time about that, so you'll find that it will need time to be processed. So as we said, it comes into our missions team, they'll need to send it off to course to to to make sure that they check that and have a look over. So they will try to get back to that as soon as possible. But depending on how many applications come in, we can't promise a particular time on that. What I would say is that's also a really good reason why we encourage you to get your application in as soon as possible. You'll find that you want to give it enough time and not leaving it too close to when the course actually starts as well.

If you've got any particular queries that you've maybe received something already and you're waiting on things, you can always get in touch with our admissions team as well. So you might want to just send an email over to admissions at BCU Dot Dot UK say that's been popped in the chat as well. And. We'll have a little look. No specific. Trying to have a look through the rest of your questions. I think a lot of it is opportunity for you guys to chat with each other, so. Yeah, I think that a lot of things have been answered in the chat function. Well, I would say for anything that is subject specific enquiry, this is just the introduction to study two masters, so we won't be answering anything like that here. Head off to your subject. Sex should be a question and answer session.

Also, bring those up in your drop in sessions and you'll find that those will be answered in those court relevant sessions as well. Hopefully, somebody asked here about personal statement, we've given you some advice in that we also have a useful personal statement guide, which is generally for undergraduate courses. However, what you'll find is some of the skills and some tips in that guide will help you to write your own personal statement as well. Is not quite as prescriptive as an undergraduate degree, as we mentioned, but when it gives you some examples of how to talk about your experience, the courses on you might find that that's quite useful. So if you just look on the website for personal statement guide, you can download that as PDF. There's also some guidance on the website for those as well. And is it about applying for a job restart compared to September? Am not in particular to say specific, it's just being aware of the different timelines and maybe the dates that you need to make that that's well, but it's more about checking with which one you're applying for, making sure you're aware that you are applying for it to of that time.

We'll be worth checking some deadlines on some specific course areas. If you're ready, shoot at BCU, do you need to write a personal statement? Yes, you will still need to do a personal statement, but some of the other information won't necessarily be included, but they'll be nice to talk about on your study that you've done here at BCU. Other than that? If you had time away from your studies, absolutely could still apply. We find that some people look to apply for Postgraduate study a long time after they completed any academic study before. Absolutely no problem. We find lots of people want to come back to academia, but it might be that you want a career change, so there's not necessarily a time limit within that. So feel free to apply. And. I think pretty much most of the ones that we've been asked just go through are very similar. So. Yeah, that's pretty much I think.

What I'm going to go for, as I said, there were already number of different drop in sessions, if you're an international student, please attend those international sessions as they will be really useful for you to get those questions from those Korean particular international questions. There is a possibility you can have a look into the discount masters if you finish undergraduate. There is also a student, there is a Masters finance session happening later today if you want to attend that with any finance questions as well. Any admissions questions or entry requirements questions again? We'll tell you just direct you to those subject specific sessions to just clarify those with you coach tutors as well. So. Other than that. We've been asked at government funding if you just applied, go to the Masters final session, that would be really useful for you to attend. And then I think anything specific admissions wise again, I suppose, in your subject specific sessions.

So I'm going to encourage you to head off to the subjects that sessions that are taking place at the moment and hopefully you'll find out the answers, some of these questions you hear from those as well. If you want to check entry requirements, not in the sessions and it's really useful to go and visit the website. There is a tap on a course page that tells you exactly what the entry requirements are. If you haven't looked at that, then you'll find that you might want to attend a subject session just to double check those as well. So have a great afternoon how you get all the information that you need from your subject sessions. Please feel free to attend some of those other sessions as well, and I look forward to seeing you later. Thanks so much.