Alan Bradshaw: So what you think about our new blog?
Me: Vey nice but probably a bit too formal
` Alan Bradshaw: Can you make it better?
Hello MA Marketing generation 2011 – 2012 and all the professors whose lectures I miss so much! My name is Liliya, I’m a freshly graduated MA Marketing student (2010 - 2011). I decided to write in this posting (because Alan Bradshaw asked me: can you make it better?) to share my experiences and give you some advice that can probably simplify your life in RHUL and make it even more enjoyable.
Alan already made a nice posting about what you need to do in order to succeed in the course. I think it’s time to present a student’s point of view.
What to do in order to succeed during the course
Socialise with your professors. This is the key to success. First of all, you will realise that they are not only academic gurus but, first of all, human beings. They are nice, friendly, helpful, funny... they have their hobbies, strengths and weaknesses. Once you realise that, you will feel less shy and frustrated during the lectures. Besides, according to my experience, knowledge gained during the social events and informal meetings live longer in your head that those which were received in the lectures.
Study your professors. Of course you need to study marketing literature if you want to do really well in your course but apart from that you also need to study.... your professors. Some people might disagree but I believe that the assignments marks are highly subjective. I wrote one assignment for 1 night and I got a distinction. I was working on another one for a whole month, 5 hours every day and I received 58. Almost every my classmate can give you the similar examples.
Every tutor has the particular preferences and dislikes. It does not necessary mean that they have to dominate your choice of topic, just be careful and creative with the strings that you can attach to your assignment. A nice coherent discussion with good English expressions for Chris Hackley, a couple of additional references to Daniel Miller’s books for Alan Bradshow, rigorous implementation of Pauline Maclaran’s assignment’s instructions.... To sum up, try to be a good psychologist, it is important both for a student and a marketer =)
Career
I guess that some of you might want to stay in London and look for jobs after the graduation. The bad news about it is that if you don’t have experience, your chances to get a job are close to zero, especially if English is not your first language. The competition is very high and the education is ridiculously insignificant compared to job experience. There you need to get this experience right now! The job can be unpaid but there must be something in your CV. As for me, I found a nice part-time Marketing paid job during my studies. I used the vacancies search on RHUL career centre website. Just register and go! But be ready to invest some time and effort in the job searching process.
Another option is taking an internship. Unfortunately, I have more bad news for you. If you are interested about when you should apply for internships, my answer is: yesterday. Yes, that’s right, you need to apply one year before the start. That is to say, you really need to hurry up.
To look for options check the websites like this http://www.milkround.com/ or better – make an appointment with the career centre (see http://www.rhul.ac.uk/careers/home.aspx), they will give a lot of useful sources.
Good luck to everyone and enjoy your year! It will be unforgettable!
Nice piece Liliya, it's honest and it made me smile. Two things I want to say. You wrote that
ReplyDelete"Some people might disagree but I believe that the assignments marks are highly subjective. I wrote one assignment for 1 night and I got a distinction. I was working on another one for a whole month, 5 hours every day and I received 58".
I once wrote a 5000 word piece in a day which was eventually published in a good international research journal with no amendments required. I recently got a journal acceptance on another paper I spent three years revising, which had previously been rejected by reviewers three times. It isn't just about subjectivity, or about how much time you spend on a piece of work. It's also about getting it right. Sometimes we get the right idea quickly, sometimes not.
The other thing is about our marking prejudices-we all have them, and the obvious way to do good work is to combine the three strategies: write it in good English, add in a few extra references (provided you've read them and can say something useful with them) and make sure you write to the brief that was set.