Choosing a University for Your Master's Degree

There are several factors to consider when trying to decide which universities to apply to and which to ultimately choose when you are searching for the best place to earn your Master's degree. Your GRE scores, where the best programs for your area of study are located, and tuition costs are among the most important deciding factors for most students.

In my particular situation, I ultimately chose to earn my Master's degree in Development Studies overseas. My situation may be similar to yours, and perhaps my experience can help you make the right decision for you.

I was completing my B.A. in anthropology while I was trying to figure out where to go for graduate school. I didn't necessarily have a particular program to which I wanted to apply. I was just looking at the different international affairs/development concentrations that particular universities offered. I studied for my GRE in about three weeks, took the test, didn't do so well, but I still submitted my applications to several universities in the U.S. I applied to the University of Wisconsin, a school for international affairs in Vermont, and the University of Denver. I was ultimately accepted by all of these schools, but I was waiting to hear back from the University of Glasgow in Scotland to see if I was accepted there.

I chose the University of Glasgow for several reasons. One was the fact that it was in Scotland, about the cheapest place to live in the U.K. Glasgow's not as glamorous as Edinburgh, but money was a big factor, not how glitzy my city of residence was. Master's degrees in the U.K. can usually be completed in a year, versus the two years for the same type of program in the United States. Tuition for foreign students at the University was a lot higher than for domestic students, but that price, compared with two years at one of the three universities I had applied to, was a lot cheaper. Foreign students can work part-time in the U.K., too, which some of my classmates did to help offset costs. I did not work, and instead ended up taking out a private loan to cover my living expenses.

I was a mite worried about employers accepting my Master's degree as the equivalent of one earned in the United States. However, I have not had much of a problem presenting my credentials from the University of Glasgow in my job searches. People have generally accepted them and not questioned the rigors of the program there. Scotland has a fantastic reputation worldwide for its university education system.

The University's professors are very well experienced, classes were generally small, communication in the department and between students and professors was generally good overall. My professors were from around the world, and my department was pretty small. There were not that many Scottish students in my program, which wasn't the best way to get involved with the locals. However, my flatmates in university accommodation were from different countries, and there were only 3 or 4 Americans in my entire program, which meant I got to hang with people from all around the world.

There is a very active student life at the University of Glasgow, and I joined one or two groups to have some fun. In addition, I plugged in with a non-profit working with refugee youths and mentored a young refugee on a volunteer basis for about eight months, which was to end up guiding my career interests.

Even after a year of living in Glasgow, I had a very difficult time understanding the local accent. It didn't matter whether they spoke English or not. I got bored one day when I didn't have class, snuck my laptop near the door to my bedroom, stuck a microphone into the hallway and closed the door as much as I could behind it. The university required cleaning personnel to come into the flat once a week to clean up after us disgusting student slobs. Our particular cleaners were very nice ladies. I talked some with them when I was home when they came. I couldn't understand a lot of what they said, though, especially when they were talking to each other in the flat. So, I recorded them with my computer to try to make some sense of what they said. It didn't help.

One last word of advice if you're going to go to the U.K.: Bring earplugs. Birds wake up at about 3 a.m. there and sing the dawn in during the summer when it never gets completely dark.