November 19/13

Today, I realized that my Masters' degree was an epic challenge for me.

All Masters' programs are challenge, and I tip my hat to any of us who has survived one, but it occurred to me after I scouted another Masters program I'd like to pursue (yes, another...) that the SFU Master of Public Policy degree is not for the faint of heart, though my experience of fainting at school which in a roundabout way leads to two and half weeks of bedrest might suggest otherwise ;-)

This other Masters program requires 47 credits as part of completion, and so to get a frame of reference about what that meant, I went back and checked in on my SFU transcripts, and I was shocked to see that the MPP required 70 (yes, 7-0) credits.  That translated into 14 courses at 5 credits each, plus a project on BC priorities, plus a required co-op work term which you might have to travel for (READ: how I came to be in Ottawa), plus a Masters Capstone project.  And that doesn't factor in jobs, lives, and hobbies.

Our first year was a gong show of wretched economics assignments, brutal overnight political assignments, hours spent in computer labs fighting with ordinary least squares regressions and SPSS analysis, tense arguments with or between professors and guest lecturers, and the stressful process of interviewing and running down co-op opportunities.

There is almost no break between the last exam of spring semester and starting said co-op experience, and in my case, it meant that in less than 24 hours, I went from going to Dhaka, Bangladesh for the summer to going to Ottawa.  Most of my cohort were fortunate and had co-ops back in Vancouver, but for a lot of us, we had to travel and be away from home all summer.

Again, barely a break before we dive right into year two, where we hit the ground sprinting to begin data collection, ethics reviews, and ultimately writing our Capstone projects while going to classes, though the assignments tend to take into consideration that we're building major projects that need to be defended.  Plus, again, the stress of knowing that we need to find jobs, so we have to constantly be monitoring the job opportunities.  In my case, I had a job offer before I even left Ottawa, so this didn't worry me as much, but I know others were under the gun to find jobs to start paying back their loans.

And then...The Defense.  That scary-as-all-get-out moment which sees the culmination of your year's work judged and questioned and scrutinized, and you just have to hope that you get lucky and come through with a "passed with minor revisions" or "passed with no revisions" (which is rare, so good on you, Sammy!).  Mine was very early, on March 8th because I needed to pack up and move to Ottawa before the last week of April.

Against the backdrop of all of this, I got married, had temporary guardianship of my niece, had two and a half weeks of bed rest, spent the summer away from my home and family, had significant family problems, was sick a lot, got divorced, and prepared to move across the country.

The credit structure of this other program is quite different, and it looks like the demands on time and resources are just as intense as the MPP experience, but after I looked back on those two years, I realized that I am so ready to begin again.

Wish me luck!

...Wish you were here.