Postgraduate education is different from studying in a graduate program in many ways..
Firstly, not all of the students are fully aware of the reason for selecting their specific program and in my experience more than half of the students just opt for a particular postgraduate program based on recommendations from friends/family or more sadly, because of lack of other opportunities in disciplines which they truly have their interests in. Since, unfortunately, our education system, since childhood, hardly teaches us to question ‘what we are doing?’ or more importantly ‘why we are doing it?’ many students just start a postgraduate degree and only start to wonder ‘why am I here?’ months later.
Secondly, on individual levels, many students generally lack the ability of self-assessment and ability to acknowledge their strengths and weaknesses which render them to facing a lot of friction during the postgraduate education. Not knowing one’s strengths and weaknesses frequently put him or her in situations which mount emotional stress, anxiety (even depression) and insecurity regarding their future and either complete lack of, or conjuring up impractical goals. Surmounting stress of finishing the degree in time and becoming financially independent makes things even worse.
This discussion forum is aimed at exploring the ways to make the most out of your degree program and is open for all who want to dig in deeper into the secrets of success, may it be educational or otherwise.
I have been advocating for quite some time that self-mastery can get you safely out of any hostile situation may it be job related, education related, or personal relationships related.
Opening this discussion forum by the last two line of ‘Invictus’
"I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul"
William Ernest Henley (1849–1903)
Welcome All ? !
Best Regards
TRK
Dear Adnan, Thank you for your input. As far as finding the dates are concerned, you can seek help from our admin office at SPH or any senior student who has ‘passed’ GAT (don’t ask the ones who have failed, they will overwhelm you with the ‘free advices’ and instill negativism).
Secondly, you don’t have to be Einstein to pass the Maths portion ? don’t worry, you JUST NEED TO GET 50% (or more)!! Period!!. Focus on your strengths, if English is your strength, attempt that part first. This will not only build up your confidence and save you time to be spent on Maths or Analytical Reasoning but will also increases the probability of detecting the correct answers.
I MEAN WHAT EASIER TEST YOU CAN WISH FOR THAN GAT.. THEY ALSO GIVE YOU THE CORRECT ANSWERS ?
Remember, like all such exams, this is not a test to assess your knowledge; rather it assesses HOW YOU HANDLE THE 100 QUESTIONS IN 120 MINUTES!
Thank you for providing this platform.
Today we were asked to tell the area of interest for research. I have several options in my mind but I don't know how to start or in which direction I should go?
Dear Amara thank you for your input,
First of all I would like to acknowledge that it is a bit confusing to come up with a proper research topic just 2 weeks into the program. Especially since I have not taught you the ‘steps in conducting research’, ‘ how to conduct a proper literature review’ and 'points to be taken care of while selecting a research topic' for your degree program YET. But don't worry we are going to cover all these issues in the upcoming lectures on ‘Research Methodology’ course.
Nevertheless I am going to give you some brief advices for your query to give you a head start, as I reckon ‘the first step is always the hardest and yet the most important’.
- First of all PRACTICALLY assess yourself whether you want to do a ‘Research Thesis’ or a ‘Research Project’. And here I must tell you that most of the rumors about research project are not true. You can still enroll in a PhD program even after pursuing a research project instead of research thesis. The only difference is that according to the rules of DUHS, you will not be able to pursue a PhD program here (in DUHS). And as now you can understand this does not close the doors of PhD on you anywhere else in the country and in the world.
- Secondly, take some time to reflect upon your own interests in research as this would help you a lot down the journey of research degree. But then again as I always say, don't plan to conduct a research that is either too time consuming and too expensive, and most of all the basic purpose of Masters research is to make you familiar with the process of conducting research and not to make you a Nobel Laureate ? . So be practical.
- Below are some of the key components that you need to take care of while selecting a research topic:
- Relevance (to your field whether MPH, MSPH, MDS, MSN or any other discipline)
- Innovation (try to improve upon the current level of knowledge, meaning do not reinvent the wheel. This does not mean you have to find the cure for cancer! you can still conduct and innovative study simply by finding the gaps in the current level of knowledge through literature review)
- Feasibility (make sure that the research your'e planning is feasible in terms of time, accessibility to the study patients/participants and investigations [lab tests for example] required to conduct your study)
- Acceptability (make sure that you don't come up with a research idea that is not acceptable to the community in general and administration in specific)
- Cost-effectiveness (make sure that you select a research topic that fits your budget)
- Ethical consideration (and finally ethical considerations are also very important where you should consider social our social norms)
Detailed discussions will be done in the upcoming RM lectures so don't worry.
Best regards
TRK
Happy to help 🙂 See you guys tomorrow.
