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Doing a masters while working in Spain

jan-herlyn.com

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Re: Doing a masters while working in Spain

#21

Post by oersted »

cjd8 wrote: post #14

Great job! A few months ago I was kicked out of university for failing my Real Analysis course a second time (4 years of CS suddenly gone, thesis was half done) and had to get a full time job. Now I got accepted to a different public university to study on a weekend basis. This article makes me less anxious about my upcoming studies.

That sounds incredibly harsh. What kind of university was it? Is there more to the story?

Kicking someone out and effectively voiding all progress just for failing one challenging final year class twice is completely mad.

Was it rather that you lost a scholarship and couldn’t afford to finish or something like that?

Sorry to dwell, I’m sure it must be painful, I wish you the best luck.

Re: Doing a masters while working in Spain

#22

Post by igleria »

First and foremost, congrats!

In Argentina doing a bachelor + master while working is called a Monday. It's partially unfortunate since it "delays" the finish date of the degree and even makes a lot of people drop out because they found a cushy enough job.

But coming out with a degree along with years of professional experience makes up for the "delay" in getting the degree at least tenfold.

Re: Doing a masters while working in Spain

#23

Post by alpineman »

jmspring wrote: post #3

We will be hopping over to Italy/France/or Croatia in the next year or so. Work will not be the motivator, but we both have options. In the states during late covid, I thought the downtime would be good to do a second masters in something unrelated to working in software. I chose a remote program with a univeristy here in the states, I did the first year, but it reminded me that studying - especially a program unrela…

You are welcome in Europe, we need all the talent we can get :)

Re: Doing a masters while working in Spain

#25

Post by cjd8 »

oersted wrote: post #21
cjd8 wrote: post #14

Great job! A few months ago I was kicked out of university for failing my Real Analysis course a second time (4 years of CS suddenly gone, thesis was half done) and had to get a full time job. Now I got accepted to a different public university to study on a weekend basis. This article makes me less anxious about my upcoming studies.

That sounds incredibly harsh. What kind of university was it? Is there more to the story? Kicking someone out and effectively voiding all progress just for failing one challenging final year class twice is completely mad. Was it rather that you lost a scholarship and couldn’t afford to finish or something like that? Sorry to dwell, I’m sure it must be painful, I wish you the best luck.

Essentially all Czech universities have a rule where you can only twice enroll in the same course - failing to do so will lead to termination. Nevertheless I still have my credits so I'll try to get them accepted at the new university.

It was mostly painful to see people I had courses with graduate just this month, however I do have a good software engineering job so all is well?

Re: Doing a masters while working in Spain

#26

Post by StefanBatory »

cjd8 wrote: post #25
oersted wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That sounds incredibly harsh. What kind of university was it? Is there more to the story? Kicking someone out and effectively voiding all progress just for failing one challenging final year class twice is completely mad. Was it rather that you lost a scholarship and couldn’t afford to finish or something like that? Sorry to dwell, I’m sure it must be painful, I wish you the best luck.

Essentially all Czech universities have a rule where you can only twice enroll in the same course - failing to do so will lead to termination. Nevertheless I still have my credits so I'll try to get them accepted at the new university. It was mostly painful to see people I had courses with graduate just this month, however I do have a good software engineering job so all is well?

is there no way to appeal? It works the same in Polish uni I'm in, but uhh, there I was allowed to appeal and they stamped it by default

And I'm very sorry to hear that either way :(

Re: Doing a masters while working in Spain

#27

Post by retired »

jmspring wrote: post #3

We will be hopping over to Italy/France/or Croatia in the next year or so. Work will not be the motivator, but we both have options. In the states during late covid, I thought the downtime would be good to do a second masters in something unrelated to working in software. I chose a remote program with a univeristy here in the states, I did the first year, but it reminded me that studying - especially a program unrela…

I studied in The Netherlands about ten years ago and it was very cheap. Around €10k a year total for tuition, room and board. Most of my peers graduated with only €30k in debt as they worked evenings and weekends during their education. Meanwhile I read online about Americans going in debt for $200k

Re: Doing a masters while working in Spain

#28

Post by cjd8 »

StefanBatory wrote: post #26
cjd8 wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Essentially all Czech universities have a rule where you can only twice enroll in the same course - failing to do so will lead to termination. Nevertheless I still have my credits so I'll try to get them accepted at the new university. It was mostly painful to see people I had courses with graduate just this month, however I do have a good software engineering job so all is well?

is there no way to appeal? It works the same in Polish uni I'm in, but uhh, there I was allowed to appeal and they stamped it by default And I'm very sorry to hear that either way :(

There is, however I didn't really have a valid reason for an appeal so I just went ahead with it and started applying for jobs.

Re: Doing a masters while working in Spain

#29

Post by mishellaneous »

jmspring wrote: post #3

We will be hopping over to Italy/France/or Croatia in the next year or so. Work will not be the motivator, but we both have options. In the states during late covid, I thought the downtime would be good to do a second masters in something unrelated to working in software. I chose a remote program with a univeristy here in the states, I did the first year, but it reminded me that studying - especially a program unrela…

so you go to university just for the joy of learning?

to be clear, i think that's cool, and i might try it at some point.

but how do you deal with the fact that university, in practice, is not "for the joy of learning"?

for most people there, students and professors, it's more like "just a job". and this does have an effect. colleagues that only want to pass the test and are watching out for their careers (or even worse, don't even care about anything and are there because of societal expectations) do not make good learning companions. professors who are very dispassionate about the subject don't want you taking up their time with fancy questions and administer dumb tests such that studying for the test is useless beyond passing the course.

(to be clear i'm not criticizing these people directly. obviously, i understand that bills have to be paid -- after all, i took some fun electives, not a degree in fun)

personally, during my time in university i did try a lot of elective courses "for the joy". it forced me a schedule, which was good, because it's something i struggled with self-studying. a few times, professors offered some real gems of knowledge which i wouldn't have found otherwise. and obviously, in practical classes, i got to play stuff i otherwise wouldn't. but the battle against the bullshit took up most of my time and energy.

Re: Doing a masters while working in Spain

#30

Post by m12k »

cjd8 wrote: post #28
StefanBatory wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

is there no way to appeal? It works the same in Polish uni I'm in, but uhh, there I was allowed to appeal and they stamped it by default And I'm very sorry to hear that either way :(

There is, however I didn't really have a valid reason for an appeal so I just went ahead with it and started applying for jobs.

I don't know about the rest of Europe, but in Denmark, universities get a part of their funding based on the number of graduates. So the university has an incentive to help student actually graduate instead of kicking them out. That may or may not matter to the bureaucrat responding to an appeal - but I'd certainly not just assume that "I'm close to graduation, just let me do this one more exam attempt" isn't a good enough reason for them to let you try.
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