A new, exciting chapter awaits, where you work towards the end of your education. You might be attending a master’s programme where you will experience a clear difference between your bachelor's programme and your master’s programme — for example, you might have to do an internship where you get to use your academic competences in the "real world" outside of the university. It may also be that you gradually get to experience the differences between being a bachelor’s degree student and a master’s degree student, simply because of the fact that the academic level increases and intensifies. Or perhaps you will find that most things are pretty much the way you are used to from your bachelor's degree.

To prepare yourself for what awaits you during your master's degree education, you can find your study plan and orient yourself there. However, the curriculum will not tell you everything, and regardless of how you experience the transition, it can be very nice to have some advice that you can turn to when you most need it. Therefore, we have collected three pieces of advice for you:

1. It's okay to be unsure about what you want to do after your master's degree

Although it can be very nice and a good idea to have some thoughts and ideas about what you will work with after your studies, it is both perfectly okay and natural if you do not yet know what specific jobs you want to apply for. You are still a student, and there will be plenty of time for you to think about work life and the job market once you have finished your master’s degree — so allow yourself to focus on your studies.

2. Remember to prioritise yourself, your social life and the things you care about

Although much of your time is probably spent with your nose in the books, we strongly encourage you to reflect upon how you prioritise your time, so that you can have a clear conscience when you spend time with your friends, play video games, or watch your favourite series. Oftentimes, it will be social activities and your hobbies that give you renewed energy. Therefore, it is important that you find time to do what makes you happy on a daily basis. If you need help prioritising and managing your time, you can find tools under Feel Good in the AAU Student app, which can help you with just that.

3. A relevant study job can be a great idea, but...

It is also perfectly fine if you have not managed to find one — they are often in short supply. It can also easily make sense to have a job that is not relevant to your studies; it can give you a different experience, help you financially, or give you a break from your studies in your everyday life. Remember, if you prefer not to work while studying, you are not obliged to do so.

However, if you are lucky enough to find or have a study-relevant job, it can open up the opportunity to try out your academic skills in the real world, which can be highly advantageous if, for instance, an internship is not part of your master’s programme.

If you are curious about where to look for study relevant jobs, we strongly encourage you to look at AAU Jobbank; a career portal with, among other things, internships and student jobs.

Welcome to AAU!

A new and exciting chapter awaits, now that you are going to build upon your bachelor’s degree. Although you probably have a great idea of what it is like to be a student, you may experience that some things works differently at AAU compared to what you are used to. This could be, for instance, the study culture, the way of working and, of course, your new fellow students. To help you well on your way to your new role as a master's student at AAU, we have gathered four tips for you:

1. Get familiar with your new setting

Explore the physical surroundings of your new study programme — where is the library, where does the secretary sit, where do you take the bus?

But we also encourage you to explore the more formal settings. In particular, you should familiarize yourself with the curriculum related to your master’s degree. Your curriculum contains important information regarding, for instance, course descriptions, exam forms, the skills you are expected to acquire through the courses you take, etc.

If you are in doubt about something — big or small, there are a lot of us who are more than happy to help. You can get help from your student counsellor, which is a student employed to offer study related counselling.

You can also get help from the general student guidance at AAU.  

2. Remember to prioritize yourself, your social life and the things you care about

Although much of your time is probably spent with your nose in the books, we strongly encourage you to reflect upon how you prioritise your time, so that you can have a clear conscience when you spend time with your friends, play video games, or watch your favourite series. Oftentimes, it will be social activities and your hobbies that give you renewed energy. Therefore, it is important that you find time to do what makes you happy on a daily basis. If you need help prioritising and managing your time, you can find tools under Feel Good in the AAU Student app, which can help you with just that.

As a new student at AAU, we encourage you to get to know some of your new fellow students. It can be through social events arranged by your study programme, group work or maybe you find yourself in a conversation with someone at a lecture. It may be comforting and nice to have a fellow student to talk to if something is difficult or confusing within your study programme. Maybe you share the same frustrations or maybe you can help each other out. Therefore, we strongly encourage you to get to know some of your fellow students.

3. Allow yourself to be new

As a new student at a new university, it may seem as if everyone else has their student life completely under control. While that might be the case for some students, the vast majority experiences doubts and uncertainties during their studies — both academically and socially. Therefore, it may be relieving to know that you are not alone. You will likely reach this conclusion yourself by talking to your fellow students about their doubts and uncertainties.

Remember to allow yourself to be new. With time you will find that you become more and more confident with being a master’s student, as you get the hang of university life — but be patient with yourself.

4. It's okay to be unsure about what you want to do after your master's degree

Although it can be very nice and a good idea to have some thoughts and ideas about what you will work with after your studies, it is both perfectly okay and natural if you do not yet know what specific jobs you want to apply for. You are still a student, and there will be plenty of time for you to think about work life and the job market once you have finished your master’s degree — so allow yourself to focus on your studies.

However, if you want to get career guidance, we encourage you to call or book an appointment with our career counsellors.

Welcome to AAU! A new chapter awaits, where you can build upon the work experience you have gathered. You know what it is like to be out on the job market, so you already have an idea of what to expect when you have completed your degree and stand with your master’s diploma in your hands.

As a new student at AAU, there may be some new things to learn and get used to. This could be, for instance, the study culture, the way of working and of course your fellow students.

To help you well on your way to your new role as a master's student, we have three pieces of advice that may be nice to keep in mind:

1. Get familiar with your new setting

Explore the physical surroundings of your new study programme — where is the library, where does the secretary sit, where do you take the bus?

But we also encourage you to explore the more formal settings. In particular, you should familiarize yourself with the curriculum related to your master’s degree. Your curriculum contains important information regarding, for instance, course descriptions, exam forms, the skills you are expected to acquire through the courses you take, etc.

If you are in doubt about something — big or small, there are a lot of us who are more than happy to help. You can get help from your student counsellor, which is a student employed to offer study related counselling.

You can also get help from the general student guidance at AAU.  

2. Remember to prioritize yourself, your social life and the things you care about

Although much of your time is probably spent with your nose in the books, we strongly encourage you to reflect upon how you prioritise your time, so that you can have a clear conscience when you spend time with your friends, play video games, or watch your favourite series. Oftentimes, it will be social activities and your hobbies that give you renewed energy. Therefore, it is important that you find time to do what makes you happy on a daily basis. If you need help prioritising and managing your time, you can find tools under Feel Good in the AAU Student app, which can help you with just that.

3. Allow yourself to be new

As a new student at a new university, it may seem as if everyone else has their student life completely under control. While that might be the case for some students, the vast majority experiences doubts and uncertainties during their studies — both academically and socially. Therefore, it may be relieving to know that you are not alone. You will likely reach this conclusion yourself by talking to your fellow students about their doubts and uncertainties.

Remember to allow yourself to be new. With time you will find that you become more and more confident with being a master’s student, as you get the hang of university life — but be patient with yourself.

The first difference I noticed was that there was not a whole team of nice and skilled tutors helping to make sure everyone got off to a good start. No Facebook group was created in advance, and no party nor Friday bar or other fun events were arranged. Thus, it may be a good idea to decide with yourself whether you are ready or not to take on a festive entrepreneurial role, and get started on arranging some fun activities that can bring you and your fellow students together.

On my master's programme, we were two large groups of students from the same bachelor's degree, and a group of students from very different bachelor programmes. Because of our different backgrounds, it was really rewarding that we, during the beginning of the study start, went to a bar together and threw a party, so that everyone got a chance to get to know each other. I also found that all my fellow students were very open and eager to get to know each other, since we were a very mixed bunch of people, which was super cool. So, if you're thinking you would like to take on the party planner responsibility, I'm sure your fellow students will be rooting for you!

In the first semester of my master’s programme, we had a subject every Friday, where we would learn how to develop our skills within various digital tools. As a result of the fact that we came from very different educational backgrounds, some students had great knowledge and expertise in, for instance, Adobe programs, including photo and video editing, while other students possessed skills in coding and web design. Because of that, it was really cool to experience how my fellow students were willing to learn from each other, and we had some really fun Fridays where we geeked out with media and helped each other develop our skills.

So my advice would be that you should both be ready to pass on knowledge and help your fellow students, but also be ready to keep an eye on which skills your future fellow students possess — maybe they will help you develop your skills. It was, seen with my eyes, a huge advantage, and our sharing of knowledge and skills also helped us get closer to each other and get to know each other better.

The last significant difference I felt when I started my master’s programme was the way in which my lecturers also became my sparring partners to a great extent. At my bachelor's in Communication and Digital Media, we were approximately 90 students when we started. Therefore, the lecturers did not have an earthly chance of getting to know all of us. Sometimes you could feel a little distanced from the lecturers, and you only really got to talk to them if you had them assigned as supervisor. On my master’s programme, however, this was completely different. Here, we started out approximately 25 students, and the lecturers really made an effort in getting to know our names. At this point, I felt like we got a more personal relationship with our lecturers and that they could more easily be at eye level with us.

Several times I stood with a few other students after a lecture and discussed different academic views on the world situation or an upcoming exam, and other times it was just to hear what the lecturer thought about the new documentary that had come out on Netflix. And it was normal for us to drop by their offices to borrow a book, or just pop in to ask a question or two. So, my advice would be that you set your mind to use your lecturers as sparring partners; if they resemble my lecturers in the slightest, they will really appreciate your curiosity and interest in the field of research and will certainly be ready to help you.

I hope that my considerations above have given you a little more insight into what you can expect from your future master's programme. All programmes are different, but regardless, I am sure that you will have two exciting years ahead of you, where you will have the opportunity to sharpen your academic skills even more and make some new acquaintances along the way. Good luck!