From master’s degrees to gap years, here’s how UCD students navigate what’s next.
Facing post-graduate life as an English and French student, I’m struck by the anxiety that so many young people in my position feel—what will I do with the rest of my life? While interviewing friends for this article, what everyone seemed to have in common was an overwhelming feeling of uncertainty. Caolín, graduating with an English degree, sums it up well: “No, I don’t know what I’m doing. Yes, I want to do a master’s. Do I want to stay in Ireland? Yes, but do I want to leave? Also, yes.”
Masters
Studying French and European History, Erinn has always dreamed of doing a master’s. However, like many students in Ireland, she has been priced out of her home country:
“A big thing that’s influenced my decision is master’s prices in Ireland. For example, at Trinity College, the master’s I was looking at was €11,000. In UCD, it was about €14,000, so that is just not feasible. I was looking abroad then, in mainland Europe. France—it’s free. However, the colleges that caught my eye were the University of Amsterdam and Utrecht. And those master’s are only €2,600, which means that I can pay for it myself—because my parents can’t finance both paying for a master’s and paying for rent abroad.”
Rising postgraduate tuition fees, the high cost of living, and exorbitant rent prices are driving young people out of Ireland. But what about those left behind? Alannah, an English and Film student, has no desire to leave her homeland:
“I feel really guilty all the time because when I graduate, I don’t automatically want to move away from Ireland. Every time I turn on RTÉ news or open up TikTok or Instagram, it’s always young people saying how they’re going to move abroad once they graduate, and everyone I’m speaking to seems to be doing that. I just feel really guilty because I don’t want to move away from Ireland. I’m actually really happy with my life.”
A report by the National Youth Council of Ireland (NYCI) has shown that 19% of Irish young people say they have considered emigrating or are planning to do so. Many of us feel we’re not valued in Irish society, and that our interests might be better met elsewhere—and with every general election that passes, change seems further and further away.
To find her master’s, Erinn used a website called mastersportal.com:
“I would recommend it to any students trying to look for a master’s. Basically, you can edit where you want the master’s to be—like Europe—or you can filter it more specifically, by country or continent. Then you can edit the price range. My budget, if I’m paying for the master’s myself, is like €2,000–3,000, because I couldn’t really do more than that. You can also filter by the year. I only really want to do a one-year master’s—I don’t want to do a two-year programme after being in college for four years—so that was really helpful. You can also make an account and favourite the master’s, and through that system, compare different programmes on the website.”
Gap Year
An option that can alleviate some of this stress is the “gap year”—a common path for students facing academic burnout after a hectic three or four years. Emily, soon to graduate with a degree in Italian and French, is looking forward to taking time off to think about her future:
“After college I want to take a year out because college was tough, and I want to work for a bit and earn a bit of money before I enjoy my year out. During the gap year, I’ll have time to think about what I want to do. I feel like a year out helps many people decide what they want to do in the near future, and it’s great for planning how you want to spend the next couple of years and beyond.”
It seems to be a common denominator among Arts and Humanities students—myself included—that the road ahead is so broad it can be hard to know which path to go down. Time to think and gain life experience is essential in making that decision.
Changing Lanes
According to a survey by the Higher Education Authority (HEA), employment after graduation is lowest for Arts and Humanities graduates, at just 66.3%. This is a concerning statistic, and it has prompted Meaveen, another soon-to-be languages graduate, to consider a job unrelated to her degree:
“At the moment, I am leaning towards a job completely outside of my field and degree… I would ideally like to work with horses and get my exams out of the way for that, so that I could become a coach and work on a yard for a while. That way I would also be able to finance a master’s or, if I wanted to, move away… At the moment, I feel like, other than teaching, there’s not a lot related to my degree that I’d be interested in or could do.”
The downside of choosing a degree at the ripe age of 17 is that many people realise four years later that their degree no longer aligns with their dreams.
I can see the benefits of all these options. I would like to get a master’s in publishing or journalism someday. Sometimes, I want to take a gap year and travel the world—and then I think about the security of a full-time job. It’s hard not to feel conflicted, as though every choice you make is the death of another option. I’m grateful for what college has done for me, and I will truly miss it. But more than anything, I’m excited to see what I—and everyone featured in this article—will do next.
Sally Matthews – Contributor
