Did you know that the demolishing of the towers - and more importantly that couch - in the first episode of season three of The Wire was what really led to the downfall of the Barksdale gang? Did you know how important it is in Eurovision to be drawn third last? Or that the Dáil is now over 15 years older on average than those elected to it in 1918?
This is just a snippet of some of the areas my MA in Geography in Maynooth University touched on during my year long course. To be perfectly honest I had floated through my undergrad, doing just enough to get by and when the idea of a postgrad popped into my head, I thought 'Why the hell not?' Another year of living the college life. I'd scrape a pass hopefully but most importantly I'd have many more nights out.
However, mere hours into the course I was completely engrossed. This wasn't college as I'd experienced it. The classes were intimate, lecturers who'd seemed a world away when speaking from podiums in large lecture halls were now sitting next to me at a roundtable, listening to our opinion. Indeed I had the freedom to steer the conversation in any direction and in doing so, one began to realise how the theories of human geography and sociology formed the fabric of everything around us. Even when I wasn't in class I couldn't help but analyse everything I encountered in daily life through the prism of Society and Space.
A different experience
Rather than just grinding out another qualification, I was excited to go into college. I suppose looking back on it, I had made a shift from immaturity to maturity in terms of my education. A shift that was driven by the fact that I was in an environment where others felt the same. When you're young and slightly lost in an undergrad course of hundreds there can still be that childish tendency you carry over from school where dossing is the aim and diving head-first into learning is not. The MA was very different. It was an environment where I had the freedom to want to do well and to explore so many avenues for my own research.
It gave me the chance to explore my own interests in an academic setting. My module research essays included the likes of 'Patriotism, Grannies and Plastic Paddies: Concepts of Irishness in the Ireland Football Team', while the hugely knowledgable and entertaining Dr Adrian Kavanagh's mode of examination was an Irish politics version of The Apprentice, where the class divided in two and were pitted against each other every week.
In fact I owe where I am today to the likes of Adrian Kavanagh and his colleagues. Dr Kavanagh was one of the first people to publish anything I'd written, when he would post research extracts of my thesis A Country for Old Men: Youth Participation and Representation in Irish Politics. My entire career has stemmed from the skills and passions I developed in those classes, under the guidance of some the country's leading minds.
Lifelong learning
There's no doubt the course pushed me out of my comfort zone. It was challenging but a year later I was a completely changed person. 12 months previously, I was still lost when it came to my career but my experience during my postgrad gave me clarity. My degree was a stepping stone to help me get me in the door of a job but my postgrad helped me decide what area I wanted those jobs to be in.
A Master's is much more than just a piece of paper you receive at graduation. It is an experience that completely changes your perspective.
Maynooth University will be holding its open evening for prospective postgraduate students on 21 February. For more information, and to browse the courses available, you can visit their website here.
