About doing a Master Degree

Doing a Master of Science is almost not an option for a bioengineer, as I explained here, and even if not necessary from the beginning, everybody will need to do one at some point in their careers (maybe more than one).

I already said what I think about which kind of master you should do in the previous article, so in this one, I am going to focus on what is it like and what are the most important aspects of doing your master.

. First, or at least that is my experience, is that masters are not difficult. Of course, you need to have acquired a good level through previous studies that lead you to your master's, and that allows you to get the skills and knowledge to understand what you are now learning and to achieve new challenges.

But the amount of work and the intensity of the tasks you are asked for are lower than during the degree.

Those are good news, as they allow people to, for example, work at the same time. However, it doesn't mean you don't have to focus on your master, and if you decide to keep working during that period, brace yourself because that is never easy.

Not all the masters will give you that possibility. There are masters where you could choose the timetable, but others have rigid ones with compulsory attendance, so be careful about that!

Also, even if, as a general rule, we can say that masters are not that hard, it depends on the master. Some of them are longers than others, and a few demand high performance and hard-working. Generally, those ask for a high GPA to enter them, so you will recognize them.

What is  a GPA?

The Grade Point Average is a number that indicates how well or how high you scored in your courses on average. It's meant to score you (usually on a GPA scale between 1.0 and 4.0) during your studies and shows whether your overall grades have been high or low. This number is then used to assess whether you meet the standards and expectations set by the degree program or university.  

The other aspect I wanted to highlight about doing a master, is that, in my opinion, masters are far more interesting than a career.

Why?

For two reasons:

• First is, that in a master you go further in the skills achievement and you explore the specializations of biomedicine (generally or specifically) at a level you didn't during the career.
• Secondly, because the tasks you are asked to fulfill for the subject are less generic and theoretical and you begin to have a real modelization of what might be your work as a biomedical engineer later. Subjects are generally thought of to improve your knowledge but also to develop working skills. There are a lot of works that could be asked of you in real situations. You can see it like this: during the career, you learn the basics, during the master you become an engineer, and during the Ph.D., you do the ultimate specialization on a specific topic.

Therefore, the master's is not only needed but far more interesting than the career, and will help you to see what you like and what you don't like about bioengineering (even if, at work, you'll still have a lot to discover, try and learn).