Confession Of A Post Grad Student

The most common question I get besides "when are you getting married?" is 

"when are you going to complete your study?"

When i answered "I'm not sure. It depends on a lot of things."

"Lamanya ko study. Tidak penat ka belajar. Saya pula yang penat tengok ko ni study tidak pandai abis2."

Aik. Biarlah saya lama study, bukan saya pakai duit ko/susahkan ko pun kan. Yang penat pun saya, bukan yang menanya tu. Eh emo pulak.

The truth is completion of a postgraduate study depends on a lot of factors. It's not like degree where you attend classes, took exams, passed then you are guaranteed to complete your studies in that stipulated time. There are two types of Masters. One is Masters by coursework where it's like an extension of degree, attend classes, assignments, project paper and voila, graduate in 2 years time. 

Another one is Masters by thesis, which I'm doing now. We only attend classes in first and second semester and the rest is spent completing our research and thesis. When do we complete? It depends on our research, our thesis, our supervisors etc. Even after submitting thesis, we have to wait a few months (some up to 6 months) before we are called for viva presentation of thesis,  where we will be (cross)-examined and they decided if we passed. 

Even among masters by thesis students, it is unfair to compare us. 

"Sama kamu buat research, kenapa dia cepat habis?"

Again, this depends on a few things. Some students are very lucky that they have everything ready for them. The study proposal, the data. They only need to analyse and write up. Some like me, have to start from zero. I had to learn how to write a proposal, thesis (we did not have to write a thesis for MBBS) and scientific journal the proper way, I had to construct my study tools and instruments, spent 6 months collecting data on my own, and almost 2 years writing my thesis. With a little guidance from a senior, I learnt how to conduct advanced analysis using SPSS, interpreting and presented my findings. 

Don't get me started on writing thesis. I don't know how many drafts have I done. Kalau disusun semua kertas-kertas yang saya print untuk draft tu, mungkin boleh sampai ke Singapore. Correction demi correction. Data pula kena reanalyse beberapa kali. There are many times that I got frustrated and demotivated because everything I do is not enough. There is always something that my perfectionist and details oriented supervisor wanted to me to redo. Am i fortunate or unfortunate that my supervisor is also the timbalan dekan of my faculty and very famous among the students for being very strict. 



But at the end of the day, I'm proud of myself, my work (regardless of how many years it took me to complete my masters) because I've learned a lot and I did everything myself. I can proudly say that this is my blood, sweat and tears. Biar lambat , yang penting quality.  

So stop asking me when am I going to complete my study.