Hello Guys,
Apologies if a similar question has been asked. I am currently in my last year of a Biosciences PhD, but wish to pursue an additional MSc in Computer Science or Statistics. I intend for this new course to overlap with my last year, so as to save time.

My questions are:
1. Is this possible in the UK? Obviously the second course will be with a different University and self-funded
2. Am I likely to lose my PhD funding ?
3. Should I mention this to my supervisors and/or University?

My reason for this is: I would like to bolster my credentials for a career in computing, I have a degree in Bioinformatics. I have recently decided against pursuing career in academia.

Thank you in advance for your responses.

Hi,

Are you a full time or part time PhD student? Do you also work or have other commitments?

Personally I think this is a really bad idea. I'm in the process of doing a PhD and I have done a master's and I think if you were to overlap the two you would run the risk of failing them both, purely based on the amount of work involved in each.

I don't know about the funding issues, I wouldn't imagine you would lose your funding but I'm positive your supervisors would not recommend this. You would also be putting a whole lot of pressure on yourself which could damage your health.

I think there may well be rules again being enrolled on two different courses at two different institutions? You'll need to check you T&Cs carefully.

I'm not sure about the rules of doing them both, different universities will have different rules but you wouldn't get away with keeping it from your supervisors. I would speak to them and see what they say. Also, a master's is a lot of money and effort to just scrape by with a pass.

Hi. I'm planning on doing a second MSc once I get my PhD, but only after I have it. My idea is to do it at the instutition where I get my first job. I count it won't be a lengthy contract, so I'll do then. However, juggling thesis writing and coursework for a second MSc sounds like a terrible idea to me.
Good luck!

Hi,
I was still studying for an undergraduate degree on the first and second year of my PhD (I already had a first degree and a masters, but the second undergraduate programme was in an entirely different field, and it was via distance-learning). I took these programmes at two different universities in the UK, and yes, my supervisor knew about my studies in the other university. He actually liked the fact that I was multitasking, but was never happy when I delayed work! Meanwhile, I was working part-time. So, yes, studying for two degrees and working part-time.

Word of advice: think twice! Working on two degrees at the same time significantly delayed my PhD, and drained my soul... It nearly ruined my personal life too. Oh, did I mention that it also drained my wallet?

You seem pretty determined on starting the Masters before finishing the PhD and you being a father, I understand you want to be in a position for both to be over as quickly as possible so you can start earning money for your family.

I'll start by saying my Masters and PhD were done at very different times. However, during both the Masters and PhD, my time commitments were heavy with a 12 to 16 hour day commitment in both (during the write-up phase at least of the PhD) a regular feature.

Your Masters will overlap with the last six to eight months of your PhD, at a time you completing write-up. This for me is a critical period and as many PhD candidates know, the dreaded red pen of the supervisor will see three, four, even five drafts of your thesis script returned to you for alteration and revision. There's also the hazards of the supervisor back tracking to ask you to revise a section you thought was complete, new literature appearing before submission forcing further changes and other unforseen delays.

In a best case scenario, you can surely see that 12 hours (Masters) plus 12 hours (PhD) wipes out your time. So when exactly do you intend to sleep? You will find very little time to work on your PhD.

I was doing an evening a week lamguage course before and during the early stages of my PhD. As the PhD ramped up, I had to give up that course. Taking on a Masters at the same time is something I would not contemplate.

If you're determined to do this Masters as you seem, I would advise looking at your options on PhD suspension whilst you work on your Masters. The number of posts I've seen on health issues due to the stress of PhD alone on this forum is quite staggering.

Ian