Things learnt from my Master degree

I'm just going through my academic transcript (4HD, 7D, 1C, 1P - not bad! :) ) and started reminiscing about the whole experience doing my Master of Design at COFA. I just want to share some of the things I observed from my experience...

1. Do a Master degree because you want to! Don't do it because everyone else is doing it or your parents told you to or because you have nothing else to do. I first started a Graduate Certificate in Design because I wanted to learn something new to complement my IT background - and then only after about a year that I decided to do a Master of Design.
   
2. Don't do it right after you do your Bachelors degree. Give yourself some time to experience the professional world. Don't be overqualified, underexperienced! Who knows, you might even change your mind on what kind of higher studies you want to do. I was working as a Flash developer when I first started. If I had gone on to a Master degree right after my Bachelor of Computer Science, I would have done a Master in IT instead - which I would have regretted.
   
3. Make sure you enrol into a uni that gives you flexibility/room to move when you need to juggle things in your life. COFA was pretty good with this. I was able to do 2 courses/semester when life was pretty steady, 3 courses/semester when I had more time, and then down to 1 course/semester when I was busy with other stuff.
   
4. If you can, take at least one online class. An online class requires you to have high discipline to do your work.
   
5. Don't just enrol into any course. Only do the courses you like! I did all the core subjects first which gave me a lot of freedom later on, to do the electives I wanted to do in Graphics Media and Ceramics.
   
6. Make full use of the 'free' few weeks the uni gives you to drop out of a course without penalty. If you are not interested in the first 2 weeks of the course, more than likely you won't develop the interest anytime soon.
   
7. Take your time, savour it! It's more enriching when you take your time with studying. When I was doing my Bachelor degree, I just wanted to finish as quickly as possible so that I can get a job. That shouldn't be the case with a Master degree. 
8. Don't be afraid to be by yourself. I learnt this very quickly being a part time student, taking night classes and completing my studies in 3.5 years (all of my classmates completed their studies before me, so I went through 3 cohorts of students). You're no longer in high school where you need to be with a group of friends to "belong".
   
9. Make time to chat with lecturers or fascinating people on campus. Go to uni events. Network! Try new things!
   
10. Last but not least, remember that doing a Master degree can only help you in your career in the future. So no matter how tough things may get, just imagine being able to type Master of ... in your CV.
    

Here's a picture of a sleeping koala, just because this post is quite wordy.

Sleeping Koala - Koala Park Sanctuary 2013