Why Did I Decide To Come Back and Do My Master’s?
Alright, so I’ve had some people recently ask me… Why did you decide to come back and do your masters? Why not find a job and work? Why not go to teacher’s college or something?
Well, the truth is.. my intentions were always to do my masters, just not in human kinetics. My original intentions and aspirations were always a physiotherapist. And this dates all the way back to my days in high school. (After, I realized I wasn’t going to be professional hockey player :))
So I ended up doing my undergraduate degree in human kinetics at the University of Windsor. And for those of you that don’t know much about the field of human kinetics, it deals with a lot of exercise science, physiology, anatomy, sports psychology, and therapy. All of which are great to prepare someone for a field such as physiotherapy. (Note: A Human Kinetics degree isn’t required to apply to physio school).
Now, in the past year, the time came where I had to apply for physio school, as I was nearing the completion of my undergraduate degree. So, I applied to a few schools here in Ontario, McMaster and Toronto (Note: Windsor does not have a physio program), but what I also did was apply for my masters in human kinetics as well. Now, back to my days in high school and even throughout most of my university career, the thought of doing my masters in human kinetics, never crossed my mind. However, a professor writing my reference letter told me to consider applying to Windsor as a back up because of a few important reasons. He told me…
1) It’s a great way to upgrade yourself, and it will open more doors in the future. E.g., Could always apply to physio again in the future but this time have a Masters degree on your belt, or you could do your Ph.D., etc.
2) My grades were good enough that I would qualify for the University of Windsor Graduate Degree Entrance Scholarship funding. This scholarship would cover $7000 of my tuition, which is a MAJOR chunk.
3) Lastly, I could potentially work as a Graduate Assistant part-time and get paid great money as a student.
Ultimately, I didn’t get accepted into physio school (which is a bunch of nonsense and I think the application selection process is stupid, but I’ll save that for a whole other post) and I got accepted at Windsor for my Masters in Human Kinetics. So as right now, I’m pretty excited to begin my Masters in Human Kinetics, and I never expected to be here. It’s funny how things can change so quickly and unexpectedly. Also, as I am writing this post, I have already been awarded the scholarship, and I’m just waiting to see on the graduate assistantship position.
So.. my advice to anyone out there. If you are someone that didn’t get accepted into the program you wanted to go into, DON’T THINK IT’S THE END OF THE WORLD. It isn’t, and there is potentially better opportunities or alternatives out there!
Always stay optimistic 🙂
Remi
