First Class Experience: A Master’s Student Among PhDs
Today marked the beginning of my Master’s journey, and as expected, the first class was mostly an introduction, except that it felt a little… different.
For starters, the class was held online, which isn’t new to me. We’ve all adapted to virtual meetings, online discussions, and even interviews since COVID-19 made it the new norm. But somehow, attending a Master’s class online felt strangely foreign. Maybe it was the engagement style, maybe it was the unfamiliar faces, or maybe it was the fact that we were mixed with PhD students, including, to my surprise, a sitting Member of Parliament who’s currently pursuing his PhD.
At first, there were only four of us (Master’s students) in the Google Meet, and the professor refused to start until everyone was present. Since this was our first class, we didn’t know each other yet. So, what did the professor do? He assigned us numbers and told us to call everyone. Imagine the first 10 minutes of class spent dialing strangers, saving numbers, and inviting them to the WhatsApp group. That was the first icebreaker, I suppose.
Eventually, we gathered the full group and learned that there were only seven of us doing Master’s, while the rest were PhD students. Even the YB (yes, the MP) attended, actively engaged, and asked thoughtful questions.
The course? Research Methodology. Turns out, at UKM, this subject is compulsory for PhD students, even if they’ve already done it at the Master’s level elsewhere. That means our professor had to explain everything from two perspectives, one for Master’s students and another for PhD candidates, with different expectations and levels of complexity. He even reminded them that their evaluation criteria would be tougher than ours. At that moment, I suddenly felt like a Standard 1 student sitting in a class with Standard 6 seniors. Heh.
After Raya, we’ll be switching to physical classes, and I’m looking forward to finally meeting my classmates in person. Different backgrounds, different experiences, one shared academic journey. Should be interesting.
