My part-time studies: What I learned on top of the stuff I actually learned

A few days ago, I finally threw that silly hat into the air, and I’m telling you: I couldn’t be happier. I actually managed to finish my part time studies and countless night time classes to now be a Master of Science in Business Psychology. #whoop!

I’m so delighted about it, because this has come a long way. This moment actually came about nine years, after I first contemplated going back to uni, three years after finally making a decision, quitting my job in London to move back to Germany (studies here are way more affordable) and eight month after handing in my master thesis, which was the final part of those studies. So, yes it took me a while. But I learned a lot along the way – and what I learned is not only about business psychology, but also about life in general and part time studies in particular. 

Here are my three big take-aways:  

1. The power of being part of a pack

When I enrolled at FOM, I chose traditional classroom training over correspondence courses. This meant I had to be present, listen and take notes every second Friday evening, every second Monday evening and every second Saturday all day. Be present, listen, take notes… even on the sunniest days when all my friends chose to go for a swim. Excluding yourself from social life really isn’t easy and to my mind, it is only possible, if there are classmates with you, suffering in the same stuffy class rooms with you. Studying part-time takes a lot of work and I believe I could have never done it, if I would have done it on my own. The idea that I would come back home, just to find two kilograms of script on my door step, just doesn’t work for me. 

So, if you ask me “correspondence courses versus classroom training” I would definitely advise you to go for the latter. It will not only help you to get through all of this, but you will also make lots of new contacts and friends along the way. 

2. It’s a killer in two ways

I guess it’s no secret that part-time studies next to a full-time job quite literally are a killer. My classmates and I were joking that at least when studying business psychology, you are learning about the symptoms of a burnout, so you can straight away diagnose yourself. It really is a ton of work. 

But part-time studies are a killer in a very positive sense as well. If you choose a subject of your interest and if you are even able to transfer some of the stuff you learn in real time to your job, part-time studies are probably the most rewarding way of spending your time. In my case I had finished my Bachelors in 2008, after which I went straight into work, before starting my Masters not before 2016. So, there was a huge gap, which allowed me to gain work experience and really figure out what my interests are. 

If you ask me, if I learned more during my Bachelors or my Masters, I would definitely go for the latter. And I am convinced that this is because of my work experience and because of the fact that I was able to transfer my learnings on the go.  

3) It takes a village...

For the last couple of days, I have been thinking about all the people who, in one way or the other, helped me to get through those studies and achieve my goals. I’ve been thinking about this a lot and I’m basically still counting. 

There were for example a whole bunch of very smart people at MSLGROUP who really inspired me with their passion for employee communications, change management and behavioral science - Jason Frank, Louisa Morton, James Elver, to name just a few. You guys really grew my passion for the subject. Thanks for that!

At Edelman I then found further support to work more flexibly and really get the ball rolling – thanks for that Susanne Marell.

And of course, there were a number of smart subject matter experts who were kind enough to share their wisdom with me, supporting me to get my master thesis right – thanks a lot Louisa Morton, Patrizia Seifert, James Elver, Charlotte Matthews, Henning Meier, Kristina Förtsch, Dirk Bischof, Janina Merkle, Nigel Miller, Rodolphe Guerin, Silke Heiss, Teresa Collis.

And last but not least, there were all those lovely people who went through this together with me. I’m really grateful, I met Kristina Förtsch, Julia Dietlinger, Nicole Hildebrandt, Judith Schöner, Nadine Maxant, Karolina Przynoga, … and many more, who allowed me to be a part of the pack. Thanks guys!

I’m incredibly happy for what I have learned in the last three years – about business psychology and about life. I’ve learned that I can be stronger than I would have thought, that you can get what you want and – most importantly – that learning is a lot of fun. Let’s see what comes next.