My experience as an MPhil student by Andiswa Kona

Date: June 30, 2023 |

When I applied to study for the MPhil in 2020, I knew that it was something I wanted to do because I took a year to think about it. I had to think hard about it because getting through my BA Honours in Social Policy (Community Development and Leadership) degree was hard enough. I wanted to make sure that I could do the course wholeheartedly, so I took the time to think about the commitment that I was about to make. I decided to do it, even though I was scared and I doubted my capacity to go into advanced research. All I needed was motivation. I applied even though I knew that I competing with other talented applicants in the field. I remember the day I got my acceptance letter, it truly felt surreal that I got accepted. This meant that I had something to look forward to for the year 2021 and I was certainly excited. We had orientation in the beginning of the year, and I was excited to attend the session. That day was the beginning of my frequent engagements with helpful lecturers and intelligent classmates. It felt good to have a team of people at the CSDA that were always willing to help and explain concepts that I did not understand. As for my classmates, their research topics fascinated me, and I learnt so much from the different experiences that they had as researchers and up and coming experts in their fields of interest. Every day of my master’s was a chance to learn and unlearn so that I could become a better researcher. The biggest task I had was completing my minor dissertation that was on the experiences of young black women who use the M4JAM platform to participate in the gig economy. It was refreshing to have two supervisors (Professor Lauren Graham and Ms Khuliso Matidza) who gave me insightful advice to improve on my writing and research skills.