My master degree at University of Liverpool 2002

Updated: Sep 21, 2023

My master degree research started in January 2001 as soon as I finished with my Bachelor’s degree in Engineering as I was just waiting for my graduation ceremony. My master’s research started as the same time as my job search. I arrived in Liverpool in September 2002 to start my Master in Science (MSc) and graduated in December 2003.

In April 2001, the outcome of my research suggested that the best option for me was to pursue a master in Europe because I had never travelled to that part of the world. Therefore, I decided that in Europe my best option was United Kingdom and this is how my research focus on the British Consulate.

In June, I found out that the best way to study in England was by achieving a full scholarship (fees and accommodation). Therefore, on 11th June I had my first meeting with CONACYT (National Council of Science and Technology for its Spanish abbreviation). The meeting allowed me to obtain the list of the universities with whom they have relationships in order for me to pick the best three options with great electronics engineering course.

On 9th September, the scholarship applications were opened and by 11th I had submitted my application. The only thing missing was the additional documents which consisted of: the language exams (preferable IELTS but TOEFL was allowed), the English translations of all my certifications (junior high school, high school, and bachelor’s degree), two letters of recommendation, and the CENEVAL exam (which measures the potential to achieve postgraduate studies). I applied for all the exams, however, the date for the IELTS was booked for November and I needed to submit my language results in September so I took the TOEFL exam last minute.

On 28th September, I had the results of the TOEFL and I was able to submit all the items required to complete my application. The TOEFL exam (Test of English as a Foreign Language) is commonly used to pursue studies in United States of America, however, the IELTS (International English Language Test) is the one that is required in England, therefore, I had to do both exams because the English university required the IELTS.

During October, I focused my time filling up the applications of the three universities that I was applying which were: University of Liverpool, University of Sheffield and UMIST (University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology). Once I finished the applications, I decided to send them via fax and then by post as I did not know which was the best form to send them. By the end of the month, I had sent all my applications.

On 24th December, the results of the first stage of the CONACYT’s application were published and I was on the list with the date and time of the next stage which was my interview. By this time, I had already undertaken my CENEVAL exam and I had the results ready to submit.

On 9th February 2002, the interviews were already undergoing when I arrived to my interview. After 20 minutes wait as I was very early, I was ready for my interview. The interview was with three persons and they asked a series of questions which I had very well prepared.

On 19th April, the list with the results of the interview was published and my name was on the list. This was a pre-approved list and the only thing missing was to finish all the paperwork like submitting the acceptance letters from the English universities and to pick my preferred university which was Liverpool University, and with this I finished all the paperwork required for the scholarship.

During May, I started with my travel arrangements to Liverpool. I bought a one-way plane ticket to Manchester via London, as I did not know when I would be back. I also bought a brand-new computer with a DVD/CD player, so I decided to digitalise all my music as I had many luggage restrictions. I also booked my student accommodation, as I wanted to experience the entire student life. My last arrangement was to get various discount cards like the ISIC student card for general discounts and the international hostelling card for hostels discounts in the world, and a tourist book with map of the city of Liverpool.

On 7th June, the final list was published with the outcome of the scholarship and my name was on the list. I wrote my resignation letter with one-month notice and last day 31st August, in parallel I continued with my travel arrangements.

On 24th July, I had a meeting with CONACYT in order to collect all the documents needed for immigration (because in 2002 there was no need for a student visa), for university enrolment, and anything else needed in order to carry out my studies in England without any hiccups.

On 21st August, the British Consulate had a welcome party for all the students that gained a CONACYT scholarship. I only attended for a short time as I had a party with my friend and I really did not want to miss it, so I left earlier.

On 31st August, my parents and best friend organised me a surprised farewell party which was amazing. At the party most of my family and some of my friends were there and I had the opportunity to say my farewell where they all wish me the best of luck.

On 13th September on the eve of starting this new adventure and after a very intense preparation process, so I thought, I was ready to start my first solo trip abroad as I had everything ready for my trip regarding my paperwork, my luggage, and even a sleeping bag.

On 14th September, my adventure started. I arrived to the airport where I checked-in my luggage and I had a carry-on luggage and a computer bag which has all my travel and arrival paper. After saying goodbye to my parents, I went straight to my London flight without any misshapen.

On arrival to London, I changed flights as I had a connection flight to Manchester. In order to change flights, you need to pass immigration and during this change I had to take off my jacket and then passed through the metal detectors. In the rush to arrive to the other flight, I almost left my jacket as after passing the immigration zone, I realised that I was missing my jacket and had to return for it and luckily, I found it.

During my Manchester flight, it found out that there were other students coming from Mexico and I was able to chat with them during my flight. On arrival to Manchester, I remembered that I had forgotten to book a shuttle service from the airport to Liverpool and without plans, I decided to tag along with my new travel companions and we went to the train station. At the train station, we bought our tickets to our cities and we said goodbye as we were going to different places.

After arriving to Liverpool, it turned out that I neglected to book accommodation for the first two nights because my student accommodation started on Monday and it was just Saturday. Therefore, I arrived to Liverpool without any hotel booking, so I took a taxi and I told him that I was searching form a hotel. He told me that city centre hotels were full because of the football game, so he took me all around Liverpool in order to search for a hotel.

After what I thought was a very long time, I was able to find a vacancy in hotel around 9 pm. After more than 24 hours of travelling between flights, train and taxi, I ordered room service and repacked my luggage, because I did not know where I was going to stay the next day but I decided to worry about this the next day.

After a very recovery night and an amazing breakfast, I decided to search for a place to stay near the city centre. I took a taxi to city centre because I did not know where were the hotels. However, I decided that before searching and walking a lot to store my luggage in the student accommodation and then search for a hotel for the night.

At the student accommodation, I explained my situation about not having booked accommodation for the night and luckily my room was available. We were able for payment for this extra night and I was able to settle in my student accommodation a day earlier. After paying the extra night, I got my keys and they showed me where was the laundry room and my building, and this is how my adventure started.

My room was located in the fourth floor (top floor) without lifts, therefore I had to carry my luggage alone which was a very funny situation but it is what it is. My room was in a shared flat with three other rooms with a shared kitchen and bathroom.

On arrival to my room, I opened the door and found inside a single bed without lining (blankets, duvet), a small wardrobe, a sink, a desk, a chair, a telephone, and a bookshelf. After leaving my luggage in my room, I decided to explore the rest of the flat. In the kitchen, I found a large refrigerator with many things with names, and four key-cupboard so I found mine which was completely empty.

After the shock of not having a single glass for drinking water, I decided to go out shopping in order to buy the basics things. After leaving my room, I decided to call my parents from a public payphone as I did not have telephone connection in my room. I called my parents to tell them that I have arrived to my room and to keep them informed. Of note, this were times before WhatsApp and smartphones.

After talking to them, I decided to take the bus towards the city centre and when I boarded it, I had a cultural shock as I was unable to understand the driver and I thought that my English sucked, but I was ready for this adventure.

After an eventful day with ups and downs, at the end of the day my luggage was fully unpacked, I had food for the week, and I was ready to start this new adventure in Liverpool. It happened that within my planning, I bought a sleeping bag so I only needed a pillow to sleep.

Over the following week, I had two welcome parties from the Engineering Department and the Mexican consulate, and I enrolled myself to all my course. During the Mexican consulate party, I got reacquainted with Phaedra, whom I meet in Mexico City during the British consulate party. During this week, I explored the university campus and I made a group of friends, which happen to be all Latin with whom I explored all the social places of Liverpool.

My student residence was called Agnes Jones and was located at Catharine Street. My room was located on the top floor of the building located at the far right of the façade. My room overlooked Catharine Street, while the windows at the kitchen one overlooked the interior courtyard of the residence and the other window overlooked Falkner Street.

The residence was located two blocks from the Electrical and Electronics Engineering Department which is located in the corner of Brownlow Hill and Aston Street. The advantage of living at a student residence was living inside the university which is less than 20 minutes walking (0.8 miles) from the city centre and very close to all the university facilities.

The university’s campus in Great Britain is not that enclosed as in other countries this is because the city was built around the university, therefore, you could find inside the campus banks, corner shops and other city building forming a very symbiotic relationship.

During my student life, my budget was very limited therefore most of my trips to the city centre were walking on the way down and by bus on the way back if going shopping but if going for pub hopping, I would return walking. Most of the city centre is a pedestrian zone and it is full of different types of shops and the bus route is too far away for this, which is the reason of going walking. I divided my budget for food, accommodation, materials, cloths, entertainment and travelling.

During my student life, I had the opportunity to travel with friend over the weekends to Amsterdam, Edinburgh, Cardiff, Bath, Oxford, Blackpool, Nottingham and London; on day trips to Chester and Snowdonia; and to visit every touristic place in Liverpool like the Beatles Story and the cathedrals.

I also had to opportunity to visit several European countries with my parents and my brother as they had the opportunity to travel twice to visit me. Their first trip was during the Christmas period of 2002 and then in December 2003 to attend my convocation. In both cases, my stops included Paris for New Year’s (and my birthday) in order to see the fireworks at the Eiffel tower.

I also had the opportunity to take a cruise around the Greek islands with my maternal grandmother. I decided that I needed to travel and visit as many places as possible during my masters as I did not know what will the future hold for me so I travel around 80 days during my masters.

I also had the opportunity to visit Mexico twice. The first time was in November 2002 during the first semester because my best friend was getting married and I took this opportunity to buy basic Mexican food products in order to enjoy them as I was missing the flavours of home. The next time was in June 2003 in the period between finishing exams and starting to write the dissertation, these trip lasted three weeks.

During my student life, I had the opportunity to meet many people with different nationalities. My flatmates were from Greece; my Latin friends were from Spain, Venezuela and Mexico; my classmates were from Greece, China and India. The reality is that this diversity opened my mind as it exposed me to different cultures, different points of view, but most important a great new variety of food.

My master was divided in two semesters of four months each including final exams. Each lecture granted you some credits and after achieving all the credits needed to graduate the only thing left was the dissertation (experimental and writing). The dissertation was submitted beginning of September 2003 and on 18th September 2003 was the public presentation in order to present the outcomes of the dissertation.

On 19th September 2003 was the last day of classes and enjoyed a nice meal with all my friends.

On 15th December 2003 was the day of my convocation (graduation) and my parents, bother, godparents and maternal grandmother made the trip in order to celebrate my great achievement. My life between the last day of classes and my convocation was different from my student life because during this time I was only waiting for the convocation and had a lot of free time. During this time, I still had a valid student visa so I was able to work part-time as I was only allowed to work 20 hours per week and therefore, I found accommodation very far away from the university as my budget was more limited. During this time, I also decided to search for jobs in England in order to see what would happen, and I was able to stay until now.

It daunted on me, that the plans that I had after the master never happened because I found a boyfriend which then became my husband and currently, we live in London and I never returned to Mexico for living.

This adventure taught me that never anyone is totally prepared and there is always necessary to have an emergency plan in case of any misshapen. In my case, the only time that I wanted to go home was on the second day after I arrived to an empty house and realised that I was on my own but I realised that everything can be solved and from there, I never doubted myself.

Therefore, my recommendation is that early preparation is necessary but having an emergency budget is essential as not every problem can be anticipated.

Studying a master in a foreign country is something I would highly recommend in order to enhance your academic achievements but I do not recommend it just for travelling. The problem is that it is too much work and most scholarships have a final condition that the degree has to be achieved in order to avoid any financial penalties due to the fact that you wasted a place that many other applicants wished to have.

Knowing this, take advantage of all the facilities that the university offers like gym, clubs, workshops, student societies and guided visits. Additionally, if you want extra money be aware of the limitations of the student visa like England allows student to work 20 hours per week, but if you break this rule, you risk the cancellation of your visa. I was able to have a part-time job during the summer holidays while I was writing my dissertation.

However, I recommend staying until your convocation or just attending. The master’s last one year in England from September to September but the convocation is in December and this is the last event as it is the culmination of this great adventure, so do not miss it. In any case if you are unable to attend, your degree would be sent by post to your home address if you desire it. The only problem is that countries like Mexico for your degree to be valid, you need to legalise it and you can only do this on the country of your degree.

In any case, enjoy your adventure as I guarantee you that this experience would mark your life forever. As it would enrich your life for the people you meet and for the obstacles that you overcome. Therefore, I highly recommend you studying abroad but be fully committed as it is not going to be an easy task.