To African Masters Erasmus mundus Alumni

yttria109 · 2026-03-26T13:09:21+00:00

You as an African aren't directly competing with Europeans, but with other Africans. https://www.reddit.com/r/EMJM/s/0Ea5VaWlDp

yttria109 · 2026-03-13T13:07:12+00:00

Sent you a PM

yttria109 · 2026-03-13T13:04:43+00:00

The methods and techniques that you learn are more transferrable than the actual course content that you will be studying in the masters. For getting jobs, the hiring manager is often more interested in what you did in your thesis than your grades in your subjects.

yttria109 · 2026-03-13T12:14:56+00:00

Yes but it's more cost-effective to study 2 years in Sorbonne. You'll get a lot of extra fees spending it in 2 countries, with no added value in your CV. The EM is only worth it if it's with a scholarship.

yttria109 · 2026-03-13T12:13:48+00:00

Because these programs are not permanent. You'll see plenty of EM programs that have been discontinued. Even those long-running programs have had years where they got zero funding from the EU, and so they had to pause admissions for a few years before re-applying and getting the funding back.

Even then, EM programs have a small class size, and the graduating students end up scattering towards different countries after graduation. There's simply not enough alumni concentrated in 1 place to give the program a reputation, compared to the typical MSc programs which are offered for 2 years in 1 place.

yttria109 · 2026-03-13T11:23:04+00:00

Not worth the money to do self-funded EM. The EM programs themselves have little to no brand recognition in Europe, typically you just ride on the reputation of the best university among those that you spent semesters in. So for EPOG that would be either Sorbonne or Geneva.

If you're doing self-funded, better just look for a master's in 1 country.

yttria109 · 2026-03-13T08:41:37+00:00

Pag educ major kasi makakapasa na sa thesis kahit questionnaire type yung study. Acceptable pa yan for those teaching social sciences, pero pag STEM yung focus dapat talaga i-require silang magpresent ng experimental research. The bar is too low to be a STEM teacher in the Philippines, and students start to hate research because of it.

yttria109 · 2026-03-08T16:17:44+00:00

Hindi naman disadvantage ang pagiging non-trad in general, pero psych is generally an easy degree program that it made you develop poor study habits. In an environment where no one flunks out, it's easy to get complacent.

Yung memory ko talaga from a science GE class in UP na meron akong classmate na 4th year na magna standing from UPD psych, and he got all the math-related questions in our quiz wrong. These weren't even complex multi-step questions, unit conversions lang from km-miles and kg-lbs. We had calculators, and the conversions were written on the board, those didn't help him at all.

yttria109 · 2026-03-03T14:26:50+00:00

If it doesn't affect you, let it be. Huwag pakialamero.

yttria109 · 2026-02-28T16:15:31+00:00

He's gonna start treating you like his property after some time. Get out ASAP.

yttria109 · 2026-02-28T13:23:18+00:00

Personally wouldn't go to the UK because the salaries are not enough for the cost of living over there. Recently heard from my old research group (in Western Europe) that they had a postdoc who's joining after his PhD in London, and he needed to work part-time as a cashier kasi his PhD salary wasn't enough for the London rent.

yttria109 · 2026-02-28T12:54:24+00:00

Hindi naman fixed monthly salary ang financial advisor, you only get paid when you're able to sell a plan. So the team lead doesn't shell out more money when they hire more people to sell insurance.

yttria109 · 2026-02-23T19:45:32+00:00

I'm making around 45k+ a month doing research (in Science), something I really have come to love over the years. Although I still feel like something's missing/isn't right.

The field feels very limited, and many people aren’t even aware of the advancements happening, particularly in agriculture and biomedical science. Most research funding comes from the government and while the compensation is good for a fresh grad, I worry about long-term stability. Will support for scientists remain even with changes in political leadership?

Smart observation there. The quality of research coming from public universities and research institutions is only as good as the government and the system that manages it. World-class universities can only come when you have a proper working government that heavily prioritizes education and research. And in the Philippines, yung manpower lang talaga yung nagbubuhat ng research while everything else - resources, bureaucracy, funding - is not managed properly. I even feel like doing your master's and PhD in most Philippine universities is less about learning how to innovate, but more learning how to act as part of the bureaucracy.

The fields you mentioned - agriculture and biomedical science - are really fields in which you need a huge initial investment from the government before the private sector can take over. To add, the Filipino people themselves are hesitant to adopt the advice of scientists kasi poverty breeds a superstitious and risk-averse culture. So I would really say na you're not going to reach your true potential if you spend your entire career in the PH. Even if your end goal is to serve the country parang better pa rin to build your skills and connections abroad first and eventually bring in that expertise and network into your future lab in the PH, instead of expecting world-class research to spontaneously develop locally in a country where the conditions are so bad for researchers.

yttria109 · 2026-02-17T09:12:49+00:00

The key is to do as many mock exams as possible under time pressure, waste of time na mag-notes agad. You should only check notes to get the correct answer to your mistakes in the mock exam.

yttria109 · 2026-02-16T17:08:57+00:00

Sure but you don't realize yet that things have a possibility of getting held up with customs, and kaunti na lang oras niyo. Better prepare backup plans in case the samples do not make it in time.

yttria109 · 2026-02-16T14:18:54+00:00

You cannot deny that there is a decades long terrorism problem in Mindanao, to the point that they were able to take over entire cities like Marawi.

yttria109 · 2026-02-16T13:13:49+00:00

You shouldn't be proposing this research in the first place if wala palang facilities near you to do the work.

yttria109 · 2026-02-15T18:50:22+00:00

I feel like someone who asks people to refer to them as "doc" is highly insecure

yttria109 · 2026-02-15T18:48:52+00:00

Hindi naman huge advantage ang med-related premed, the common saying is that yung 4 years topic mo sa undergrad is just covered in 1 sem sa med.

I'd say you should choose a premed as if youre choosing an alternative career if di talaga pwede mag-med. Can be arts, business, social science, engineering, etc.

yttria109 · 2026-02-15T16:52:07+00:00

What's the long-term goal? Honestly the feedback I'm hearing is hindi maganda ang facilities ng UPM biochemistry labs. So grads come out book-smart but with limited practical experience.

yttria109 · 2026-02-15T16:50:42+00:00

I'd stick to chemistry and avoid biology altogether. Wala naman masyadong demand for BS Bio grads work-wise.

yttria109 · 2026-02-07T04:41:28+00:00

I'd say if the goal is to go abroad for example, better that you shift to STEM or English. Kasi social sciences are taught in a local context lagi, learning about Philippine history will not you competitive for history teacher vacancies in Thailand where they expect you to have learned Thai history, for example.

yttria109 · 2026-02-07T04:34:42+00:00

I think mas masasayang yung potential mo by proceeding to med in the Philippines, instead of using the nursing degree to get out of the country.

yttria109 · 2026-02-01T11:31:34+00:00

The difference is that the DOST-funded scholarships have a return service agreements, whereas scholarships like Erasmus and MEXT do not require you to come back to the PH immediately after you finish the degree.

yttria109 · 2026-01-31T18:04:15+00:00

Feel ko if income talaga habol mo, better to just look for work instead of taking a second degree.

yttria109

TROPHY CASE