How to prepare for your Master’s in Media

Starting your postgraduate studies with us soon? We’re looking forward to welcoming you! If you want to get a head start on your studies and get clued up on what’s to come, take a look at our list of resources for things you can do to prepare for your course.

Reading and Research

It’s important to keep up to date with the news and current affairs, as this can often impact your studies and work, especially when undertaking PR and journalism related modules. The Guardian’s media section covers the media industry both locally and internationally, and they also produce a daily newsletter entitled Media Briefing.

Visit

You will gain a lot from visiting one of our Postgraduate open days. Here, you will be able to take a look around our incredible School of Media facilities, housed at our £62 million Parkside building.

Watch

As a media student, you’re going to want to watch pretty much anything and everything! The best way to gain experience, spark ideas, and gain a critical eye is to watch various types of content and analyse it.

It’s important to think about what path you would like to take during your postgraduate studies, as there are many different roles within the media sector – are you looking to produce media content, work behind-the-scenes, or something else? Find your focus and research it.

Other than this, you can check out the BCU YouTube channel for information on student life, facilities, and further course details. There are several videos dedicated to media courses, and you may find it insightful to look at previous School of Media showreels to get a feel for the courses.

Media Courses

Find out more about our courses

Listen

Radio Production students will not be surprised to learn that listening to the radio will be extremely useful for their degree – try listening to different stations outside of your comfort zone to learn new techniques and practices.

Some podcasts you may find insightful include:

  •         Radio Producers: Winning at the Freelance Game
  •         Prodcast – Powerful Radio Production
  •         Scriptnotes
  •         Filmspotting
  •         The PR Week
  •         On the Media

Follow

Setting up a professional social media account will be extremely beneficial to those who want to work in media, as it gives you a way to network with peers and shape your image and identity as a professional – this is important, as more often than not it will be a first impression to others in the industry.

Keep up to date with all things BCU media on our dedicated Twitter account. You can also follow our main Twitter account to keep up with news from around the University.

Learn a new skill

Learning a new skill (or brushing up on an old one) could benefit your postgraduate studying, no matter what area of media you are going into. Media roles are often multi-faceted, so learning something new such as coding, writing, editing, or podcasting, will prepare you even further for the world of study and work.

What should you do next?

Find out about our Graduate Scholarship

You could be eligible for a 20% fee reduction if you're a BCU graduate enrolling onto an eligible Master's or PhD qualification for the first time in 2024/25 or 2025/26!

BCU's Graduate Scholarship

Discover what it's like to study a Master's

Josi shares her experience of starting a Master’s straight after her Bachelor’s degree at BCU and discusses a lot of the questions you may currently have about the transition between courses.

Josi's experience

Apply using our fast track application

Our fast track application means you can apply for postgraduate study in just a few minutes if you're a current BCU undergraduate student. 

How apply using the fast track application