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Going back to college? 6 stress-saving tips for fitting study in around the rest of your life

Current and former postgrad students share their advice on balancing study, work and… everything else.

FOR ANYONE LOOKING to take the next step in their career, returning to college for further study can be an appealing option. 

But many people considering a postgraduate degree start out with one big question: How do I fit it all in? Managing study alongside work and other commitments can seem a challenge.

So what’s the best way to combine gaining a new qualification with… well, the rest of your life? And how do you find the right balance between study, work and everything else? We spoke to a group of current and former students from National College of Ireland to find out what they’ve learned from their experiences. 

Read on for some of their best tips. And if you’re looking for more first-hand advice and experiences, NCI’s next Online Open Evening takes place on Wednesday August 12 (you can register right here).

Create a dedicated space that is only for work or study

At work, my team is split around the world in different time zones, so I already had my own designated workspace at home with a proper office set up. I used that for study too. For anyone doing the same, try to create a space that is dedicated to studying with no distractions – no TV, no other people. If you’ll be working and studying in the same space like me, take a proper break between work and studying so you can reset your mind and get into the study mode when you need to.

Djimillah Djemai, current MBA student

Stick to your schedule – even when temptation strikes

I was apprehensive initially about the workload, my course was two evenings a week and some Saturdays. But once you get into the flow of things, it was actually very manageable.

The biggest challenge for me was setting a schedule and sticking to it. I knew that I had to keep a schedule to get everything done. There can be days when you think ‘I will miss this class and catch up later’, but it’s so important to attend.

Darren O’Neill, MSc in Cloud Computing graduate

Shutterstock / DiMedia Shutterstock / DiMedia / DiMedia

Break your targets into bite-size chunks

I would advise any new students to set a reading schedule with achievable targets. Often once you actually start a task it’s easier to keep going, but on those days when you’re tired or stressed and just aren’t feeling it, you will have at least done something. Focusing on reading one chapter is a lot less overwhelming than thinking about an entire reading list to get through.

Emma Leonard, current MSc in Management student 

Warn other people that you’re entering study or lecture mode

I am lucky to have a home office space and a very understanding family. Whatever your setup is, plan your college schedule and let everyone know. This should avoid gate crashers in the middle of a class or study session. If you’ll be doing virtual classes, get a good set of noise cancelling headphones, use a large screen and get involved in the class with no distractions. It is too easy to sit back and just listen – or worse, half-listen while browsing online.

Tom Kerrigan, current MBA student

Dodge deadline clashes by getting ahead

Assignment deadlines were tough to manage at times when I was busy at work. Some deadlines clashed, but assignments can be submitted via the College Moodle site at anytime before the due date.

What I found great was I could take down and amend uploaded assignments before the due date. So to avoid pressure, I would send off assignments early to let myself focus on work, then if I had time before the due date or wanted to add something I could take it down and update it.

Samantha Toner, MSc in International Business graduate

Find your own way – and remember that it’s fine to let life happen!

I’m normally an organised ‘list’ person, when it came to the tasks I had to complete by my next class, but even I ended up throwing that out the window sometimes. Life happens! Everyone learns in their own way, and at their own speed. Don’t feel like you need to keep up with everyone else, just find a process that works for you.

Fitting in your family, your study, and your assignments can be tricky but you need to remember your classmates are all in the same boat as yourself. My class decided to create a WhatsApp group and if we had any questions we could talk through them together, it meant you never felt like you were alone. 

Christina Mycroft, MA in HRM graduate

Thinking of returning to study? National College of Ireland’s next Online Open Evening takes place on Wednesday August 12, and you can register on their website. With an expert faculty, small class sizes and a vast range of postgrad courses, NCI is the perfect place to continue your journey to success.

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    Mute S K
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    Sep 12th 2015, 10:03 AM

    I don’t have a problem with ads in theory as I understand that’s how we get stuff for free. The problem is when the ads are so intrusive that it makes it next to impossible to enjoy the content, then I’m going to block them. Having thirty second non skippable ads on YouTube after every second video, or ads with crazy flash videos, or articles split over multiple pages to increase advertising space drove me to install ad block.

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    Mute little jim
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    Sep 12th 2015, 10:13 AM

    Then the content is rubbish, and hence the problem.

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    Mute An Observer
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    Sep 12th 2015, 9:55 AM

    *THIS IS NOT A JOKE*

    You are the One-Hundreth-Millionth reader of

    this page. You have won an iPhone 6sPlus.

    Please clink the link below to claim your prize!

    Clickmeclickmeclickme

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    Mute Ciaran
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    Sep 12th 2015, 10:05 AM

    what about likes of greedy rte that we already pay TV licence put have to sit threw full screen pop up ads and about 5 ads before a program even starts!

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    Mute Darach Malone
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    Sep 12th 2015, 10:17 AM

    your TV licence fee doesn’t even begin to cover rte costs. without the ads they would be extinct.

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    Mute Sean J. Troy
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    Sep 12th 2015, 11:16 AM

    The RTE and BBC license fees are very similar. The Beeb has no ads and is arguably the best content creator in the world. Yes, it has a much bigger license base. But it’s network of stations and channels both in the UK and abroad is much bigger than RTE.

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    Mute Ciarán
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    Sep 12th 2015, 1:20 PM

    The beeb also have 16 times the population to collect the licence fee from

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    Mute cooperguy
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    Sep 12th 2015, 2:53 PM

    @Sean, you have to be joking! The BBC license fee is massively more revenue than what RTE get. If you want an ad free rte you would need need a massive license fee increase.

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    Mute Sean Oige
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    Sep 12th 2015, 5:21 PM

    They should get rid of the ads so! RTE an absolute waste of money….

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    Mute cooperguy
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    Sep 12th 2015, 6:11 PM

    why exactly, their viewing numbers says different. Your not supposed to like everything they do. that’s the point of public broadcasting, not everything has to appeal to a mass market

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    Mute Fergus O'Neill
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    Sep 12th 2015, 10:18 AM

    I’ve had just over 200,000 ads blocked in just over a year. 200,000 – there’s your reason for installing a blocker.

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    Mute Mark Malone
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    Sep 12th 2015, 12:28 PM

    156,742 for me in around the same length of time. Ludicrous amount.

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    Mute Thomas Mac
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    Sep 12th 2015, 9:59 AM

    I wouldn’t be able to watch my favourite online sports channel only for adblocker plus .

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    Mute Enda O Brien
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    Sep 12th 2015, 9:49 AM

    No problem with subscription models i have a few but you would want to be providing a good service.

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    Mute Ciarán
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    Sep 12th 2015, 10:00 AM

    The take a whitelist approach, an adblocker can be quite useful for security reasons browsing websites you’re in familiar with. However websites I visit frequently will get whitelisted as long as there are no autoplay video ads. More broadly the issue is very similar to that of music, film and game piracy. A generation of people now seem to find the idea of artists and writers being paid for the content they produce completly alien. They also refuse to acknowledge this act as stealing

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    Mute Enda O Brien
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    Sep 12th 2015, 10:02 AM

    Honestly the way the music industry was so explotive of people when the likes of napster did not exist was the reason noone had a problem with using the likes of napster.

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    Mute Ciarán
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    Sep 12th 2015, 11:29 AM

    I’m not old enough to have been exploited by the music industry pre Napster I wasnt even ten when they got sued and there are people only about 5 or years younger than me who have never paid for music in their lives

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    Mute Sean McGovern
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    Sep 12th 2015, 10:07 AM

    I stopped using Vodafone because of the amount of ads they force you to watch on YouTube and other web sites.

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    Mute Andy Cahalan
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    Sep 12th 2015, 11:27 AM

    What did I just read?

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    Mute Sean J. Troy
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    Sep 12th 2015, 11:10 AM

    I don’t mind ads. I do mind bad, poorly targeted ads. I would have thought in 2015 the might of Google would have figured out that making me sit through a few seconds of advertising to watch a ten second cat video is stupid. Especially when they’ve been collecting data on me for years and haven’t figured out that maybe an ad for L’Oréal shampoo is probably the wrong product to target me with. Some of the American services are the worst though. They put ads in services that you actually pay for like NFL and MLB live streaming and then the ads are exclusively targeted at American audiences. Absolutely pointless.

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    Mute Rochelle
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    Sep 12th 2015, 11:29 AM

    I’m entirely fine with web based businesses failing to succeed and the internet going back to being mainly driven by hobbyists. Those motivated by passion and interest rather than monetary gain.

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    Mute Search Eagle
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    Sep 13th 2015, 10:12 AM

    “Passion” doesn’t cover the massive costs required to host the videos you enjoy. An awful lot of hobbyist content relies on tools that are made free by advertising revenue.

    But I am also fine with web-based businesses failing because people won’t click their ads. However, the internet won’t change into the passion and interest haven you seek, instead people with the resources and money will consolidate their control by introducing other paid models. See, for example: blip which deleted the videos and kicked out all its hobbyist content creators to focus on its 4000 stronger more commercially lucrative partners.

    There’s also nothing wrong with seeking monetary gain for doing something you enjoy. Why should the people who produce the content you consume be required to do so for free?

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    Mute Michael Fallon
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    Sep 12th 2015, 9:55 AM

    Is there an adblock for ipads and where can I get it?

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    Mute David Ronan
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    Sep 12th 2015, 10:05 AM

    Use this, great for blocking all ads on all devices connected to your network, small bit of DIY involved but worth it http://lifehacker.com/turn-a-raspberry-pi-into-an-ad-blocker-with-a-single-co-1686093533

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    Mute Life in no motion
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    Sep 12th 2015, 11:21 AM

    Block Party was working for me on ios 9 beta

    Used it on the indo site. I’ve a 6+ and the poxy ad for Ribena takes up almost all the page

    Ridonculous

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    Mute Michael Sands
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    Sep 12th 2015, 12:22 PM

    I’m sick of adverts everywhere… Next toilet paper unless you use newspapers?

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    Mute Paul Murphy
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    Sep 12th 2015, 3:11 PM

    Ads are great as long as they stay in one place, don’t make any noise (unless I click on them), don’t slow down the website and don’t try to install stuff on my computer/phone/whatever.

    Otherwise yer blocked.

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    Mute Andrew McCarthy
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    Sep 12th 2015, 2:08 PM

    Worse than the distraction and delays, there’s the growing problem of malvertising — ads that are actually malicious content that can infect your browser/PC/phone without any interaction from you. Blocking flash helps a bit, but really I’ve found blocking all ads best.

    Take a look at https://blog.malwarebytes.org/malvertising-2/ for some of the most recent ones including major sites like Yahoo and MSN. Worth the risk?

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    Mute Gusty McBlow
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    Sep 12th 2015, 12:50 PM

    Hosts File!

    That is all.

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    Mute Jim Nielsen
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    Sep 12th 2015, 4:35 PM

    entirely agree – in my case it stops 99% of adverts and it’s a small matter to add new hosts entries when needed. the only drawback with the hosts file approach is when add sites are using https://…/ as i have seen happening with mrgreen betting and a couple more..

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    Mute Pete Gibson
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    Sep 12th 2015, 3:39 PM

    It’s called “click-bait”.
    Just below this very article were:
    12 frightening facts your pilot will never tell you.
    23 facts about left-handed people.
    and surprise surprise…
    50 of the funniest cats.

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    Mute Kane Abel
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    Sep 12th 2015, 9:58 AM

    Dumb logo – Really looks like AdRoil….(?) I predict failure….

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    Mute ScewMadd
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    Sep 13th 2015, 2:00 PM

    This ad reminds me of this cringey video.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67ZZUSpeS4k

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