Naomi Cassidy is studying at the Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School in UCD

“I did my undergraduate in UCD in commerce and that took three years. After that, I applied for the MSc in marketing practice at Smurfit and that’s where I am at the moment.”

“I am really interested in marketing and that was my specialisation in my final year of the undergraduate degree.

“And, as there are no exams in marketing – as there are in accounting for example – I wanted to have something else to give myself a bit of an edge before going into the workforce.

“So, I looked into marketing. We work with clients on a daily basis – something that really gets you ready for the professional environment. Only 40 students are selected for this course every year and there is a two-round interview process and I felt it had a bit of an edge over every other MSc programme. It just seemed to be a little bit more prestigious, and that was the deciding factor for me.”

“I think UCD in particular was great, especially in the Quinn School of Business. They had me in constant contact with companies and they also had MSc programmes and talks where you could go in and learn about what was available.

“They also had a great support system for helping students select their preferred careers.

“I think they did a great job in guiding me, they had all the facilities in place and I had all the support I needed.

“Further study is a very expensive thing to do, especially with the master’s programmes. I was working but my course is quite intense as it is full-time. Some other MSc programmes might only have a certain amount of hours for lectures which might allow you to keep a job, but I can’t.

“My parents are great in that sense but it is definitely a financial stress and there could be a lot more done for students. Only for my parents I wouldn’t be able to fund myself and the MSc is something I definitely wanted to do but the fees are crazy.”