Written by Paige Voss and originally published on the Wise ASSC Blog.
This year, La Trobe is hosting a Postgraduate Expo across the Bundoora, Bendigo and City campuses, and we encourage everyone to head on down and check it out for yourself!
The Postgraduate Expo is a great way to expand your future possibilities and network with future employers.
Success stories after completing your postgrad are not uncommon. Osama Al-Ghnaimat, or Sam, is a current postgraduate student at La Trobe University doing a Master of Financial Analysis in his final semester.
After spending some time working in the finance industry, Sam became aware of the benefits of doing a postgraduate degree. His work focused on financial risk analysis and risk management, which was the edge he needed to start his postgrad degree.
“Professionals were telling me about how important it is to have a postgraduate degree, everyone has a undergraduate degree, it’s not something special anymore.”
After coming to Australia, Sam was astounded by the great opportunities that La Trobe provided. He says that La Trobe was the perfect fit.
“I started looking at universities that had this (risk analysis) program, and that’s how I found La Trobe,” he said.
“Another benefit of this course was that I was able to do course work as well as research, so I was able to experience both. That was very encouraging for me to be able to choose this course.”
Sam began his postgraduate degree here at La Trobe in 2017, and aims to have completed this at the end of the year. Despite this, Sam has had some struggles along the way balancing up to five assessments at once.
“The hardest thing for me is time management, some of my exams are worth up to 60%, which can be quite stressful,” he said.
Sam says that if anyone is considering doing a postgraduate degree, they should go for it. He says the benefits are well worth it and the support you receive is second-to-none.
“It’s not just about getting the knowledge and skills in your discipline, it also extends to your personal skills, you have opportunities like joining clubs and societies,” he said.
“I wanted to specialise in a specific skill, which is risk analysis.”
“I think all of this helps you evolve as a person.”
If you want to find out more about what a postgraduate degree might do for you, make sure you head down to this year’s expo at your closest campus. There will be inspirational talks from industry experts and tips to help you out in the future. There will also be a chance to chat with some of the La Trobe academics on how postgraduate study can build on your skills and boost your career.