The chance to study for a master’s degree used to be something only those with plenty of time and money could do, and this meant that the world was a rather skewed place; plenty of people who had the knowledge and desire to take a sports journalism master’s degree were unable to because it cost too much or would take up too much of their time, and their other commitments would suffer. Even though they would have been perfectly capable, and it would have enhanced their career and their life in general, it was just not possible. 

This has changed today, though, and that’s a good thing. Now it’s much easier to apply for a master’s degree thanks to online learning.  That’s not to say that the degree itself will be easy to study – a master’s is always going to be more in-depth and difficult than a bachelor’s degree – but the opportunity is there for more people, and that’s important. 

So, the question has to be, now that you can apply for and study for a master’s degree online, why should you? What are the advantages? Read on to find out, and you might find your next step is to look for courses to apply to. 

You Can Study Anywhere 

A sports journalism masters is something that can benefit your life greatly. It will help you to understand more about sports journalism, and it will enable you to make some exciting choices when it comes to your career. One of the advantages of taking an online course rather than a traditional one is that you can study anywhere. You can pursue your education and gain much deeper insight into the subject of sports journalism, but you don’t have to be tied to going to a particular place at a specific time. All you need to be able to study for a sports journalism master’s degree is a device (a laptop, tablet, or even a smartphone), a good internet connection, and a quiet place to study where you can concentrate on the information you are being given. 

This means that you don’t have to leave your home to study for a master’s degree, making the entire process a much more accessible one for anyone who wants to try it. Or you can study while you’re traveling if that’s your plan, ensuring that when you complete your journey, you have a master’s degree to use to find an excellent job. You can even study during your lunch hour at work or on the bus ride to work, or any other time you have a moment to think in. 

You’re in Charge of Your Schedule 

How do you imagine a sports journalism master’s to be conducted in the most traditional and usual of ways? You probably think of students living on campus or traveling into school, having to be at their classes on time to enjoy the benefit of them. For some, this is not an issue at all, especially if this is the first degree they are studying. However, when it comes to a master’s in sports journalism, this kind of working practice may not be suitable. By the time you are ready to take a master’s degree, you will have a career, perhaps a family, and certainly other responsibilities to take care of. Trying to make time to fit in a regular class when you have all this going on is a difficult thing. 

This won’t have to be something you need to worry about when you take an online sports journalism master’s degree. This is because an online master’s is much more flexible than a traditional one, allowing you to be completely in charge of your own schedule. You can go out with friends, stay late at work, enjoy time with your family, take a whole day just for studying if you want to – no matter how much or how little time you have, you can make your masters fit into your timetable, ensuring that you don’t have to sacrifice your career or your family time just to gain more qualifications. 

By setting your own schedule and logging on to your learning portal or platform at times that work for you, you can study when you want to and when you can learn best. Studies have shown that some people are able to learn better first thing in the morning, whereas others are much more capable in the evening. When you have signed up for an online master’s degree, you have the choice. You can determine exactly when you are best at learning and use that knowledge to enhance your degree and make your masters give you the best possible result. 

You Can Advance Your Career at the Same Time 

One of the main reasons why someone would choose to study for a sports journalism master’s is career advancement. They want to get further ahead at work, and they want all the best opportunities to choose from; having a master’s degree on your resume will allow you to have this choice. Yet the last thing anyone is going to want to do is to give up on their current job or even reduce their hours just to obtain the degree. If they do this, that degree won’t help quite so much, as they will be behind in their work and will have to build their career back up again. It’s something of a catch-22; do you take the masters and reduce your work in the hope that you can go back at a later date, or do you continue working and forego the master’s degree knowing that you are being held back? 

Or perhaps you don’t have to make this choice at all. Perhaps you can sign up for a sports journalism master’s and still keep working and enjoy all the benefits that both will give you. There is no ‘perhaps’ about it. If you want to keep working and take your degree, you can. As we’ve said, online masters are flexible and will allow you to work at a pace and a time that suits you, meaning that you don’t have to let your studies impact your work in any way. In fact, you can even start to use the skills and knowledge you are learning through your sports journalism masters in your current place of work, showing that you are ready for a promotion or making significant positive changes that will prove to your employer that you are ready to move to a position of more responsibility. 

Of course, balancing work and study isn’t always easy. You will need to create a workable schedule for yourself so that you are able to work well on both elements of your life. If you aren’t careful and don’t plan things out well, your online sports journalism masters might not be something you can fit in well, and you could run the risk of becoming burned out by doing too much. Although a master’s degree is a great thing to have, you must be careful that you don’t become unwell or that your learning is affected by trying to do too much. 

Choose Any Master’s Degree to Study 

In the past, distance learning (as it was then more likely to be called) only consisted of a very limited number of degrees, and it would be unlikely to find a sports journalism master’s among them. Today, however, there is a lot more choice, and no matter what you want to learn, it is highly probable that you will find an online version of that degree. Even if there are practical elements required, much of the initial learning can still be done online. 

This means that you can follow any dream you might have and do anything you might want to do. You can start with a sports journalism masters if you want to do something in that field, but then you might want to try something else – something to enhance your knowledge in another way, or something that piques your interest and that, even if you don’t want your career to necessarily go in that direction, will make your life and education more rounded. This is the wonderful thing about today’s educational opportunities; they aren’t always something you have to do, but they can certainly be something you want to do if you are curious about a subject and want to know more about it. 

There Are Fewer Admission Requirements 

When you apply to a traditional college to take a sports journalism master’s, you will need to fulfill a number of different entry requirements, and one of those will be availability – you’ll have to be ready to start your studies at the time the course begins. If that date doesn’t work for you for any reason, this could mean that you have to miss out on that year’s admissions, or you have to make some other big changes in your life to accommodate it. 

The big difference between this method of applying for your studies and an online degree is that you can apply whenever you want to because there is a rolling admissions policy. This means that there is no specific start date for the course since all the course materials and learning are stored online, ready for you to access when you need to. 

You might even find that an online course requires a lower GPA or other qualifications, meaning that these degrees are much more accessible to those who might not otherwise have been able to apply for a course in the usual way. This is not always how it is, of course, and therefore you do need to check out the specific course requirements that you will need to get into the subject you want to study. 

Plenty of Support 

It might feel somewhat frightening to start a sports journalism master’s. After all, this kind of study will be new to most people, and you could be using it to change your life in a positive way for the future, so there will be some pressure on you and some potential feelings of nervousness. The good news is, when you choose to study online, there will be plenty of support available for you whenever you want it. Unlike with a traditional brick-and-mortar school where there are many thousands of students, and it’s easy to get lost, when you are studying online, it is a much more personal and personalized educational journey, and that means the support is certainly going to be out there for you. 

Most online degree courses are designed with this idea in mind, in fact. Offering individual feedback means that you can stay on the right track and do well in your studies rather than worrying that you’re not making the grade or thinking you’re on the right path when you’re not. The more support you can get, the better and the more positive your master’s degree experience will be. 

Depending on the college you pick and the course you are studying, you should be able to arrange video call discussions with the course leaders to discuss any concerns and queries you might have. Even if this is not possible, you can send an email and contact the tutors in that way. Plus, don’t forget the online forums and message boards that will link directly to your subject so you can get even more insight from fellow students. 

You Will Save Money 

As we said right at the start, it’s not just the time and commitment it takes to study for an online sports journalism master’s that might be problematic; it’s the money it costs too. At a traditional college, it can cost many thousands of dollars to get a place on a degree like this, and that can be hard to come by. Even if you do have the money, it might feel like it isn’t really an investment when you consider the costs involved. 

An online degree can minimize this worry. Although it will still cost you to study in this way, the costs are usually much lower when you choose an online master’s degree as opposed to a more traditional one in a brick-and-mortar school. There are fewer overheads to consider, so the colleges don’t have to charge so much, and since the courses are usually pre-prepared, they don’t even have to pay for these after the initial purchase. So your course costs will be lower. On top of this, you’ll save a lot of money compared to a student at a traditional college – they have to pay for accommodation, food on campus, or travel costs to get there every day. You won’t have to do any of that; you’ll be studying at home, so no transport is required, and you’re already paying for your property, so this is no extra charge. 

In other words, although you will need to figure out funding for your sports journalism masters, it will be much less expensive all around compared to a face-to-face course that teaches you the same things.