What it is like to be a master's student at METU

I am currently in the third year of my master’s degree in the Department of Computer Engineering at Middle East Technical University (METU) in Ankara.

METU’s Computer Engineering department is widely known in Turkey for attracting highly ranked university-entrance students. That context matters, but it does not fully explain what it feels like to study there. In this series, I want to describe the experience from my own perspective: the coursework, the thesis, the uncertainty, the work that happens outside the official schedule, and the parts that are difficult to explain on a curriculum vitae.

The standard duration of a master’s degree is often described as two years, with the first year focused mainly on coursework. My own path has taken longer. I want to write about that honestly rather than presenting the standard timeline as if it were the only normal one.

This post is a starting point. The next version will include the program structure, my course experience, the transition from courses to thesis work, and the parts of graduate study that I wish I had understood earlier.