How Milla Jones (née Heikkinen) found herself in Finland and successfully wrote her thesis in 3 months

While Milla’s university experience in the US was filled with stress and anxiety full of strict timelines and massive amounts of assignments that made her feel overwhelmed, the University of Turku, was relaxed and the independent way of studying in Finland allowed her to participate in many interesting student activities. This included taking part in student organizations and overall increased enjoyment of her free time.  During this time, she discovered the ‘third culture phenomenon’.

In general sociological terms, ‘third culture’ is the result of two cultures merging when one person either grows within two cultures or moves from one to another. This term not only helped Milla understand herself not only an American or a Finn but rather a mix of both. This discovery is what sparked her interest in social research.

“Just being able to figure out who you are with all these different components, just flying all around. You know it's really important to know exactly who you are.”

After her one year exchange at the University of Helsinki, Milla applied for several social sciences programmes offered in Finland. She was delighted to discover she had been accepted in the internationally renowned Master's Degree Programme in East Asian Studies at the University of Turku, at the Centre for East Asian Studies (CEAS). The high quality of the programme and the professors involved in it helped her understand not only the theoretical concepts and her own research topic deeply, but even her own place in a fast-changing world. In short, her studies and time in Turku turned out to be a place to find herself.

Like many other students, Milla spent time during her studies thinking about the topic of her research. She found relevant literature, took notes, completed field work in good time, but she found sitting down and actually writing her thesis was extremely hard.

“You type and then you delete, and you type again, and then you revise and delete again”.

Milla worked a part time job in addition to being president of the student organization in her faculty, Taotao, the want to spend time with family in Finland, and, on top of all that, she wanted to finish her studies in two years, which meant writing her thesis in only 3 months! This is when she learned how to use deadlines to her advantage.

Milla says that deadlines, even self-imposed ones, were very useful in developing her time management skills. Sometimes she also got her supervisor involved, asking her to set deadlines for Milla to achieve, even if she could have taken more time to complete her thesis. While she is proud of the fact that she wrote her thesis fast and finished her studies in only two years, she also admits that it was an extremely stressful time.

“I remember getting an eyebrow twitch because it was so stressful!”

In the end Milla successfully wrote her thesis between February and beginning of May, three months of full-time writing.

At the moment, Milla lives and works in the US as a Program Coordinator for Nebraska Medicaid. She says she still does a lot of research and project management. Her time as a student and the skills she developed while writing her thesis have set her apart in her workplace.

In picture: Milla Jones (Alumni Masters Programme in East Asian Studies at UTU) at her workplace 

“Being able to even have that basic understanding of time [and project] management definitely put me at the front when it comes to being able to get these opportunities.”

To date, Milla uses deadlines to stay ahead of work, so she does not have to “sprint” to finish a project, like she had to do with her thesis, and doesn’t end up exhausted. Her thesis topic has also come in handy when dealing with some clients, and her love for social research and its use for public service is what still drives her to do her best at work.

Milla’s biggest piece of advice for students is to decide what they want to do for work and where and try to find a way to get into that company or organization or type of work somehow. Learn as much as you can about the place or the positions you want to work in because it will set you apart in the job seeking process if you already have an idea of what to do and how.

“Essentially you have to figure out where you want to go in terms of work, if you want to go with a specific company or a specific agency, public, private[…] non-profit sector. Whichever one you decide, just getting your foot in the door is important,” even if at a lower pay and position than you had originally wanted.

But do not get discouraged if you cannot find your dream job straight away. Milla worked in a company with very low pay in a position which she didn’t like, but that work experience also helped her get to where she is now. Being able to add this experience in her CV and interviews let employers know she knew how to deal with customers and led her to other opportunities closer to what she truly wanted to do.

About thesis writing, Milla has a lot of tools and ideas she will share with you in an upcoming webinar in the autumn. Stay tuned to the Alumni Relations’ news page and the University’s social media to find out more.

Favourite song from her study time: “My Heart Will Go On” by Celine Dion

“We always did karaoke at parties, and we would always end every single karaoke party with Celine Dion's ‘My Heart Will Go On.”