The Edinburgh FAQ and 'Ask a Student' thread

There are 3 lectures a week, plus 1 tutorial (four hours per week in total) - this is the same in first and second years. According to the current handbook, first years do four essays and a close reading exercise spread out over two semesters (there used to be a take-home exam at Christmas instead of the close reading). As far as flexibility goes, everyone does EL1 and EL2 in first and second year. You'll spend the first semester getting a general background in basic literary theory and concepts, and then move on to a more general chronological overview of literature (no Beowulf though, sadly ). They do Medieval to Restoration literature in first year, then progress up to Modernism in second. If you poke around on the website in the 'current students' section you should be able to access the lecture timetables, which are roughly the same now as they were when I started. There's much more flexibility in third and fourth years. Feel free to ask me any more questions.

Just wondering, I read somewhere that it was possible to do modules from another course at Edinburgh University, like French for example. Is this true? Again, thanks for your help

Is it difficult to find a part time job at Edinburgh? And where to begin doing that, does University gives any support in this matter?

Hey Edinburgh Law Students.
I was wondering what subjects you took at Higher and what grades you got in your 5th year, and whether you got a conditional or unconditional when you applied?
Thanks.

Can start applying for accommodation now but I have no clue on whether to choose catered or self-catered?!
Can anyone share there personal experience pros/cons and preference please?

Can start applying for accommodation now but I have no clue on whether to choose catered or self-catered?!
Can anyone share there personal experience pros/cons and preference please?

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I would save my money and stay in self-catered, catered is VERY expensive.

Thankyou, I'm leaning towards self-catered, it's just the flats being single sex putting me off, but the whole block of flats is mixed sex so people will be more likely to mix?

Thankyou, I'm leaning towards self-catered, it's just the flats being single sex putting me off, but the whole block of flats is mixed sex so people will be more likely to mix?

Had a couple of questions for current students etc... I have an unconditional offer to study English Lit starting in September, planning on accepting!

Could you help me understand the credit system a bit better? I've looked it up, and so far I have gathered that the main course (e.g. ENLI1) is worth 40 credits, then you can take a further 80 credits worth of other courses to make a total of 120 for the year... but in terms of hours, does each 40 credit course equate to about 4 hours a week for Arts subjects? So a total of about 12 contact hours for the whole week, for all 3 courses?

Regarding accommodation... I get the impression that self-catered is all-round a better deal, financially and if you don't much like having your meal type/times decided for you, but speaking to some friends of mine at uni at the moment, I have been told that catered halls are far more sociable, get to know a huge variety of people at meals which is important in first year, as you find who you connect with best.... and if you end up in a small S/C flat, you could end up only really getting to know that handful of people... I'm often not very proactive in making friends, so I think perhaps catered may be a better choice in that respect? What do you think?

According to my lecturers, 10 credits should be about 100 hours of work, including lectures, tutorials, etc. The amount of contact hours vary on the subject. I'm not an arts student, but all my 10 credit courses have 2 one hour lectures and a tutorial every week. Look up your course here and you'll see for English lit 1, you have 3 hours lectures a week and then tutorials will be on top of that. It will be different for different courses, so best thing is to look up the modules for yourself.