Uni student: how much free time do you have?

I'm wondering this because at the moment, as a sixth former doing 5 A levels, I'm very strapped for time. I have full days, finishing at 4 on most, and find it very hard to fit in stuff like exercise around it. Even finding time to read books outside my school curriculum is hard.

So how much free time on average do you get per week, and do you spend it wisely? Do you work out/ do some form of exercise regularly? This is my biggest issue.

Also it would be interesting if you could say what course you're doing, just to compare.

I really hope I get more free time at uni! :rolleyes:

(edited 12 years ago)

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Reply 1

12win12

doesnt this vary for different courses? lol...

Reply 2

hamijack

Enough to have watched all 5 seasons of The Wire in my first term and still attend all my lectures and pass all my exams.

Reply 3

Besakt

Surely this will vary from course to course and university to university.

Reply 4

Ayshizzle

Original post by 12win12

doesnt this vary for different courses? lol...

Original post by Besakt

Surely this will vary from course to course and university to university.

This and this.

Reply 5

Hellz_Bellz!

I wanted a general answer.

Reply 6

chronic_fatigue

Original post by Hellz_Bellz!

I wanted a general answer.

Well its hard to give one when the contact hours vary a lot between courses and the intensity of the course too. Some people have lots of free time because they have hardly any lectures and some people don't have as much because they have lots of 9-5s.

Reply 7

StudyHard_LiveBetter

Personally, this year (my first year) I have had so much spare time its crazy to be honest! I am only in two days a week. Mondays 9-12 then 2-4 and then Thursdays 12-2 and 3-5.

Reply 8

Tsunami2011

Depends on the course as many have said.. If you're doing something like engineering then.. you're not going to have much free time during the day, will constantly be in lectures/labs/workshops.

Something like Law then you'll have a pretty hectic schedule presuming you're aiming for a high grade.. Arts subjects have the lowest amount of contact time, i.e 8hrs a week on average. That is about 1 and a half days of college.

On the whole, it seems like you got tons more free time at university and have more of a disjointed schedule.

Reply 9

andyyy

Not having a lot of lectures doesn't necessarily mean you have a lot of free time, it just means you work on your own a lot. I only had 2 or 3 lectures or tutorials a day, but during term I never had the time to read anything not for school and I was on campus (going to lectures or working in the library) from 10 to 4-5 most days, although my weekends were mostly free. I'm a second year doing a joint honours in English Lit and Comp Lit with French as my outside subject, btw.

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 10

jblackmoustache

Original post by Hellz_Bellz!

If you're studying on a professional education course (which usually includes placement) you won't have much free time.

Reply 11

DotComBoom

First Year = A lot

Final Year = There aren't enough hours in the day

Reply 12

Shelly_x

Im in second year and it seems like I hardly have any despite me only having around 14 hours contact time. Essays take A LOT of further reading.

Reply 13

Joonie

Waaaaay too much free time for the past 2 years I've been on my course.

Reply 14

username266003

Since I'm not doing a real subject (Politics), it might not count.

In the first and second years and in the first term of my final year I had a lot of free time. 6-9 contact hours per week and I usually only did work for essays and exams, I had so much free time that I didn't know what to do with it. Last two terms of my final year have been busier (dissertation, 3 essays and 6 exams) so until mid-June I'll actually have to do work every day :frown:

But generally I can't say that it's been too hard for me.
Though e.g. my friend who studies German has much more work to do (but I think she worries about it too much considering she's a first year :P).

wb for medicine??

It also depends on your Uni and what you give. At my course and Uni you have 21/22 hours of lessons per week - with a possible of 45 hours to choose from (although weds is half day so less than that), so you can see that its not much free's - although if you have like 3-4 hours straight frees you could technically say as its a lot on that day.

But I think I have managed my time ok.. could have done better though.

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 17

-aimz

I have 9 contact hours a week so I've had loads of free time. Enough to get all my reading and essays done well before deadlines and have loads more too. It really was a shock at first because I worked myself into the ground at sixth form, but it has been good I guess. Because there's not so much structure to my days at uni I find myself at a loose end a lot of the time.
I think I have around the same hours next year but I'll probably have more reading then.

Reply 18

coolstorybrother

I think this would probably make more sense and easier to draw contrasts if you were going to say what uni your at and what your doing....

Reply 19

.ACS.

You'll have on average 12 hours per week (humanities less, sciences more). Then you have extra reading and independent study hours on top of that. Either way, you'll definitely have more free time than you had at school.