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What's the typical schedule like for an undergraduate student?

I can't seem to find this kind of information anywhere, but I wanted to know what time of the day students are usually at the university attending classes and how many hours in a typical day/week. I don't live in the UK yet but I'll be moving soon so I'm not sure how different it is from uni here, but this is something I wanted to know before I move so I can make contact with possible future employers knowing somewhat how my schedule will be like.

Honestly, I don't know much about how university stuff works in the UK like.. At all, I figured out how applying works but in general everything seems so complicated and hardly any websites provide any kind of decent help, so I was hoping you guys could. I'm just saying this so that if this question sounds like it was written by someone who's absolutely clueless it's because it was lol. I'll be taking a modern languages course, I figured I'd mention in case the time spent in school for those types of courses is particularly different from other courses.
Original post by Nurik
I can't seem to find this kind of information anywhere, but I wanted to know what time of the day students are usually at the university attending classes and how many hours in a typical day/week. I don't live in the UK yet but I'll be moving soon so I'm not sure how different it is from uni here, but this is something I wanted to know before I move so I can make contact with possible future employers knowing somewhat how my schedule will be like.

Honestly, I don't know much about how university stuff works in the UK like.. At all, I figured out how applying works but in general everything seems so complicated and hardly any websites provide any kind of decent help, so I was hoping you guys could. I'm just saying this so that if this question sounds like it was written by someone who's absolutely clueless it's because it was lol. I'll be taking a modern languages course, I figured I'd mention in case the time spent in school for those types of courses is particularly different from other courses.


Contact time does differ a lot between courses, ranging from 8-12 hours for some humanities subjects to 20 hours + for a lot of sciences. I don't know what's average for languages, but I'd guess somewhere between 10-20 hours of contact time. Unfortunately, this won't usually be organised into nice blocks and the hours you're in may vary term to term.

It is very rare to have contact hours outside of 8-6 on weekdays, so if you're looking for employment, maybe consider something like bar work which you can work around your schedule no matter what.

Don't forget that your contact time is only a small proportion of the time you'll spend working on your degree. Most people spend a minimum of twice as much time working independently outside of contact hours, either working on assignments, doing extra reading, and for MFL I imagine some speaking practice with your coursemates might be involved.
Reply 2
Original post by Nurik
I can't seem to find this kind of information anywhere, but I wanted to know what time of the day students are usually at the university attending classes and how many hours in a typical day/week. I don't live in the UK yet but I'll be moving soon so I'm not sure how different it is from uni here, but this is something I wanted to know before I move so I can make contact with possible future employers knowing somewhat how my schedule will be like.

Honestly, I don't know much about how university stuff works in the UK like.. At all, I figured out how applying works but in general everything seems so complicated and hardly any websites provide any kind of decent help, so I was hoping you guys could. I'm just saying this so that if this question sounds like it was written by someone who's absolutely clueless it's because it was lol. I'll be taking a modern languages course, I figured I'd mention in case the time spent in school for those types of courses is particularly different from other courses.


Basically, there *isn't* a typical schedule, as each uni/department/course can set its own timetable. In my experience, the timetable also changes each term. However, any employer who routinely recruits students will understand that they need a measure of flexibility and should be able to help you cope to some extent.

I can give you a few examples of the interesting timetable issues on my courses:
- We were told at the start of the course that Wednesdays would always have nothing tinetabled, as they were set aside for field trips, sports and society activity. Within three weeks of the term start, we had lectures scheduled on Wednesdays.
- Teaching timetables in the first and second terms of a year were always different, even though we had the same six taught modules across each. This problem is now worse, as they teach three different modules each term.
- In my first term we had too many students for the number of lecture theatres. We could have lectures scheduled any time, 9am to 9pm. I had one day where my only lecture was 7-9pm - that module was like doing an evening class.
- At the start of my second year, all of my contact hours were scheduled into a single day, 9am-5pm, with no breaks. Luckily a couple of lecturers invariably finished early, so we did get a couple of unofficial half hour breaks.
- Back-to-back lectures on different campuses ten minutes' swift walk apart, meaning that I was always late for the second lecture. Even the lecturer was late for the second lecture, as they had the same problem.
- Timetables not being finalised/released until the weekend before the start of term, making it impossible to arrange work shifts in advance. Then timetables being constantly changed.
(edited 8 years ago)
My schedule..? Bodega on Wednesday, Ocean on Friday and Rock City on Saturday :u:
No such thing as a typical schedule at uni. A lot depends on the course and some of it depends on you if it is a uni where attendance isn't enforced.
Original post by Nurik
I can't seem to find this kind of information anywhere, but I wanted to know what time of the day students are usually at the university attending classes and how many hours in a typical day/week. I don't live in the UK yet but I'll be moving soon so I'm not sure how different it is from uni here, but this is something I wanted to know before I move so I can make contact with possible future employers knowing somewhat how my schedule will be like.

Honestly, I don't know much about how university stuff works in the UK like.. At all, I figured out how applying works but in general everything seems so complicated and hardly any websites provide any kind of decent help, so I was hoping you guys could. I'm just saying this so that if this question sounds like it was written by someone who's absolutely clueless it's because it was lol. I'll be taking a modern languages course, I figured I'd mention in case the time spent in school for those types of courses is particularly different from other courses.


Law, for example, generally involves 10-12 contact hours (seminars and lectures) a week. These would be spread out over the week, averaging 2-3 contact hours per day. You'd spend another 40 hours a week in the library. That is fairly normal for humanities subjects, although perhaps a bit higher on the library time than most. Sciences subjects can be pretty different, with more contact hours, fewer library hours, and things like labs (practical sessions for conducting experiments).
Original post by Pseudo-truth
My schedule..? Bodega on Wednesday, Ocean on Friday and Rock City on Saturday :u:


Nottingham? :h:
Reply 7
It really depends on the course.

On my teaching degree we were in from 9-4 daily for most of the three years (apart from when we were on placement), although we would finish in April and not be back until September.

On the social work one, we were probably in 1.5 days a week but split out across the week (apart from when we were on placement) - if we had just had all of our lectures / seminars together, one after the other, we'd have barely ever been there. There were some days we'd be in for just an hour.
Reply 8
Getting drunk...

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