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Worried about having no guidance in studies at uni

Hi,
I'm an A2 student and am hoping to go to uni in September. From what I've heard, uni is about 80% independant study (I'm guessing) and I'm a bit worried about that! It's not that I can't work alone, it's just I don't like it. I like working in a team and communicating. It's why I picked languages in the first place! I like debating stuff and talking about things and sharing ideas in a class but now I have images of me sitting in the library alone all the time, being bored and not having enough direction. It'd be like being thrown into the deep end since my sixth form is very small (there's only 120 of us) and we get a bit spoilt, we're spoonfed everything and I always enjoy having classes because they're so informal and we always have a laugh. I'll just miss it, that's all. Anyone have any experience in this?

Read up on the unis you've applied.

It should tell you what sort of teaching you can expect and how much independent study you should be doing too at each place :smile:

I'm not totally sure what languages are like at uni, but I doubt that they would be 80% self-study time - that is a lot of independent study.

But also think of what you're doing now - how many lessons do you have? How much work do you do out of lessons...can't speak for everyone but it could be almost 50% each now for some people...so 80% indpendent study isn't that much of an increase.

Reply 2

Me Myself I

I'm at University of Aberdeen doing Psychology, so my experiences might be a bit different to yours, but here goes anyway, it might be useful :smile:

I have an adviser of studies, who I have to see once a year, but I can make an appointment to see them whenever I like as well. Unfortunately, they tend to be research-y people, and so they're great if you have a query about something they're interested in, but not so good for general course advice!

When you start your course, you should get told who your course coordinators are, and these are the best people to go to if you have a specific query about an essay or whatever. If I e-mail my coordinator I can usually make an appointment to see him the next day.

I have lectures with 400 or so other people (which sounds really daunting, but it's such a different atmosphere than classrooms at school that you can't really compare it) and practicals and tutorials with 10-20 people; which is much more like a classroom environment.

I have found the lack of on-hand support difficult, but I'm now half-way through my second year and realised that the help is there, you just have to ask for it and arrange it yourself - keep bugging them! And if they don't answer your question, start bugging someone else until you find someone useful (I think I'm the bane of the Psychology school now :redface:

)

The other thing I'd suggest is ringing the places you want to go to and just asking them. If you can find the direct line for the department you'll be involved with, they might be more useful than the main university reception.

Sorry for the essay, but I hope it helps a bit!

Reply 3

gillipies

12

Yeah, like the previous poster says, the support is there you just have to be responsible for getting it yourself when you need it.

I studied German and Translation Studies for a year last year at Aston (I changed course in the summer but that was nothing to do with the problem you're worried about!)

I had about 13 hours of teaching time a week, all but 1 hour i think was in a classroom setting with about 20 people, so not much different to school/college. I think you'll find the class sizes for languages are probably smaller than a lot of other subjects simply because the number of people who take them is smaller. The was also a lot of discussion that took place in the classes and some debating.

Yes there is independent study to do (reading, learning vocab etc) but there is also a lot of group work to be done (you'll find this in most courses) so team work plays a bit part at Uni.

I think you'll be fine... don't forget there's loads of other socialising to be done away from studying and I'm sure there'll be a debating society or similar to get involved in (there is at Aston!) is you like that sort of thing.

Hope that goes a bit of the way to answering you're question!

Reply 4

xJessx

OP

18

Hi all!
Thanks for all your replies, they were very helpful. I currently have about 15-16 hours in class a week. I'm actually looking forward to lectures and a drop to about 13 hours which is what you, as a language student did gilipies, so that's reassuring.
It's just my strong point is speaking. I was the only person in my year to choose Spanish so I've had two years of private Spanish lessons - in Spanish! So I've learnt to love speaking it and chatting in Spanish. Hopefully I can do that with other students now at uni. I'm just going to miss the informality I s'pose. Thanks again! x

Reply 5

βored

14

xJessx

Hi,
I'm an A2 student and am hoping to go to uni in September. From what I've heard, uni is about 80% independant study (I'm guessing) and I'm a bit worried about that! It's not that I can't work alone, it's just I don't like it. I like working in a team and communicating. It's why I picked languages in the first place! I like debating stuff and talking about things and sharing ideas in a class but now I have images of me sitting in the library alone all the time, being bored and not having enough direction. It'd be like being thrown into the deep end since my sixth form is very small (there's only 120 of us) and we get a bit spoilt, we're spoonfed everything and I always enjoy having classes because they're so informal and we always have a laugh. I'll just miss it, that's all. Anyone have any experience in this?

I sort of feel the same way. My class sizes are curently 4-5 people and we all know each other, help each other, and get on really well with the teacher so if we don't understand something then we'll just ask them to go over it again or explain it a different way. It'll be odd to go from that environment that to a lecture hall with hundreds of people. :s-smilie:

Reply 6

AllyDay

Hi

you'll find that most courses have tutorial groups of around 10-20 people a couple of times a week which will give you more guidance and a classroomy feel! i think also when you're about to go to uni you have a vision of being dropped in the deep end but its really not that bad theres lots of help if you need it :smile:

x

Reply 7

coldplasma

16

The reason independant study is that high is because there is just simply not enough contact time availible. Lecturers are there to introduce concepts and act as a guide. They are really just there to take the horse to water and it's up to you to drink.

Reply 8

Miss Monkey

10

xJessx

Hi,
I'm an A2 student and am hoping to go to uni in September. From what I've heard, uni is about 80% independant study (I'm guessing) and I'm a bit worried about that! It's not that I can't work alone, it's just I don't like it. I like working in a team and communicating. It's why I picked languages in the first place! I like debating stuff and talking about things and sharing ideas in a class but now I have images of me sitting in the library alone all the time, being bored and not having enough direction. It'd be like being thrown into the deep end since my sixth form is very small (there's only 120 of us) and we get a bit spoilt, we're spoonfed everything and I always enjoy having classes because they're so informal and we always have a laugh. I'll just miss it, that's all. Anyone have any experience in this?

I felt a LOT like this when I was in year 13. My year group was very small (maximum 80) and I was very much the favourite :wink:

We weren't always spoonfed academic stuff because some of the teaching was pretty dire, but we were supported in many other ways. Now I'm here I have found the workload has increased a lot, but a lot of that is the work I tell myself I am going to do. In theory that should make the pressure less, but it makes me more stressed because I can't just do my homework for example and think that's enough. However after a term I have got much more used to it and am really enjoying myself.

My lectures are massive (~400, except Stats were more like 50 turn up lol), but we get tutorials and some other sessions in our tutorial group (11 people) which are usually really fun! Practicals are normally about 50 people in each with lots of demonstrators walking round to help you if you get stuck, so you're not really 'on your own' as such. I'd say the courses where you are on your own at King's are things like History and English where you don't get much teaching time at all.

I spent the last few months of year 13 fretting about leaving because I loved it so much, and even now I miss it occasionally, but I still pop back in every now and again to say hello which is lovely.

Reply 9

LA_0909

13

Although I can't comment on what uni is like, I'm surprised that you said 120 is a small Sixth form? Maybe it's just me we only have like about 80 in ours.

Reply 10

xJessx

OP

18

I actually go to two sixth forms becasue my original one didn't offer law. I know it's strange but my second sixth form where I study law is a huge sixth form with about 1000 students. It's about the same size as a secondary school and I thought this was the norm. Maybe not?

Reply 11

sarCAZm

11

I'm a bit

about that too. I've rare for 6th formers in my school to have classes larger than 10 people, and its usually a lot less. My 6th form has about 60 people..so 120 isn't that small :P

Reply 12

buttercup_10

sarCAZm

I'm a bit

about that too. I've rare for 6th formers in my school to have classes larger than 10 people, and its usually a lot less. My 6th form has about 60 people..so 120 isn't that small :P

My 6th form has about 1800 people, so I'll be used to larger classes! Theres about 18 people in each of my classes. It's going to make tutorials etc a bit daunting!