University average day

What is an average university day like? I am going to be studying a social science and would like to know. I am aware that it varies A LOT which is why I’d like collective insight.

I have questions about uni life:
1. How long are the breaks in between your lectures or seminars?
2. What is the longest break you’ve had in between two classes/ seminars/ lectures?
3. Is it possible to have 2 classes in a day where 1 is at the morning at (example), 10am, while the other is at like 5 or 7 pm?
4. Do universities even do lectures in 1 single day at two very different timings? (like one in the morning and one in the evening?)

Reply 1

jonathanemptage

21

Original post by 000111bhqd

What is an average university day like? I am going to be studying a social science and would like to know. I am aware that it varies A LOT which is why I’d like collective insight.

I have questions about uni life:
1. How long are the breaks in between your lectures or seminars?
2. What is the longest break you’ve had in between two classes/ seminars/ lectures?
3. Is it possible to have 2 classes in a day where 1 is at the morning at (example), 10am, while the other is at like 5 or 7 pm?
4. Do universities even do lectures in 1 single day at two very different timings? (like one in the morning and one in the evening?)

1/ Between lectures you have usually about 15 mins.
2/ The longes i had was a 9 hour break 9-10 am break 6-7pm
3/ See above
4/ Again see above

Just so you know I ddi electronic engineering.

Reply 2

martin7

20

Original post by 000111bhqd

What is an average university day like? I am going to be studying a social science and would like to know. I am aware that it varies A LOT which is why I’d like collective insight.

I have questions about uni life:
1. How long are the breaks in between your lectures or seminars?

Typically a "one hour" lecture is 50 minutes, leaving 10 minutes to get from one lecture to the next. Practice will vary between universities -- but at the one I attended, teaching started at five minutes past the hour and ended at 5 minutes to. So a "9am lecture" in practice started at 09:05 and ended at 09:55.

2. What is the longest break you’ve had in between two classes/ seminars/ lectures?
3. Is it possible to have 2 classes in a day where 1 is at the morning at (example), 10am, while the other is at like 5 or 7 pm?

It's perfectly possible to be timetabled in both the first teaching hour of the day and the last.

4. Do universities even do lectures in 1 single day at two very different timings? (like one in the morning and one in the evening?)

Yes.

Timetabling at a university is a monumentally complex undertaking. You have to factor in the availability of the students (a student can't be in two different lectures at the same time); the availability of the lecturer (they also can't be in two places at the same time, but they might also have other constraints -- e.g. research days, only working part-time, etc); plus availability of suitably-sized lecture theatres, seminar rooms, laboratories, computer rooms, etc).

Original post by 000111bhqd

What is an average university day like? I am going to be studying a social science and would like to know. I am aware that it varies A LOT which is why I’d like collective insight.

I have questions about uni life:
1. How long are the breaks in between your lectures or seminars?
2. What is the longest break you’ve had in between two classes/ seminars/ lectures?
3. Is it possible to have 2 classes in a day where 1 is at the morning at (example), 10am, while the other is at like 5 or 7 pm?
4. Do universities even do lectures in 1 single day at two very different timings? (like one in the morning and one in the evening?)

Hi @000111bhqd,

1. Breaks in between can be an hour or no break whatsoever I had this year a lecture at 9-11 and then 11-1 however my first lecture would usually finish a bit before so we would have a break. For breaks in general - I either have one lecture a day or two lectures a day - for one lecture it is usually two hours or four with both of them having breaks for you to get up and move around, go to the toilet or go get some food. For my lectures we as a class decide kind of when we wish to have a break for example if were about to learn a new section in the lecture we would most likely do a break beforehand and then start up again. Breaks in my lectures usually last 5-15 mins.

2. Longest break would be an hour

3. I think this can be possible depending on the universities and the courses available - for my course the latest you would finish is 5/6pm

4. I haven't found that for my course that happens it may happen but I think for my course they try and put the lectures close together so that you don't have massive gaps.

Hope that helps and answers all of your questions, let me know if there is anything else I can help with! :smile:

Rebecca
2nd Year Geoeonvironmental Hazards Student

Original post by 000111bhqd

What is an average university day like? I am going to be studying a social science and would like to know. I am aware that it varies A LOT which is why I’d like collective insight.

I have questions about uni life:
1. How long are the breaks in between your lectures or seminars?
2. What is the longest break you’ve had in between two classes/ seminars/ lectures?
3. Is it possible to have 2 classes in a day where 1 is at the morning at (example), 10am, while the other is at like 5 or 7 pm?
4. Do universities even do lectures in 1 single day at two very different timings? (like one in the morning and one in the evening?)

Hi there

Social science student at Cardiff Uni here!

It does vary. What exactly are you planning on studying? Where? I usually would only have around 2 lectures/seminars a day and I've always had at least an hour or two break between them. You can have classes spread out e.g. one at 9 am and one at 3 pm. I've never really felt overbooked or like I'm rushing around. During breaks, my accommodation isn't far but we are located close to the city so I can go into town or one of the libraries, Student Union or Centre for Student Life.

I hope this helps

Jaz - Cardiff Uni Rep

Hi there,

I'm journalism student graduating from UCLan this year and here is my personal experience about the schedule at uni:
1. Normally I get 10 - 15 minutes break in between if I've got a long lecture and I always use the break to get a coffee from the refectory
2. The longest break I had between the lecture and the seminar/workshop of the same module was an hour and a half, which is like a long break during lunch time, so I either go back to my accommodation to cook or grab something from the shop and go to library to prepare for the next session.
3. Personally I don't have the experience of having one class in the morning and having another late in the evening, but I've heard some students from foundation year have that kind of schedule set up. To be honest, I think the university will try to avoid such situation, so don't be too worried.

If you have any more questions regarding university life, send me a message and I will be happy to answer.

Best wishes,
Sophia

Reply 6

jonathanemptage

21

Original post by UCLan Ambassador

3. Personally I don't have the experience of having one class in the morning and having another late in the evening, but I've heard some students from foundation year have that kind of schedule set up. To be honest, I think the university will try to avoid such situation, so don't be too worried.

I wouldn’t be worried at all I had that and was great I could get any work or studying I needed do ad still have time for a good lunch and play some video games or watch some TV or what ever and be fully rested for my later lecture and then whatever i wanted to do that evening. I also had the next day totally free which was nice.

However i can see it would be irksome if I was commuting.

Original post by 000111bhqd

What is an average university day like? I am going to be studying a social science and would like to know. I am aware that it varies A LOT which is why I’d like collective insight.

I have questions about uni life:
1. How long are the breaks in between your lectures or seminars?
2. What is the longest break you’ve had in between two classes/ seminars/ lectures?
3. Is it possible to have 2 classes in a day where 1 is at the morning at (example), 10am, while the other is at like 5 or 7 pm?
4. Do universities even do lectures in 1 single day at two very different timings? (like one in the morning and one in the evening?)

Hey there @000111bhqd !
It completely depends on what your course is like and how many timetabled hours it says you have. For example, my course is assessed solely on coursework and I do three modules a semester. With one lecture in each module lasting an hour and a seminar for each module lasting two hours each, my timetabled hours are 9 hours a week but you end up doing a lot more work outside of that in order to pass. This isn't the same for every course and I imagine a course like nursing would probably be a lot longer and you'd be on placement quite a lot.

To answer your questions:
1) It depends on the day, sometimes i have 2 hours and sometimes I have 5. Other times I'll only have one timetabled session a day so just come in and go home after that.
2) The longest break I've probably had is I had a lecture which ended at 10AM and then I didn't have anything else until 3PM. I do have some friends that have had gaps such as finishing in the morning at 10AM and not being back at university until 5PM.
3) Yes that's definitely possible. I've had an 11-12 before, followed by a 3-6. Depending on your course, some lectures do finish quite late.
4) I've had two different semesters where there have been timetabled sessions of one in the morning and one in the evening. If you live close to campus it's great because you can go home. If you don't then you could always just go to the library in between or meet up with some friends.

Hope this helped!
Lucy - Digital Student Ambassador SHU

Reply 8

University of Strathclyde Student Ambassador

Official Rep

14

Original post by 000111bhqd

What is an average university day like? I am going to be studying a social science and would like to know. I am aware that it varies A LOT which is why I’d like collective insight.

I have questions about uni life:
1. How long are the breaks in between your lectures or seminars?
2. What is the longest break you’ve had in between two classes/ seminars/ lectures?
3. Is it possible to have 2 classes in a day where 1 is at the morning at (example), 10am, while the other is at like 5 or 7 pm?
4. Do universities even do lectures in 1 single day at two very different timings? (like one in the morning and one in the evening?)

Hi @000111bhqd
As you said it varies a lot and so although you have had a few responses I'll add my experience too. I studied BA(Hons) History and Law with an Education elective in year 1.

When I had chosen the modules I was taking each often had set lecture times and then I selected a tutorial and seminar group which all had different time. Therefore, I effectively made my timetable and got more choice on the break length.

1. Breaks between lectures and seminars varried between years and classes. In first year a class timetabled all seminars straight after the lecture and so we went straight there with essentially no break and just the walking time. Some classes have a policy to start 5 mins late and end 5 mins early to allow for moving around campus but others didn't and would start bang on the time or end long after.
2. Breaks between some lectures and seminars and other classes could be short and other times days in between. It is all down to the timetabling of the uni.
3. It is possible to have 2 classes in the same day and indeed possible to have more than that. Depending on whether classes have elective seminars and when set lecture times are you could have one a day or indeed several back to back/
4. Yes, lectures and classes can be early and late. In my second year I had a 9am lecture for History, a tutorial mid-day and then a law lecture at 4pm.

Overall, your timetable throughout your degree will likely be varied. Social sciences tend to often have less on-campus taught hours compared to science and engineer subjects and more of your time will be reading and independent study. Due to the large task of timetabling all students and assigning classes rooms on campus timetable information is usually one of the last things you will receive before starting uni. It can be frustrating for trying to forward plan but generally once you have it, it doesn't change, so try to stay calm and patient.
All the best - Catherine (University of Strathclyde Student Ambassador)

Original post by 000111bhqd

What is an average university day like? I am going to be studying a social science and would like to know. I am aware that it varies A LOT which is why I’d like collective insight.

I have questions about uni life:
1. How long are the breaks in between your lectures or seminars?
2. What is the longest break you’ve had in between two classes/ seminars/ lectures?
3. Is it possible to have 2 classes in a day where 1 is at the morning at (example), 10am, while the other is at like 5 or 7 pm?
4. Do universities even do lectures in 1 single day at two very different timings? (like one in the morning and one in the evening?)

Hello @000111bhqd!

I am a former Psychology student from Bath uni - I can see you've got some fab answers on here already but I just thought I'd jump in to see if I can help :smile:

1. Your timetable will vary a lot depending on how your modules are structured, so it varies a lot. Personally in my first year on my busiest day I had 2 lectures in the morning from 09.15-11.05, and from 11.15-13.05 which were 10 minutes apart (this was perfectly manageable as Bath's campus is quite small, and so anywhere here is walkable in 10 mins!), followed by a third class in the afternoon 3 hours later at 16.15-17.05...

2. ... However, I also had one day in my 2 week timetable when I did not have any classes! So the longest break for me between 2 classes was a whole day in this case. I tended to use this day to work on my assignments and would also sign upto work on events on and off-campus as part of my student ambassador job.

3. Yes, it is possible to have one early class and one late class in the same day. I remember one particular day in my final year, when I had a lecture at 08.15-09.05, and another at 17.15-18.05! I actually found this quite helpful - as I lived at home in my final year I would come up to campus for my morning lecture with my laptop and books, and stay there to do some work in the library, catch up with some course friends etc, then go home after my evening lecture. Quite a few people from my course chose to do those 2 modules, so would have a similar routine; often a group of about 3 of us would end up getting the bus back to town together.

4. Yes! As @martin7 mentions, timetabling is very complex and often it is done by a computer algorithm taking into account many factors, including the combinations of modules you have. So depending on what modules you take you may well end up with one very early and one much later lecture. I would say however, that the variety in how my days were structured in terms of lectures and seminars was one thing I really enjoyed about university, and I never felt overwhelmed in any given day. Once you get your timetable (at Bath, we have these on our phones on the MyTimetable app the university help us set up, and generally repeats every 2-weeks) you can look at it and plan in between your lectures when you want to do some work, see friends, and maybe meet with a society if this is something you choose to do :smile:

I hope that helps - very best of luck in starting at University. If you have any more questions please post away!

Holly
University of Bath

(edited 10 months ago)

Reply 10

University of Sunderland Student Ambassador

Official Rep

11

Original post by 000111bhqd

What is an average university day like? I am going to be studying a social science and would like to know. I am aware that it varies A LOT which is why I’d like collective insight.

I have questions about uni life:
1. How long are the breaks in between your lectures or seminars?
2. What is the longest break you’ve had in between two classes/ seminars/ lectures?
3. Is it possible to have 2 classes in a day where 1 is at the morning at (example), 10am, while the other is at like 5 or 7 pm?
4. Do universities even do lectures in 1 single day at two very different timings? (like one in the morning and one in the evening?)

Hi there,

Usually between lectures you get 10-15 mins depending on the course. The breaks depend I think, I personally have only had 2 hours break maximum.
It is definitely possible to have classes where 1 is in the morning and one in the afternoon/evening, again it depends entirely on your course as to whether this happens.

I hope this helps

Ellen
Y3 Medical Student
University of Sunderland
Digital Ambassador

Reply 11

Lancaster Student Ambassador

Official Rep

15

Original post by 000111bhqd

What is an average university day like? I am going to be studying a social science and would like to know. I am aware that it varies A LOT which is why I’d like collective insight.

I have questions about uni life:
1. How long are the breaks in between your lectures or seminars?
2. What is the longest break you’ve had in between two classes/ seminars/ lectures?
3. Is it possible to have 2 classes in a day where 1 is at the morning at (example), 10am, while the other is at like 5 or 7 pm?
4. Do universities even do lectures in 1 single day at two very different timings? (like one in the morning and one in the evening?)

Hey,

For reference, I did criminology at Lancaster.

1. The breaks could really vary. Taking my 3rd year timetable, sometimes I'd have no breaks, sometimes they were 3-4 hours. I never had a full 9-5 day though.

2. My longest break was probably 5 hours. I just used it to do a load of work and prep.

3. Yes it is totally possible. It all depends on lecturer avalibility and you module combo

4. Timetabling can be wild at points, they have to schedule hundreds of classes. I just would use the time to stay on campus and work or catch up with friends.

It can obviously vary massively by course, but I usually had 8-10 contact hours a week and the rest was independent study.

Hope that helps,
Kat

Original post by 000111bhqd

What is an average university day like? I am going to be studying a social science and would like to know. I am aware that it varies A LOT which is why I’d like collective insight.

I have questions about uni life:
1. How long are the breaks in between your lectures or seminars?
2. What is the longest break you’ve had in between two classes/ seminars/ lectures?
3. Is it possible to have 2 classes in a day where 1 is at the morning at (example), 10am, while the other is at like 5 or 7 pm?
4. Do universities even do lectures in 1 single day at two very different timings? (like one in the morning and one in the evening?)

Hi there,

I'm a biology graduate so I'm not sure specifically for social sciences but I'm hoping (alongside everyone else's helpful responses) that I can give you some extra insight. As has already been highlighted, timetables will vary for different courses, different universities, times of the year and days of the week.

1. Lectures are typically 50 minutes so you have 10 minutes to get to your next lecture/seminar if you have one straight after. You can have seminars/lectures/practicals that are longer than an 'hour' but it works out in same format to give you the last 10 minutes of the hour to get to somewhere else if you need to.

2. I have had 'days off' where there were no classes, so I'd say over 24 hours. There's also not usually any classes on the weekend so you get over 48 hours break if you had a class Friday and then Monday next week.

3. Yes, this was very common for me. I've had a class at 8:30am and the next was at 4:30pm. So usually I'd use that time to either study in the library or go home to study and have lunch. For my University, no lectures were after 6pm.

4. Yes. As you'll likely be undertaking multiple modules you could have one for one module in the morning and one for a different module in the afternoon (or even both for the same module).

I hope this helps! If you have any other questions, then please don't hesitate to reach out :smile:

Bethan
University of Exeter Student Ambassador

Hi @000111bhqd,

I can see that you've already had loads of responses, but I thought I'd jump in as an upcoming third year Geography (BA) student at Chester.

1. This varies a lot, and sometimes I would only have one lecture a day. Some days I had lectures that finished at 10-11am, and another that started at 4-5pm, so I had a lot of free time in-between. Other days, I would have maybe an hour or half an hour in-between lectures.

2. My longest break was probably 5 or 6 hours between lectures, but this didn't occur regularly. My average break was probably 1-3 hours between lectures, which gave me plenty of time to organize my notes, grab some food, and head back to my accommodation for a break. I've also had days without lectures, but I would fill this time with independent study.

3. Absolutely, as I've said above. This wasn't the norm for me personally, but I did know other students who had this scheduled weekly.

4. Yes! Timetabling is complicated, but if you live close to or on campus you can go back to your accommodation, and if not, you can spend this time in the library/with friends.

It does vary, but I had between 9-12 contact hours a week. Hope this helps!
Isabella

Original post by 000111bhqd

What is an average university day like? I am going to be studying a social science and would like to know. I am aware that it varies A LOT which is why I’d like collective insight.

I have questions about uni life:
1. How long are the breaks in between your lectures or seminars?
2. What is the longest break you’ve had in between two classes/ seminars/ lectures?
3. Is it possible to have 2 classes in a day where 1 is at the morning at (example), 10am, while the other is at like 5 or 7 pm?
4. Do universities even do lectures in 1 single day at two very different timings? (like one in the morning and one in the evening?)

Reply 14

Manchester Met - Student Rep

Official Rep

15

Original post by 000111bhqd

What is an average university day like? I am going to be studying a social science and would like to know. I am aware that it varies A LOT which is why I’d like collective insight.

I have questions about uni life:
1. How long are the breaks in between your lectures or seminars?
2. What is the longest break you’ve had in between two classes/ seminars/ lectures?
3. Is it possible to have 2 classes in a day where 1 is at the morning at (example), 10am, while the other is at like 5 or 7 pm?
4. Do universities even do lectures in 1 single day at two very different timings? (like one in the morning and one in the evening?)

Hi there
Which uni are you off too ?
Best wishes
Emily

Original post by 000111bhqd

What is an average university day like? I am going to be studying a social science and would like to know. I am aware that it varies A LOT which is why I’d like collective insight.

I have questions about uni life:
1. How long are the breaks in between your lectures or seminars?
2. What is the longest break you’ve had in between two classes/ seminars/ lectures?
3. Is it possible to have 2 classes in a day where 1 is at the morning at (example), 10am, while the other is at like 5 or 7 pm?
4. Do universities even do lectures in 1 single day at two very different timings? (like one in the morning and one in the evening?)

Hey @000111bhqd

So this does really vary from course to course and uni to uni and also year to year but from my experience:
Lecturers at BCU do try to fit most of your lecturers into one or two days, which gives you a few full days of learning and then a few full days to do coursework, revise and work if you have a part time job.

The longest break I've had between lectures is about 5 hours. I never found that this was a problem as I would just go to the library and work. I'd find that these times were really productive and then after my last lecture I could just go home to relax. When you have back to back lectures, you'll have a 5-10 minute break to walk to your next room, go to the toilet etc.

At uni, I'd say you have be prepared for your schedule to change each term and each year but I always made it work!

Hope that helps :smile:

Abbie

Reply 16

8013

20

Original post by 000111bhqd

What is an average university day like? I am going to be studying a social science and would like to know. I am aware that it varies A LOT which is why I’d like collective insight.

I have questions about uni life:
1. How long are the breaks in between your lectures or seminars?
2. What is the longest break you’ve had in between two classes/ seminars/ lectures?
3. Is it possible to have 2 classes in a day where 1 is at the morning at (example), 10am, while the other is at like 5 or 7 pm?
4. Do universities even do lectures in 1 single day at two very different timings? (like one in the morning and one in the evening?)

1. Typically 1.5hr
2. The longest one I had before the upcoming term is 4.5 hours last term (Lab ends 11:50, lecture starts 16:30), but if I don't add anything for Wednesday or Thursday afternoon next term, it will beat the record (11:50 -> 18:00). If a module has more than one class, I may sit in other classes from time to time.
3. It may happen for my Wednesday or Thursday next term (see point 2)
4. Very rare, usually for make up classes.

Reply 17

Lancaster Student Ambassador

Official Rep

15

Original post by 000111bhqd

What is an average university day like? I am going to be studying a social science and would like to know. I am aware that it varies A LOT which is why I’d like collective insight.

I have questions about uni life:
1. How long are the breaks in between your lectures or seminars?
2. What is the longest break you’ve had in between two classes/ seminars/ lectures?
3. Is it possible to have 2 classes in a day where 1 is at the morning at (example), 10am, while the other is at like 5 or 7 pm?
4. Do universities even do lectures in 1 single day at two very different timings? (like one in the morning and one in the evening?)

Hi!
I've just finished my second year at Lancaster University. Although I don't study a social science, I can answer some of your questions.
As others have said, most universities allow 1hr long slots for 50 minute lectures to allow you time to move between lecture theatres/seminar rooms. You can definitely have two or even three or more lectures in a row, so this may mean you only get ten minutes break in-between.
For me, I've had classes at 9am and then 5pm, so you can definitely be stuck on campus for a while. In first year I lived in halls on campus so normally returned to my accommodation, but in second year I lived in town so spent this time in the library/other study spaces. I've found this to actually be really helpful in terms of getting work done, and I've definitely spent a lot more time collaborating with classmates this year. For me, the latest class I've had finished at 7pm, but most days the latest I'll finish is 6pm.
Hope this helps,
Becky (Lancaster University Student Ambassador)

Original post by 000111bhqd

What is an average university day like? I am going to be studying a social science and would like to know. I am aware that it varies A LOT which is why I’d like collective insight.

I have questions about uni life:
1. How long are the breaks in between your lectures or seminars?
2. What is the longest break you’ve had in between two classes/ seminars/ lectures?
3. Is it possible to have 2 classes in a day where 1 is at the morning at (example), 10am, while the other is at like 5 or 7 pm?
4. Do universities even do lectures in 1 single day at two very different timings? (like one in the morning and one in the evening?)

Hi!
I have just finished my first year at York St John University studying English Language and Linguistics. I was in uni 4 days a week and my lectures were an hour and a half long each, I would have around two lectures a day and these were very rarely back to back. I would usually have around 2 hours between each lecture but the longest I had was 6 hours (a 9am lecture and a 4:30pm lecture), I believe this also answers your other questions.
I hope this is helpful, feel free to reply with any other questions!
Faye :smile:

University average day

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