Will university take over my life?

I am doing a gap year and I'm loving it. I've been doing travelling, working all over Europe, selling my art, engaging in nature hobbies, learning many new skills, being creative. But now university time is approaching and i'm becoming very anxious that my life will be over. I will be doing an economics degree and even though I'm no party/social person, I'm scared that education will leave me with no time for things i'm interested in. I like to paint for many hours at a time, go on very long walks etc.. i could do this while in college and get A*AA, but i'm scared university will be much more demanding and I'll be too school-tired to enjoy anything at all. Is uni life like this?

Reply 1

Anonymous #1

Original post by kolme

I am doing a gap year and I'm loving it. I've been doing travelling, working all over Europe, selling my art, engaging in nature hobbies, learning many new skills, being creative. But now university time is approaching and i'm becoming very anxious that my life will be over. I will be doing an economics degree and even though I'm no party/social person, I'm scared that education will leave me with no time for things i'm interested in. I like to paint for many hours at a time, go on very long walks etc.. i could do this while in college and get A*AA, but i'm scared university will be much more demanding and I'll be too school-tired to enjoy anything at all. Is uni life like this?

Very very unlikely.

Whilst it's expected that you study the standard 40 hours per week (most people do 20-30), it's not going to take over your life. It's also usually a lot more easy going that A Levels in my experience - not as intense and a lot more flexible.

If you ask anyone who did degrees in economics, they usually say A Levels was the more difficult time in their lives; some of these people even completed PhDs in economics and still claim this.

Having said the above, it's said some of the top universities tend to be a lot more demanding with their time and expect a lot more out of you. It would depend on which university you ultimately end up going to though.

If in doubt, I would check with students and graduates of economic degrees from the university that you would be applying to.

Original post by kolme

I am doing a gap year and I'm loving it. I've been doing travelling, working all over Europe, selling my art, engaging in nature hobbies, learning many new skills, being creative. But now university time is approaching and i'm becoming very anxious that my life will be over. I will be doing an economics degree and even though I'm no party/social person, I'm scared that education will leave me with no time for things i'm interested in. I like to paint for many hours at a time, go on very long walks etc.. i could do this while in college and get A*AA, but i'm scared university will be much more demanding and I'll be too school-tired to enjoy anything at all. Is uni life like this?

Hey there

The advice given above is very helpful- you should try and talk to someone at your university to see what they feel like with their academic commitments- potentially even someone who's doing/done your course.

Speaking generally though, I don't think you'll feel like you never have time for things outside of studies. University schedule isn't like college where you do have classes back to back from 9-3. It's more relaxed than that- sometimes I had only 1 lecture a day that lasted an hour and I had the rest of the day to do whatever I wanted. Even though some days you might find yourselves busier than other days, you'll never not have spare time. I've just graduated from law at Durham which is one of the top unis and law itself is notorious for having lots of reading but I always made time for other things. I had two-part time jobs, went to the gym every weekday for 2 hours, volunteered as an executive member for a society, went grocery shopping and cooked all my meals, and then had weekends free many times. If you don't have a part-time job, you'll probably have even more time than I did.

My boyfriend studied Maths at Durham and he had quite a hectic schedule with much more contact hours than me. He still found time for whatever things he enjoyed- from running to playing guitar to learning Japanese. So we both had different schedules but never gave up on our hobbies. You can do the same as long as you manage your time well. You may not be able to paint as often or for as long as you're doing now but you can definitely fit it in your schedule somewhere so your hobbies can go along with your studies :smile:

-Himieka

(edited 2 months ago)

Reply 3

ThatguyAl

16

Original post by kolme

I am doing a gap year and I'm loving it. I've been doing travelling, working all over Europe, selling my art, engaging in nature hobbies, learning many new skills, being creative. But now university time is approaching and i'm becoming very anxious that my life will be over. I will be doing an economics degree and even though I'm no party/social person, I'm scared that education will leave me with no time for things i'm interested in. I like to paint for many hours at a time, go on very long walks etc.. i could do this while in college and get A*AA, but i'm scared university will be much more demanding and I'll be too school-tired to enjoy anything at all. Is uni life like this?

I did Engineering, which is considered to be a very intense and demanding course. I also worked a part time job 20 hours a week at the same time, but even with that I always had some time for myself. I am a bit of a nerd to so I did spend most of that free time in the labs and at the library, reading/watching stuff about the engineering subjects anyway 🙄
I also participated int he Formula student competition which occupied a good full day each week, I'd also go to the gym occasionally, attend some fitness classes, bouldering, martial arts, etc etc. So yeah, you should be fine 😉

Original post by kolme

I am doing a gap year and I'm loving it. I've been doing travelling, working all over Europe, selling my art, engaging in nature hobbies, learning many new skills, being creative. But now university time is approaching and i'm becoming very anxious that my life will be over. I will be doing an economics degree and even though I'm no party/social person, I'm scared that education will leave me with no time for things i'm interested in. I like to paint for many hours at a time, go on very long walks etc.. i could do this while in college and get A*AA, but i'm scared university will be much more demanding and I'll be too school-tired to enjoy anything at all. Is uni life like this?

Hi there,

I believe that, depending on what you'd like to study and with good planning, university is a great place to work on many hobbies at a time, especially at the beginning. While in your final year, you may find it more of a challenge, but relative to full-time work, I believe that it is much easier, even if you work a part-time job. The key is to be organised.

All the best,
Jaz - Cardiff student rep

Reply 5

kolme

OP

15

Thank you so much for your input guys, I really appreciate it

Reply 6

University of Sunderland Student Ambassador

Official Rep

11

Original post by kolme

I am doing a gap year and I'm loving it. I've been doing travelling, working all over Europe, selling my art, engaging in nature hobbies, learning many new skills, being creative. But now university time is approaching and i'm becoming very anxious that my life will be over. I will be doing an economics degree and even though I'm no party/social person, I'm scared that education will leave me with no time for things i'm interested in. I like to paint for many hours at a time, go on very long walks etc.. i could do this while in college and get A*AA, but i'm scared university will be much more demanding and I'll be too school-tired to enjoy anything at all. Is uni life like this?

Hi there,

I would agree that you should talk to someone at the university you are going to, some unis have options on their website to speak to current students. I would say that it depends what course you are doing, for me as a medical student it's pretty full on, but I know for other courses they might only have 1 lecture per day. So I think for most courses there is alot of time to do things outside of university, but as I said before I would recommend that you chat to someone studying your course or see if there is any information about the course on the website.

I hope this helps,

Ellen
Uni of Sunderland
Y4 Medical Student

Original post by kolme

I am doing a gap year and I'm loving it. I've been doing travelling, working all over Europe, selling my art, engaging in nature hobbies, learning many new skills, being creative. But now university time is approaching and i'm becoming very anxious that my life will be over. I will be doing an economics degree and even though I'm no party/social person, I'm scared that education will leave me with no time for things i'm interested in. I like to paint for many hours at a time, go on very long walks etc.. i could do this while in college and get A*AA, but i'm scared university will be much more demanding and I'll be too school-tired to enjoy anything at all. Is uni life like this?

Hi @kolme

I understand your concerned as you would expect university to be much more intense than college, however most people I know, including myself, have found university to be much more flexible than A-levels.

I highly doubt university will take over your life, just make sure you maintain a healthy balance of studying and having your own free time. I personally spend a lot of time in the gym and have even had enough time to set up a business! The intensity various for different courses, however I'm more than certain you will be able to maintain your hobbies.

If you're still concerned, I would recommend going on your university website and see if there is a 'talk to current students' section. Your university may also set up Facebook groups where you can ask questions and talk to other future students.

Hope this helped, please feel free to ask me any questions,
-Sophia (Business and Management, First Year)

(edited 1 month ago)

Reply 8

Labradoodle1

16

Really depends on the specific uni and course. You will definitely have some free time, but not necessarily a lot - some degrees have huge workloads.

Reply 9

De Montfort University

Official Rep

16

Original post by kolme

I am doing a gap year and I'm loving it. I've been doing travelling, working all over Europe, selling my art, engaging in nature hobbies, learning many new skills, being creative. But now university time is approaching and i'm becoming very anxious that my life will be over. I will be doing an economics degree and even though I'm no party/social person, I'm scared that education will leave me with no time for things i'm interested in. I like to paint for many hours at a time, go on very long walks etc.. i could do this while in college and get A*AA, but i'm scared university will be much more demanding and I'll be too school-tired to enjoy anything at all. Is uni life like this?

Hey there,

I understand how you are feeling right now, but let me assure you that university will not take over your life!

As a Cyber Security student I have around 15 hours of scheduled classes per week. I am also working part-time and doing a few hobbies. Although I am first-class student and spend a lot time doing independent studying, I still do not experience any sufficient lack of time, and I am able to fit in part-time job, regular traveling (each time we have holidays), and my passions.

The key is good time management with proper study/life balance :smile:

Please, let me know if you have any questions.

Take care,
Ilya

Reply 10

Liverpool Hope University

Official Rep

19

Original post by kolme

I am doing a gap year and I'm loving it. I've been doing travelling, working all over Europe, selling my art, engaging in nature hobbies, learning many new skills, being creative. But now university time is approaching and i'm becoming very anxious that my life will be over. I will be doing an economics degree and even though I'm no party/social person, I'm scared that education will leave me with no time for things i'm interested in. I like to paint for many hours at a time, go on very long walks etc.. i could do this while in college and get A*AA, but i'm scared university will be much more demanding and I'll be too school-tired to enjoy anything at all. Is uni life like this?

Hi there,

I know some people have already given some great input, but I just wanted to share my experience with this!

University looks different for everybody, which is dependent on what course they are studying and what university they are attending. However, what I tended to do was treat university like a 9-5 job. If I was in university just in the morning time, I would go home and continue studying until around 5pm or doing whatever task I had to do. Then, I had my evening free. Obviously, this will chop and change depending on how much you have on academically, but always alter your day to suit your workload and leave enough time for yourself.

I would always recommend having at least one day per week where you do not complete any university work and leave that day just for you. It is really important to have a balance when you are at university as you are trying to minimise burn out as much as possible.

University is definitely a learning curve and can be a step up for some people if they have come straight from school/college. However, it is a great time to experiment with how you learn best and what works for you and your schedule.

I hope this can be of some help!

Estelle :smile:

Graduate Advocate

Original post by kolme

I am doing a gap year and I'm loving it. I've been doing travelling, working all over Europe, selling my art, engaging in nature hobbies, learning many new skills, being creative. But now university time is approaching and i'm becoming very anxious that my life will be over. I will be doing an economics degree and even though I'm no party/social person, I'm scared that education will leave me with no time for things i'm interested in. I like to paint for many hours at a time, go on very long walks etc.. i could do this while in college and get A*AA, but i'm scared university will be much more demanding and I'll be too school-tired to enjoy anything at all. Is uni life like this?

Hi @kolme!

I think it's important to point out that education at a university-level is very different from education at college/secondary school. For one, it's more independent - if you're doing a degree like Economics (and depending where you study), odds are you'll have relatively few contact hours in the week and a lot more self-study. So whilst university is full-time, it's very unlikely to take over your life. For the most part, you'll determine your own schedule and choose how to divide up your time between study/extracurricular activities.

Definitely try talking to any peers who have/are currently attending university. You'll get a better idea of how different people make university work for them within their own schedules.

Best of luck!
Eve (Kingston Rep).

(edited 1 month ago)

Will university take over my life?

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