Amy is a third-year combined Publishing Media student, who commutes to Uni everyday. Whilst being at Uni, she’s had a steady part-time job, visited Thailand, Venice… basically she’s travelled a lot, but still finds time to sit down and answer some of my questions. This week’s blog post is a short Q&A about managing workload and that commonality that all students share: stress! Each week a different piece of a Uni student’s life will be covered, whether it’s workload, relationships, friendships, etc. There is no definitive guide of managing these things, but all we can hope for is finding an imperfect balance.

Q: How do you think you’ve managed your workload over the last three years?

A: When I first start off a semester, I write out the dates of when I have assignments due. On my notes in my phone, I have a to-do-list for each week, and writing it all down makes me a feel a lot better. I can see where I am and what I have coming.

Q: Have you ever pulled an all-nighter?

A: Just once, but I don’t know if you could call it an all-nighter if it’s till 2am. It was a last minute thing, I was ill and I don’t recommend it to anybody. It was either first year or second year but touch-wood, it hasn’t had to happen in third year so far… I’ve learnt my lesson and no way am I doing that again. Too stressful! For essays, I know it’s not just writing time I have to plan for, but research as well, which can be the hardest bit.

Q: When has been the most difficult time? Why was it so difficult?

A: My first 4,000 essay was really hard. With Publishing I love the design modules most, where we design a guide book, or now a recipe eBook. Working with Adobe Creative Cloud which includes Photoshop, makes me excited for the future because that’s something I could see myself doing. Whereas essays aren’t my cup of tea. I have to be passionate about what I’m writing about to find that motivation and at Uni, there are a lot of essays! I can’t think of one specific difficult time in terms of workload, but whenever there’s an upcoming essay for a module, I start to feel dread. I’m definitely more of a creative person.

Q: Do you think your grades are reflective of the work you’ve put in?

A: Yeah, because when I put more effort in for a module I really enjoy, my grades are better. If I look over my grades over the past 3 years, I just do better in the design or magazine modules, as opposed to something more theoretical based. Although I put a lot of effort into a recent module where there was a huge essay, I was a bit disappointed with the result.

Q: Do you ever feel stressed?

A: I’m fine at the moment because we’ve just started a new semester (even though it’s our last!) and the first couple of weeks ease you in, but then I start to think about next week and realise I’ve got something due. So that stress starts to creep in. I don’t physically feel stressed but at the back of my mind, I know I am. I might not express it but deep down, I am.

Q: Do you think you deal well with your stress?

A: Not really, because when I get to that breaking point, I just start crying. I’ve always said, start your assignments far in advance and you’ll be fine, but I’ve got more modules than last semester, and it already feels like a lot. A lot of the work for my modules I have to work on at Uni because of the software that I can’t access at home. I have to spend a solid amount of time here to get things done, but then I have to factor in travel time as well because I don’t just live across the road.

Q: Would you have told your first year self to do anything differently?

A: Spend more time at Uni, because there aren’t the same distractions there as at home. I can’t just watch Netflix or play with my dog, so I would have got a lot more work done. Maybe I shouldn’t have worked as much, and took extra shifts, when I could have been working on an assignment. I think everyone looks back and thinks, I should have done this or that. But I’m happy where I am now.