Levitate Student: Job & Study Balance

Guest Blog Interview with Oliver Bell (final year student at Heriot Watt University)

Oliver Bell (22), 2017 graduate of Heriot Watt University, talks to Levitate Student about his experience of working alongside his course.

Levitator - What are your thoughts on the importance of working alongside your course?

Oliver - Whether you have had a job prior to university or not it is of vital importance to continue or start working while at university. As well as building lots of transferable skills that your future employers will look for once you complete your degree. Also it is a great way to meet new people, especially if you are living away from home.

Ideally it is best to find a job that suits your schedule, having a job at university that takes up too much of your time will hinder both your social and academic components of your time at university. It is good to look at what the university has to offer internally. Jobs such as being a student ambassador rarely require any prior work experience and usually pay above minimum wage level. Shifts will not be regular but it’s a good way to fund some of those nights’ outs during term time.  

Levitator - Did the tutors guide against working? Or did they make suggestions about a max number of hours? In my experience tutor recommend no more than 16 hours per week - what do you think to those guidelines?

Oliver - I think it is advised at Heriot Watt, as it is more of a modern institution, that it is best to have a balanced university lifestyle. It does not have to be paid work as there are roles in societies

Levitator - Did you find work yourself or did you get help from others, did the university offer a jobs service to help students find work - did you or anyone you know use it?

Oliver - Yes they do. They have their own jobsite search area and a careers service which I have attended but I did not find any jobs I was interested in that way, I found my own opportunities.

Levitator - Are there any opportunities, that you were aware of, to work for the university - as a student ambassador for example?

Oliver - Yes there is, there are student ambassadors and everyone gets an email in their class school about the opportunities. There are also class reps. Also within societies as a coordinator this is also a paid opportunity.

Levitator - Did you work in holidays or alongside your course or both? Were your hours fixed or was it flexible.

Oliver - I have done all of them, and a mixture of the two. My hours have been flexible for many student ambassador roles. But had a fixed role working weekends in one of my semesters

Levitator - Did you feel you had to work in order to afford to be a student or chose to in order to make it more manageable or to simply build up your funds?

Oliver - I think it is important to manage your funds which puts less pressure on having to work. But it is good to have a break from studying and actually be in a workplace....even if it is just a café. Plus, adding to your funds is always a bonus!

Levitator - Did you choose to work to build up experience for your CV?

Oliver - The student ambassador roles were more to build up experience on my CV displaying more of an individual role, where many of the ideas are my own and building a team that I would work alongside. But as well as this working in café’s and other high street and more ‘typical’ student jobs are just as important in terms of the transferable skills that you can develop.

Levitator - what were the advantages/disadvantages of working alongside your studies?

Oliver - When working weekends, I found that there was pressure to do a lot of my studying and coursework during the week, as after getting in from an 8-hour shift there just is not the motivation left to then sit down and do some studying.

It is good for the networking side and meeting more people, and developing different circles of friends.

As long as you use a diary it should be good to plan a Zero-Hour Contract around your social and study activities. Just be organised and plan ahead

Levitator - Did you have any problems with understanding your tax/payslip - did you get any help with these matters if so who?

Oliver - Nope it was all fine, but I did ask my parents advice on a few matters (cannot remember them at the moment) But maybe that is just me. I’m sure your bank or student services at the university would be able to help with this.

Oliver concludes - My advice to all students no matter what year, it is really important to be proactive outside of your studies. University is an experience not just an education. Join societies do things that you are interested in and do not be afraid to do something different. But also remember it is usually never too late to participate in a lot different things. For example, missing football trials, contact someone at the club and see if you can attend training or a 7-a-side session. If you do not like it then that is perfectly normal - go and try something else!

There are so many opportunities that university life brings so do not miss out.

Levitate Student: Freshers - Not settling in? Want to Leave?

Moving to university is a big step and the transition is not likely to be completely without problems.

The vast majority of Higher Education students are school or college leavers many leaving home for the first time. However many students are from Overseas arriving in the UK for the first time. Other people are leaving or reducing paid employment to start or return to studying. Some are making a transition from welfare benefits as a main income source to student finance.

Whatever the changes of circumstance may be chances are things will eventually settle and your old routine will be comfortably replaced by the new.

But.....what if you just don't like it? Not a wobble from the transition but a genuine acknowledgment that the course, the university, the people or the town are not for you. You have changed your mind and want to leave or as it is commonly referred to in the Higher Education sector - withdraw.

If you have taken student loans to pay for the course then it is likely you have a very narrow window of opportunity to withdraw without paying the first quarter tuition fees.You may also be tied into the accomodation contract.

The university will cover your rights on withdrawing in their Student and General Regulations. These are equivalent to your university's Terms and Conditions - you should always know where to find these on your institutions webpages. 

Here are a couple of examples

University of Nottingham  - the window of opportunity for a new, home undergraduate to withdraw without first quarter fee payment is 3 weeks according to the Fee Regulations

Teeside University  - the window of opportunity for a new, home undergraduate to withdraw without first quarter fee payment is 2 weeks according to the Fee and Charges Regulations

So as you see the rules are not the same from institution to institution.

The rules may differ for Overseas students, self funding students, postgraduate students, part-time students. Accommodation contracts will vary depending on your provider.

So Be Wise

Check your university regulations and accommodation contracts to understand your consumer rights. 

Seek advice especially if the matter is complex or seems unfair.

Know where to find your university's complaints procedure.

Levitate Student: How I made my Uni Choices

Guest blog by Connor Brown Year 13 student

Connor

I personally started researching Unis earlier than most of my friends, perhaps around the start of year 11. At this stage I was just using University league tables like the Complete University Guide to get a list of the sort of Unis I might want to look up. For this I looked at how high Unis ranked in the subjects of German and French as luckily I knew this would be what I would want to study, but you can use these guides to look at student life, accommodation or a host of other criteria. Next came visiting the Universities' actual websites to look up the course content (for me this became the main way that I managed to narrow down my list, with Universities like Oxbridge and Exeter offering very traditional, literary-heavy courses that I really didn't fancy).

By the start of year 12 I had visited my first Uni outside of an Open Day when me and Mum went for an informal look around UCL. This sort of visit was enough for me to get a feel for the Uni but in truth I wouldn't recommend it as you don't get to find out much more about the course/accommodation without Open Day staff being there to talk to you. Nevertheless I knew after this visit that I could rule out UCL; for me it felt too small to offer what other Unis could.

By the middle of year 12 I had only four Unis that, based on League Tables and course content, I felt I wanted to see on an Open Day. All of my Open Days fell at the end of June/early July so as I had finished my AS exams by this point I had no trouble getting the time out of lesson. Where I was focusing on course and just the general 'vibes' I got from a place, my Mum was much more interested in accommodation, something I personally found difficult to judge having never lived away from home for any extended period of time.

Before I went on the Open Days my preference had changed quite a lot: UCL had been my favourite before I went to visit, and then Durham had been top for a long time until I received my prospectus and realised that the focus was yet again on literature. Here it's worth noting that you should order your prospectuses as early as possible as they do provide more information than you can find on the website (I personally felt a lot of the websites needed quite a lot of work doing to them). Also make sure you book your Open Days early as certain talks run out of places quickly, though on the day it's always worth turning up even if you couldn't book onto a talk/tour as they're often happy to let you in. 

By the time I visited Sheffield (my first Open Day) Newcastle had become a very strong contender. For me Sheffield ranked particularly highly for student life, having the best ranked Students' Union in the country, and the course was very flexible which was just what I was after, however the accommodation seemed pretty standard to me, with a strong emphasis on 'communal living' (a term which was to me oddly presented as a positive). However after my visit I could certainly see myself living there for 3 years of my life.

The next stop was Newcastle and as the Open Day was on a weekend I had enough time to explore the city. Newcastle seemed to combine the security and community of a campus with the diversity of a city, being a good next step between the town where I grew up and the big bad world. Newcastle ranked highly across the board but had particularly  special language facilities including a whole language library building offering language learning in 150 languages (including Klingon!). From this point I had decided that Newcastle would be tricky to beat, and the next day when we traveled the short distance to Durham I was in a way relieved that I found the course and the collegiate system a bit too traditional for it to challenge Newcastle (I actually walked out of a college tour when our guide started talking about the odd blindfolded dinner on offer), although it couldn't be denied that there were less concrete monstrosities on Durham's campus compared to Newcastle.

By the final Open Day which happened to be Lancaster Uni I was convinced I had my firm and insurance Unis settled. Lancaster did have a modern beauty about it which surprised me - the architecture fit perfectly with its rural surroundings (Mum thought it looked like Center Parcs) - however I felt I would miss having a city on my doorstep and I might feel quite isolated. Then, however, I went to speak to the languages teachers. The languages talk had been interesting but had told me little new, so I would always recommend actually speaking to the teachers and coming prepared with a few questions. My main question was unsurprisingly about literature, and I was delighted to hear that if I took a third language I could miss it out almost completely.

On to the accommodation tour and it was clear that Lancaster had had a revamp, although I'm looking forward to hopefully going back again on a post-offer day to try to find some of the older rooms to see if they're just as nice. By the end of the day (and of my Open Days as a whole) I had my top 2: Newcastle and Lancaster. Although Newcastle stayed my top, this was still quite a departure from UCL and Durham which had been my favourites in year 11. The fact that I had changed my mind so much proves the importance of Open Days. My parents' top choice? Me and Dad were in harmony but Mum thought Lancaster would at least offer her peace of mind, with me being secure in a campus where compared to Newcastle I wouldn't even have to cook for the first year if I didn't want to.

Shortly after my Open Days the arduous process of UCAS began. Regardless of the amount of money they put into the site it remains confusing (I had to watch some of their videos describing what you have to do on each page), with the section adding all your qualifications being particularly time-consuming. The personal statement that goes along with UCAS will take hours to complete and several redrafts, having to fit why you would be the perfect student, what you 

love about your chosen subject and why you want to go to Uni in the first place into only 4000 character (with spaces) seems impossible at the beginning, but keep calm and eventually you'll manage it. Just remember that it's not the be all and end all, your grades are still what count.

Now I'm at the stage where, as long as I get the offers, I have made my University choices, and that is a huge relief! You get to choose 5 Unis to put down at the first stage (for this part there is nothing wrong with putting down Unis that you haven't visited), and then by March you have to decide on your firm and insurance choice, the insurance usually asking for a least one grade lower. Almost everyone changes their mind along the way which can be pretty stressful but is also really exciting, and having had a look around 3 Unis which I could happily go to I can't wait for this next stage in my life.