A Day in the Life of an Economics Student

Hi! My name is Rosita and I am a second-year Economics student. Today I’ll bring you along with me on what is a typical day at university.

7.30 am

This morning, I have a 9am seminar on Macroeconomics, which means that I need to wake up early in order to eat breakfast and not rush onto campus. Thankfully, I don’t often have 9ams, but sometimes it happens, especially with seminars.

After the Macro seminar, I have a one hour break before a Micro lecture. I decide to go to the Courtyard, the closest bar to the lecture venue, and order some coffee. After Micro, I have another lecture. This time Econometrics but thankfully in the same room!

I really enjoy the lectures here at York. The lecturers are really knowledgeable and are able to send the point across really well. Of course, there are sometimes things you don’t understand the first time! But if that happens you needn’t worry, because all the lecturers hold office hours so you can pop in and see them. These are really useful, especially when it’s time to revise for exams.

1pm

Today the Department of Economics is organising a Post-Offer Visit Day, and I’m working as a Student Ambassador. This means I get to speak to many students who have been accepted to the University of York and are visiting the campus in order to make an informed decision. Choosing the university you want to go to is a tough choice. Many applicants have questions that are best answered by the students in the Department, rather than online or by lecturers.

As an international student, I didn’t get to attend any Visit Days or Open Days, however many of my friends did and they always say how helpful they were! Especially because many students decide where to go to university not only taking in consideration their course content and other academic elements, but also taking into consideration the ‘feel’ of the university. The University of York is a campus-based university, which means that it functions with students in mind! This creates a sense of community and, in my opinion, really conveys everything that I expected the ‘university experience’ to be.

The Visit Day goes on until 4pm. Afterwards, I go home (I live off-campus, but thankfully the walk is quite short!) and have dinner with my housemates which gives us an opportunity to catch up on our day.

6.30 pm

Tonight the University has organised a careers event that includes a Non-Profit panel with professionals who have been working in the field for a long time. This gives students the opportunity to find out more about jobs and career paths. It’s really useful, even for a second-year student.

The panel is followed by a brief networking session. Networking at university is so important! This is why the University of York organises events like this very often, making sure that students come in contact with as many employers and employees with different backgrounds and different interests.

Tonight I get to speak with a couple of people who work in policy. Plus, a woman who works for a charity that deals with immigration and human rights violations.

9 pm

I come back home and my housemates and I decide to catch up on our favourite reality TV shows. Given our busy day, tonight we planned a chilled night in, but we’re really looking forward to the house party we’re hosting this weekend. We talk about what decorations we need to put up and what food we need to buy.

I didn’t have the chance to do much work today. Thankfully tomorrow morning, I don’t have any lectures, so I organise a library session with some coursemates.

Days at university really change from week to week, depending on what seminars you need to attend or what the university organises. If you decide to participate in sports or societies, that is true even more! But whatever you decide to get involved in, university offers the opportunity to try new things and pick up activities that you never thought you would try before.

Hopefully, this post helps you envisage what your life at university could be like!

Lots of love,
Rosita xx