{"id":34970,"date":"2026-03-03T15:55:32","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T15:55:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.york.ac.uk\/student-voices\/?p=34970"},"modified":"2026-04-21T08:07:33","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T07:07:33","slug":"what-i-wish-i-knew-before-studying-social-policy-at-york","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.york.ac.uk\/student-voices\/2026\/03\/03\/what-i-wish-i-knew-before-studying-social-policy-at-york\/","title":{"rendered":"What I Wish I Knew Before Studying Social Policy at York"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When I\u2019m working open days as an ambassador for the <\/span>School for Business and Society<\/span><\/a> in the Church Lane Building, the one thing that\u2019s always asked by prospective students is \u201cwhat should I expect?\u201d. As social policy is a subject not offered at GCSE or A-level, it is new to many people. This blog will detail what I wish I knew before studying social policy at York!<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"oma
Oma & I working an open day at the School for Business and Society<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A typical week in the life<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The \u201cjump\u201d from post-16 education, like A-levels and BTECs, to a degree is often spoken about<\/span>. But until I got to university, I didn\u2019t really know what that meant. From day one, the value of <\/span>independent study at university was obvious, especially since I only have 9 hours of timetabled sessions per week!<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For my degree, in <\/span>Criminal Justice and Social Policy<\/span><\/a>, I usually have <\/span>3 two-hour-long lectures and 3 one-hour-long seminars. T<\/span>his is a pretty standard timetable for most students at university. At York, it is recommended that students do 10 hours of work per credit,and each module is 20 credits<\/span>. Although it sounds like unlimited free time, the rest of my week is usually taken up by:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n