Curious to find out what a typical day is like for a Combined Honours student? Find out why Claudia chose to study her subjects, and what she thinks of the reality of student life...

Being a Combined Honours student means that day-to-day life at university is always varied: with different subjects, different people and different activities going on. This is something I love about studying a combined honours degree, as no day is the same. Here’s a day in the life for me, a final year Combined Honours student at Newcastle University:

7:30am

Wake up. I’m more of a morning person and prefer to wake up earlier and then have the evenings to relax! I’ll normally wake up around this time and head in to university for 9am. I live in West Jesmond and have a metro pass which makes it really easy to travel to campus – just 2 stops!

9:00

Chinese writing seminar. This is one of my harder seminars, where we practice Chinese writing. This involves learning new words and sentence structures that can then be used when we write essays. This is my only seminar of the day, which makes Wednesday’s generally my least busy day!

10:00-12:00

I enjoy having the morning free as I can catch up on work. I spend the morning in the LRC (learning resource centre) in the Old Library Building. The LRC is a nice place to do some quiet studying, and many Modern Language students come here to make the most of the resources.  

12:00-13:00

I meet some friends for lunch in the Henry Daysh Building. This building is new and hosts the new Combined Honours centre! You can find lots of quiet spaces to study here, as well as social spaces to chill out with your friends.

13:00-16:00

There are no lectures or seminars on Wednesday afternoons for any students. This time is used by many students in sports teams to play matches. It can also be used to catch up on work, for some volunteering or a part-time job, or just to have a mid-week relax! Today, I have a shift working with the Combined Honours School to help with their Offer Holder Day. My job is to guide groups of students and parents to different sessions and to answer any questions they have about the University. If you’re interested in working whilst at university, there are many casual work opportunities based on campus.

16:00-18:00

After the shift finishes, I spend the last few hours of the day in the Phillip Robinson Library. I work on some seminar preparation for one of my business modules, and a translation homework for French.

18:00-19:00

I’m part of the Yoga Society at the University, and most Wednesdays I take part in the Ashtanga Yoga at one of the churches in Jesmond. It’s a really relaxing way to finish the day, and the location means I can walk home straight after.

Evening

I’m having a relaxing evening tonight with no plans! My evenings vary day to day but normally, as I’m now a final year student, I prefer to have quiet nights during the week and go out at the weekend!

I hope this was a helpful insight into a day in the life of a Combined Honours student. Wednesday’s are my quietest day with normally 1 or 2 contact hours, but on busy days I can have 5 or 6. Like I said, every day is different. On some days, I’m busier with more seminars and lectures, and other days I’ll have a later start if I’m feeling a bit lazier!

Interested in finding out more about studying Combined Honours at Newcastle University? Discover the practicalities of studying different subjects, career prospects, and opportunities to study abroad in our Combined Honours subject page.