Being a final year student isn’t easy – firstly, because the workload seems to triple and every other aspect of your life (jobs, relationships, etc) add themselves to the pile and nothing ever seems to get done! This is one problem I am going to address.
The second is coming to terms with the prospect of leaving university; it can be one scary thought. But here are a few ways to a) keep on top of life (and dissertations), and b) start thinking about your life after uni.
Dissertation, Friends, Work, Study…Aaaaargh!
Don’t worry. Keep calm!
Yes, its a bit hectic at the moment isn’t? But don’t worry, there is a solution. Unlike previous years of study, this one requires a little more organisation than before. If you feel like your swimming in a sea of lectures, coursework, and a dissertation you haven’t even started yet, then its time to get a just a little bit anal retentive!
Buy yourself a diary and make a detailed timetable showing all your activities during the week. Once you’ve written in all the time you spend doing things like food shopping, socialising, working (earning the monies), and even stuff like surfing the internet, you’ll be able to see how much time is left over for studying.
If there isn’t enough time in reserve then all you need to do is take out some time from something else to balance it out. This may seem harsh, no one wants to tell their friends they can’t go out dancing because they need to study (and usually one is persuaded to go out anyway!) but sometimes it needs to be done.
But most of the time you’ll find it won’t be that drastic, its usually as simple as taking out half an hour here from playing on your Playstation, and another hour here from going to the pub. Its just a matter of making sure the time doesn’t run away! You have to think of hours as if they were money – be frugal!
That Which Must Not Be Named – The Disso!
Because it’s unlike any other bit of work you’ve had to do at uni (and it’s a bit scary), it tends to get forgotten about.
I always find that once I’ve done all the work for my other modules, its as if the dissertation doesn’t exist and I end up hanging out with friends or playing on my Playstation. It always gets to the weekend while I’m frantically button-mashing on my PS controller, doing some serious devil-hunting, before I realise: “Oh right! My dissertation!”.
The way I try to tackle this is by treating it like any other module I need to do work for. I do bits of work for it for certain days, (reading a book, or an essay, or making notes) as I would if were doing work to prepare for a lecture on a certain day. That way I keep it in the forefront of my mind, and it gets the same level of attention as all my other studying. And it works, too!
The other important thing to remember about dissertations is that they are usually a lot less scary than they seem. Remember, a dissertation is merely an extended essay, or just a longer version of what you do for all your other assignments.
For example, for my English degree, instead of writing a two or three thousand words for a piece of coursework, I have to write ten thousand words for my dissertation. It sounds intimidating at first, but it really isn’t as difficult as you think to increase the word count – remember all those times you had to savagely cut out some of your favourite paragraphs just to make the essay fit the word limit?
Well, now you won’t have to. You can keep those extra points you wanted to make. Think of the dissertation as the essay or coursework you always wished you could do. Here, you not only get to pick the question, you get a word count that gives you the freedom to say more than you ever could before in just the way you want to put it. So just go for it!
The Future is at Hand!
Ever since you started uni you have probably had a rough idea what you wanted to do when you finished your degree. But of course things change, you change, and so do your ambitions.
When I started my English degree I was absolutely certain I wanted to be a novelist. In my second year I was certain I wanted to be a journalist. Over last summer I thought I wanted to direct films. Now I think I might be a lecturer in a university. But I still haven’t decided! And I’m sure your not 100% sure either. But that isn’t unusual at all.
Some people don’t decide until after they graduate and choose to take a gap year or start looking for jobs. And some people change careers three or four times during their lives and end up doing something completely different from their degree.
The important thing is not so much to decide exactly what you want to do after uni, but to think about it as much as possible, explore the possibibilities, go see a careers advisor and try doing, and getting experience in, lots of different things. That way you’ll be prepared for the workplace once you leave and be able to make a more informed decision.
Also, don’t be worried if you find you can’t get your dream job right away. Maybe you need to do another course, or get experience doing an internship, but can’t afford to do those things unless your earning. I know a good few people who are currently working in something completely unrelated to their course just to earn some extra money for a year or so, then plan to go on to their ideal job.
Lots of people do this. So don’t worry if you find yourself having to start out in a slightly less than fascinating position.
There is always time to go for your dream job after you’ve got some monies!
The other thing to remember is that studying doesn’t have to end once your undergraduate degree is over. You can always do a masters degree, or some other post-graduate course.
Doing something like this might give you that extra bit of time you need to gain experience and learn more at university, giving you the chance to gain a little bit more perspective so that you can make the right decision about what you want to do.
Doing a post graduate degree could also give you the chance to specialise, and will help set you apart from other people (who don’t have a masters degree for example) when going for a job.
So there you go. Those are a few ways to beat the final-year blues. The key point is to stay positive and plan, plan, plan! That way you’ll stay organised, and calm, and be ready to face whatever lies ahead in your life after university. Good Luck!