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It might be common to have a part - time job or a temporary job when students are studying at universities back at your home country. There are also many British students work alongside their degree. But, it really is controversial whether working at the spare time would help a students. It is believed that undergraduates cannot balance between working and studying.
For international students who flew miles away from home like us, studying in a foreign country, to learn the cultural difference and to be educated in a completely new way are challenging. Adding an additional activity - working, to an international student life can be positive or negative, depending on how you manage your time and how you communicate with people. I believe international students would probably encounter more problems than local students when it comes to work as there are always some cultural differences hindering you to understand one another. My friend Janka worked for a short period of time in the second semester in her first year in Nottingham. She has some brainy advice to new students and, if your want to know how her time was like, just scroll down and watch the video, you will be able to listen to her story.
How on earth working alongside studies is like in Nottingham?
Here you see what a student thought about it...
'You have got to prioritise your time table, to have good time management to juggle betweeen the job and lectures.' - Janka, year1 Management studies and French.
Working for a part- time job whilst studying in a university is not as easy and fun as you had imagined. Impact, the official student-ran print magazine conducted a survey in March 'CAN YOU MAINTAIN YOUR DEGREE AND A PART - TIME JOB WHILST AT UNIVERSITY?' to investigate whether working for a part- time job can bring positive effect to undergraduates. Their survey reveals 92% of the students committed to a part - time job had been affected negatively to their studies.
Most of the respondents admitted the working hours were longer than the expected and was not as flexible as it was supposed. One thing to bear in mind is that we should not consider only whether you will have a clash in your timetable, but weather you are physically able to manage. One of the students told Impact 'I was working till 2 am on a Friday and it cancelled out most of Saturday because I was so tired. I felt exhausted after my shift and my work suffered from it". And, it seems a must to give up uni experience if you have decided to work. As Janka told us, she had no time to have a night out with friends, she had to give up the society she involved. It entirely depends on how important a job means to you, Impact had respondents telling them' the [university] experience and enjoyment is more important than money.'
A similar thought shared by many students who worked before, a job will definitely help you to grow, to gain new skills, earning money can absolutely help if you are motivated by finance too. However, it depends on what kind of job you get and your purpose for a job. A student regretted to have worked, because the job had no bearing on her future career. Same as Janka, she also wants to get a more relevant job to her course which can contribute to her CV.
Summarising opinions from current students, having a part time job does help a lot financially if you need the money and it does enhance your personal skills. However, these students have a common confession that it affects your degree more or less.
If you want to make the most from your time whilst you study in Nottingham, there is no harm to have a try, you can always quit the job if you do find it hard to balance. You will not know what happens to you if you do not try. Though, you better take Janka's advice - settle yourself down well at the beginning first, then, have a go and try, why not?
*Statistics referred to Impact survey. Courcy, Olivia D and Hazell, Will.(Mar,2014) "Student by day, waitress by night?" Impact. P.8-9.
- Speacial thanks for Janke for the sharing and the interview.