Counting down...

Yeah, I've got to figure out the paper thing.   

So are you in Exeter now or are you going over this summer?  Obviously you've spent a good amount of time there.  I'm so happy that you have had a good experience.  It gives me confidence that I will be able to adapt too.

Everybody has to go with their strengths and interests.  One of the benefits of a business degree is financial security!  Better salaries and more job opportunities are nothing to scoff at - especially when you have a knack for and experience in it.

I tried to go a "safer" route by becoming a teacher, but it was the wrong decision for me for many reasons.  I love learning, and teaching can really be fun - but either you have what it takes (infinate patience, a will of steel, a genuine love for the little buggers (I mean wonderful children!)) or you don't!  I was teaching AgScience in a high school.  The thing that bugged me the most was that the good kids - the quiet ones who actually were listening and interested - always got run off track by the few who were determined to derail everything.

Now I've picked a major that MAY or MAY NOT have actual jobs readily available at the end, but I don't really care.  It'll all be OK!  I've got so many degrees, I'm surely going to find SOMETHING. 

So, speaking of school supplies (and I'm reverting to my teens as I'm saying this) - what do university students carry their books in?  Backpacks or messenger bags?

I'm usually not the type of person who gets in fluff about this kind of stuff, but I'm having serious issues deciding what to get!  Backpacks (+) carry more stuff, better for your back (-) hello human turtle.  Messenger bags (-) get uncomfortable when overloaded (+) look cooler!

Yeah, I've got to figure out the paper thing.   

Not much to it really - you just buy paper that looks about the same size as US paper, but is actually a little bit longer (A4). The only issues you would have is if you need to print something on US-sized paper while in the UK (i.e. to send to the US for something official) or if you need to print on different sizes (i.e. posters, leaflets etc.), but if you're living in the UK anyway, you shouldn't need to worry about it . It took me about 2 months of using 8.5 x 11.5 inch US paper to even notice that the sizes were different!

Now I've picked a major that MAY or MAY NOT have actual jobs readily available at the end, but I don't really care.  It'll all be OK!  I've got so many degrees, I'm surely going to find SOMETHING.

The good thing about the UK is that having a degree is not as necessary for getting a job/career as it is in the US (obviously that does depend on the field though). But while, in the US, if you don't have a degree, it's difficult to find a good career, in the UK it doesn't matter so much. I know people who left high school at 16 to go into full-time employment and are now earning more money and have more job security than my friends who have degrees! 

So, speaking of school supplies (and I'm reverting to my teens as I'm saying this) - what do university students carry their books in?  Backpacks or messenger bags?

I'm usually not the type of person who gets in fluff about this kind of stuff, but I'm having serious issues deciding what to get!  Backpacks (+) carry more stuff, better for your back (-) hello human turtle.  Messenger bags (-) get uncomfortable when overloaded (+) look cooler!

Okay, first off, what books? 

If your classes are classroom-based, lecture-style, the only thing you'll need is a pad of paper and a pen. If they're out in the field or whatever you might need to bring a few other bits (water/food/umbrella/extra required supplies), but I can't see that you'll actually need to carry around books that often unless you plan to transport everything between your home and your department every day so you can do homework/reading on campus (not a common thing to do unless you have an office to work in - you might get assigned an office, but I'm not sure).

My entire undergraduate degree, I only purchased about 5 books and they spent most of the time on the bookshelf in my bedroom instead of actually being used! And during my masters I was in an office so any books I had stayed on my desk permanently and I didn't need to carry them anywhere.

I had a small backpack that I brought to campus with me, but that was because I commuted 15 miles each day and needed to bring a bottle of water and some lunch (plus my phone/wallet/keys etc.) as well as paper and pens. I usually did all everything in my office and tried not to take the work home with me unless I had to, so I rarely needed to transport books/papers around.

I found I didn't have a very difficult time adapting at all. I credit that mostly to being open about the fact that there are many things that are different and many things that are the same and many, many things that seem different, but really aren't. A car park or a parking lot; either way it's a place to park cars. 

As for the backpack vs messenger bag, I'm going to be either taking the bus or cycling. I have both (I'm a bag kinda girl!) but I think it'll depend on how much I'm schlepping to and from my classes. I'm hoping most of my reading can be done at home, as ksand24 suggested.

It's funny, the little things that pop into my mind about going back to school. Tonight's was: Ooooh, I suppose I will have to have my friend review my papers to ensure that I correctly include all appropriate letters such as the additional "u" or converting Zs to Ss. Then I realized that I have a computer and can just tell it to spell check with the UK dictionary. Wahoo!

Any comment regarding the amount of reading? A UK vs. US comparison would be nice. Social science students, please. 

I've just been looking through the "key reading and references" for my program (in the department of Art and Archaeology).  Each course has 6-7 books listed.

The "methods of assessment" range from short (2500-3000 word) essays upto 5000 words.  That's BEFORE the dissertation!  One for each class, so at least there that.

I've ordered a bunch of books from Amazon and Half.com in order to get a jump start on the process (especially the one that my major professor wrote!)

Well I will be attending the University of Manchester studying International Fashion Retailing.

I'm now nervous and kinda scared and excited. I have no clue what to expect and I would love to meet more people in my course.

nikki
 

Hey nikki!

First look online to see if your uni has your course prospectus available, or you can ask your department to send it to you.

I wish I could meet some of my colleagues too!

holly

Any comment regarding the amount of reading? A UK vs. US comparison would be nice. Social science students, please. 

I have found that there is more emphasis on initiative when it comes to 'required' reading in the UK versus Canada - not sure how that compares to the US. You have research relevant material and read it, pretty much left to your own devices, in my experience. My rule became about 10% of the word count for the relevant number of required references. Hope that helps somewhat - but I have no American experience to reference it to.

Hi mapleleafgirl, 

Can you please clarify what you mean by

 My rule became about 10% of the word count for the relevant number of required references.

Thanks!

Holly

Hi mapleleafgirl, 

Can you please clarify what you mean by

 My rule became about 10% of the word count for the relevant number of required references.

Thanks!

Holly

I mean, in my experience, that a 1500 word essay requires at least 15 references. Does that make more sense? 

I mean, in my experience, that a 1500 word essay requires at least 15 references. Does that make more sense? 

My masters thesis was 15,000 words and I used about 90 references in total, but I don't know if that was about average or not - I guess it also depends on the number of references available in the subject area of your paper.

I recently heard about an interesting difference between number of references needed for academic papers in different subjects - apparently in a Math journal paper, the fewer the references you have, the better (because it's generally the case that the area you're working on has only been studied/published by about 5-10 people in the whole world - it's that specialised), whereas in geology, you need as many references as possible and if you don't have 'enough' you will get criticised (presumably because you are expected to have researched absolutely everything that has ever been done, not just in your field but in the fields related to it in order to write the paper).

My masters thesis was 15,000 words and I used about 90 references in total, but I don't know if that was about average or not - I guess it also depends on the number of references available in the subject area of your paper.

My masters thesis was about the same, slighhtly less, maybe, and I used about 150 references in total, but they were of varying length because it is an understudied area - so few books, just small papers. Totally agree about the subject area issue.

 

I recently heard about an interesting difference between number of references needed for academic papers in different subjects - apparently in a Math journal paper, the fewer the references you have, the better (because it's generally the case that the area you're working on has only been studied/published by about 5-10 people in the whole world - it's that specialised), whereas in geology, you need as many references as possible and if you don't have 'enough' you will get criticised (presumably because you are expected to have researched absolutely everything that has ever been done, not just in your field but in the fields related to it in order to write the paper).

That's interesting! 

Thanks for the clarification mapleleafgirl!

So what's with the books listed under "key reading and references" on the syllabus?  I was assuming that they were the main sources from which papers should be researched.

I suppose they reference other works which can be used too.

Are certain book sections assigned at regular intervals or are you just supposed to read them all over the course of the semester?  

So what's with the books listed under "key reading and references" on the syllabus?  I was assuming that they were the main sources from which papers should be researched.

I suppose they reference other works which can be used too.

The key reading/references will likely be the bare minimum - the essential books that you will need to read for the course. The rest is up to you to research and find out what other papers/books are available in that area.

That's what they mean by 'more emphasis on independent study' - the assigned books will give you enough information to understand the topic and to pass the course, but that is by no means all there is to know nor the only thing you should read - you are expected to take the assigned reading as a starting point and then 'read around the subject' by yourself.

Are certain book sections assigned at regular intervals or are you just supposed to read them all over the course of the semester?  

That's another thing that's very course specific - you might not be assigned any book readings at all, in which case you would probably just read for your own benefit, or the lecturer might reference certain pages/chapters which contain more information about the topic, and you can go away and read up on it in your own time, or you might have regular discussion groups on different books/chapters - it's really going to be up to the professor in terms of how he/she wants to teach it and the structure of the degree.

In my experience in Physics, the lecturer would tell us, 'the course textbook is...' and then would never mention it again - it was up to us to decide whether we were going to use/read/reference it for ourselves!

So what y'all are saying is that I'm probably reading the last novel I'm going to have time for until my course is over! LOL