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Arghh the stress of uni
Former Member
Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
I'm so stressed out!! I'm in my 3rd year and there just seems so much to do! Getting in everything on time, and then getting the marks back...its just too much! My stomach is in knots all the time, with little waves of wanting to be sick when I think of something especially stressful! I feel like I'm just worried all the time!
I don't want to be a student anymore
I don't want to be a student anymore
Post edited by JustV on
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Stop moaning, wait til you've got a job.
I'll get out of bed at 10am and do your essay, and you can come and read this ten-page contract I've got to amend and approve by the close of business!
Exactly, its not until you've left it all behind till you really realise how fucking easy being a student really is.
I never was a student, but I do remember some of my old mates who were. They complained about essays and other shite when I was sometimes working 15, 16 hour fucking days, physical work. It gets right on my tits.
Don't even get me started on these degrees in event management and the like......excuse to get pissed, take drugs and have sex for three years at the taxpayers expense.
(I know some jobs require you to work from home but just as a general rule).
For the record I did go out and enjoy myself (I still do now) and I am not bitter at all, I wasn't intrested in going.
Sometimes I did 17 hour days when I was temping and had two jobs.
I'd prefer to go back to the summer, work all those hours and earn money rather than being put under all the stress I am at the mo. I'm doing more hours at the moment than I would in a full time job. I also have a part time job and have to work hard to finance my time at university. I rarely have time to myself.
I don't know how you can say being a student it "fuckin easy" based on the opinions of your friends. You haven't been a student yourself. As for easy degrees, I'm doing a Law degree thanks.
A dissertation is infinitely easier than a 9-5 regular job. My law degree was easier than my law job now, and I don't have an especially taxing law job.
It's not being "patronising" to point that out.
The pressure you put on yourself is a completely different matter though. I had a nervous breakdown because of it.
However, Sophia can I just remind you that it's best to avoid flinging insults when someone is causing a nuisance - as you don't want to end up undermining your points.
Being in the third year of uni is a big deal and not something to be snorted at. Working life and student life both have their own pressures which often show themselves in very different ways.
Kangoo, you may find TheSite's article on Student Stress has some helpful info, aswell as this one on student health services which includes a link to help for students in distress.
Although it is the third year, it's still really important that you take time out to do the things that you enjoy, and things you know will help you relax - especially as if you are stressed all the time it may inevitably affect the quality of your work as the chances are you won't be thinking straight.
You may find this article on study motivation helps you to balance things more evenly and find more constructive ways of studying that help you to feel more confident.
Finally: speak to your tutors! It can really help to ask for general feedback and tips from the masters themselves.
I hope this helps - take care and of course feel free to sound off about how you're feeling as much as you like
It's not even as if kangoo has come on here saying "oh I spent all my time getting pissed and partying and now I'm in my final year I'm up shit creek without a paddle. Help!". From what I can gather she seems to be very conscientious in her work and attitude to University... and even if she WAS a lazy, druggie, piss-taking student drunk it wouldn't mean she had any less right to come on here and let off a bit of steam without people jumping all over her because they have more work to do. Unlucky for them, eh, it doesn't take away the fact that she has essays to write, reading to do etc and is stressed out about it.
ANYWAY, kangoo, it's completely normal to turn into a big stresshead in your final year, you'd be unusual if you didn't. It's a bit sad (and obvious) but good time management and a calm approach to things are your friends during this time. As well as applying a lot of your time to your work, you should also get out of the house to do non-uni things so your stress levels don't soar even more. Obviously keeping aside plenty of time to organise yourself and get everything that needs to be done, done. Maybe you could go ice skating or something once you've done x number of words or read so many chapters of a text. The end is so very nearly in sight that it'd be a shame if you dropped the ball now (I'm sure you won't, of course!), just keep your eye on finishing line because it is very, very close. A mixture of self-discipline and the knowledge that it'll all soon be over and the majority of it is over will keep you right. If it's all getting to you a bit much then I recommend a bit of pillow-punching therapy. Maybe you can pretend its godscop (only kidding, of course! :razz:)
And in large part that is true, I did spend my time at uni drinking, taking drugs and shagging people, and now I'm not doing as much of that I am bitter and jealous. Still, my point stands, uni is relatively easy compared to being a full fledged adult.
Yep and it still stands that's of absolutely no help to Kangoo.
it's all relative. yes you may look back on your time at university and, when compared to the work you do now..you might think it was a breeze. however when you were actually AT university i'm sure you found it hard at times, too.
to the op: everyone's in the same boat. it's not unrealistic to complete the work set otherwise everyone would fail. just do your best and manage your time well.
Pot: Hey Mr Kettle, you're sooo black!!!
Anyhoo, Kangoo, I'll put my grouchiness aside about the fact that I hate my job and would kill to be a student again and attempt to offer something constructive. I found that in my final year, I had to work to a strict but sensible timetable. I kind of split my days into blocks, marked in lectures, downtime, and commitments and then split the rest of the time between my modules as equally as possible. After that I then worked out roughly how much time I should be spending on essays, preparing for tutorials and all the rest of it and tried to then organise each specific module block so that I was covering everything. It took a while to get sorted but it was worth it in the end. Only once did I end up having to pull an all nighter throughout the whole year ..... !
I love the word dude!
The main reason for this post is cos I wanted to add that things are also probably extra stressful at Uni at the moment cos it's coming up to the end of term and so assignment deadlines all seem to appear out of nowhere all at once. Maybe it would be useful to try and set yourself earlier deadlines next term so that you can stagger when you're working on essays and projects and stuff. I know that sometimes you have to wait for a lecturer to cover stuff but you could get always get the background reading out of the way early so at least that's part of the stress reduced!
If you're finding uni life to be stressful, then you need to look at why. Most worthwhile uni courses will have challenging parts to them, otherwise they would be utterly pointless, but if you're finding that they are impossible to deal with maybe you need a fresh approach.
Look at how you are balancing out your life. If you're spending practically no time doing uni work and finding it hard when you do, devote more time to the work. If you're spending every waking moment working on essays, then force yourself to take a break and do something different.
I won't say that either work or uni is harder than the other, because both have stressful moments, it's how you deal with them that is key.
Saying that you can just leave a job after the 5 o'clock bell goes is a bit of nonsense though. If you have the sort of job that offers you no challenge at all, then maybe you can go home and forget about it completely, but I don't find that all thoughts of work just vanish after I walk out the door, even if I might want them to some days. It doesn't work like that.
And thanks to everyone who says I have an easy life. I havent been out for 3 weeks other to go to uni and go to work. I work 3 nights (16 hours) a week at a bar, have 12 hours in uni and on top of that I'm expected to do 20 hours on my studies if I go by what each lecturer expects. And thats not counting my dissertation. I worked full time before I came to uni, I didn't just come straight from school and I work full time in the summer. I know what its like thank you no need to patronise. But I wasn't complaining about that. I was saying I'm worried and stressed about whats expected of me and getting it all done to a standard thats going to get me a good degree. There is a lot of pressure
I came here to look for some advice and support not to be told I'm lazy and have it easy when I clearly don't. I can't wait to finish uni so I can have a normal hours job and have some money. My loan barely covers my rent, leaving me with £250 to last 3 months. The rest I earn through my job which is about £70 a week. Go out all the time? I barely have enough money to pay my bills. Easy life? Fuck off
I'm finding it hard to cope end of story no matter what the situation is. Having people say shut up you've got it easy does not help. Thanks for making me feel worse than I already did
:yes: I thought it was completely obvious why you posted Sophia
Sorry for the double post but just wanted to say *hugs*.
I was actually really tempted to delete all the negative stuff - and now I wish I had!
I'm not writing this for everyone to go awww sympathy etc just so you know the situtuation before you all bang on about how great my life is.
I understand (I think) how wound up and stressed you are, but it shouldn't have to be that bad. *Hugs* in the mean time, make sure you timetable your self some 'free' time and crash every so often, and timetable life generally so your using your time well.
Don't forget to make sure your looking after yourself, have a proper long bath at least once a week (if you like that kind of thing) and eat nutritious meals. One thing we did in exam term last year was cook bigger quantities when we cooked and then put portions in the fridge so they were easy meals for another night, saves cooking lots but gets you decent meals.
I stopped eating and stopped sleeping for a few weeks as well, I lost so much time... I think the best thing is really to give yourself a tough routine. It's hard when nobody tells you off when you miss it though. I'm not disciplined enough to punish myself, I just feel bad.
From my experience although a job is more demanding on time, it's easier to cope with the pressue of 'omg I'm going to ruin the rest of my life'. My tutor did say I wasn't going to though
Hope it picks up for you soon