The work/life balance of university students?

[DeezNuts]

Hey guys!

Just wondering how much do you university students spend working, studying, socialising, exercising, relaxing, etc per week?
Please also state what degree your studying
Feel free to specify what kind of hobbies/sports/social events you go to as part of your routine. I'm interested!

I know it probably varies a lot, but just want an idea of the scope on AN.

It seems hard enough juggling  two or three of those above mentioned things, let alone all of them. What kind of things do you sacrifice ?

Also, does the lecture load and workload increase with each coming year? I'm assuming it gets harder to juggle as the years progress?

Cheers!

[heids]

It *entirely* depends on the person, their life/family/financial/social situation, goals in life, and course.

Here's what mine looked like last semester (it was hardly... ideal haha):

- Worked at least 20hrs/week (aged care, which was my exercise + few km walking to/from work)
- Wrote VCE-related content for various things
- Busy church life (a commitment of ~2hrs/day on average, but that includes most of my social life)
- An over-large chunk of relaxing (generic internet surfing, piano, AN, listening to music, reading books, writing, thinking and philosophising, and increasingly just lying in bed)
- Poor mental health (which is surprisingly time-consuming haha)

Plus as a minor aside, I guess there was also uni   I skipped every lecture, didn't listen to recordings, attended the bare minimum of tutes, avoided readings, worked occasionally at home but only when I very immediately *needed* to for assignments.  So, excluding my journey of 90min each way I reckon I spent an average of 10hrs/week in total on uni-related stuff.   So I'd say that my sacrifice was uni, basically.

[jamonwindeyer]

Hey guys!

Just wondering how much do you university students spend working, studying, socialising, exercising, relaxing, etc per week?
Please also state what degree your studying
Feel free to specify what kind of hobbies/sports/social events you go to as part of your routine. I'm interested!

I know it probably varies a lot, but just want an idea of the scope on AN.

It seems hard enough juggling  two or three of those above mentioned things, let alone all of them. What kind of things do you sacrifice ?

Also, does the lecture load and workload increase with each coming year? I'm assuming it gets harder to juggle as the years progress?

Cheers!

My timetable for semester just gone was definitely... Stressful 

- Uni (including travel) was about 22 hours a week, and probably about 12 hours of work on uni-related content per week on average. So, Full-Time uni equalled full time job for me 
- Self employed private tutor, including travel and prep this probably chewed about 17-18 hours a week
- At least 10 hours a week on ATAR Notes, either on the forums or contributing content, add more if you want to consider lecture preparation and the like
- Girlfriend: One or two nights a week plus Sunday (though we studied together too)
- Gym: Twice a week was usually all I could muster 
- Home Chores: Another few hours
- Social Life: Next to none outside girlfriend

I do not recommend 
 

[pi]

Easier to have a healthy social life if a lot of your friends do the same course as you. This made it pretty easy for me as we'd all meet at any birthday party or med event (ie. few times a month without even organising anything ourselves). Weekly social sport is a good way to catch up with buds, we play a bit of weekly squash between a few of us. As for friends outside of my course, harder to see them irl but cheeky group chats on facey are a good way to always continue that sweet banter between catch-up seshes.

[spectroscopy]

Just wondering how much do you university students spend working, studying, socialising, exercising, relaxing, etc per week?
Please also state what degree your studying

Time at uni including travel = 11 hours per week (I don't go to lectures)
Studying = maybe like 6 hours a week including assignments for most of the semester but a lot more from week 11 onwards
Socialising/going out- idk probably averages  like 2 hours per day across the week
Gym like 4 times a week
Atarnotes like 20 hours per week (mostly reading stuff and patrolling while I go on Facebook and stuff)
The rest of the time is like just googling random things and Facebook and stuff
I don't really see where the trade off is if there is one. Maybe I socialise too much but i still have alot of spare time.
Also I don't work during the semester as I work full time on the holidays and that sustains me through the academic term

[uoiea]

I had average and consistent grades (all H3/H2B) last semester for all 4 subjects, so I guess there's some hope if you want to slack off like me.. haha. This is for a degree in Science.

Time at uni + travel = ~10 hours, I go to tutes and some lectures and go straight home
Catching up on lectures = ~3 hours, didn't even bother to watch some lectures as the lecturers just read off the slides
Studying = <1 hour except in SWOTVAC/before exams, I had a VERY lucky exam schedule which probably explains the lack of fails.
Socialising = <1 hour - not an exaggeration, unfortunately.
Exercising = 4 hours
Looking for a damn job = 1-3 hours
Wasting time/browsing internet pointlessly = 99999 hours/week

For me the lack of socializing isn't as bad as the lack of a job. So frustrating trying to find one. I regret not getting more experience in HS.

[Orb]

Just wondering how much do you university students spend working, studying, socialising, exercising, relaxing, etc per week?
Please also state what degree your studying
Feel free to specify what kind of hobbies/sports/social events you go to as part of your routine. I'm interested!

Going to use spoiler tags to discuss what I should be/am doing nowadays.
Currently studying BComm at Melb.

Working:
I tutor for around 12-15 hours a week.
Used to coach debating at school which took up around 2-3 hours a week (factoring in travel).
Refereed basketball, 2-3 hours a week.
Total of around 16-20 hours a week.

Spoiler

In hindsight, this was far too much, only maintaining tutoring this sem = 12-15 hours

Time at uni + travel: 12 contact hours + 5-6 hours of study outside and around 6 hours of travel every week = 23-24 hours. Still managed to get around a H1 average with that amount of study, but I predict uni's only going to get harder O.o

Spoiler

In hindsight, going to bump this up 2-3x, so 18 uni + 18 outside this sem = 36 hours

Socialising: 2-3 hours a week (i'd go and eat with a group of friends and chat every week)

Spoiler

In hindsight, will probably keep this around the same, maybe increase by a tad

Wasting time: Lost track.

Spoiler

Been trying to keep myself to 15 minute breaks per hour to 'waste' time. Working so far.

Exercising: Go out for a daily run + basketball + taken up Freeletics which is quite cool, around an hour a day, so 7 hours a week

Spoiler

Gonna keep this up.

[DeezNuts]

Thanks for all the replies!

Really helpful I appreciate it!

Ill add my own schedule on here a bit later

[wyzard]

Ah work/life balance, probably the hardest thing to achieve in life

How I go about achieving it is by identifying key areas in my life that I'm working on and prioritize them. Currently my main focus are:
- Studies: Which include going to classes, learning new things and reading. Currently spending the most time on here, as this is my final year so I have to put in everything.
- Work: Which includes tutoring and writing. Second most time spent here.
- Exercise: I don't play any sports in particular, just little sessions at the gym. I find exercising really helpful as not only does it keeps me fit, it also motivates and relaxes me.
- Social: I am a big introvert, and plus my lone wolf personality means I don't really need to socialize. I have a small circle of close friends whom I hang out with, and most of my time is spent with my girlfriend.

Depending on the circumstances, I'll usually shift my priorities, like if exams' are coming I'll spend more time studying, and if it's holiday, I'll spend more time working. It's also important that I try not to neglect any areas, especially socializing as I have a tendency to lock myself in my room

Of course, outside of all these I do play the occasional video games, watch TV shows, and shopping. I always leave a few hour room everyday for such leisure activities, as a means for relaxation.

Lastly, I don't really like the idea of work/life balance; as it implicitly implies that work is work, something unpleasant, and you only get to 'have a life' outside of work. I don't really see my work and studies as 'work' in the usual sense, I see them as a big part of my life, what I'm borned to do. Besides studying to me it's like playing too, reading around and learning new things. This is probably the big reason why I can work everyday and don't really feel drained and in need of a holiday

[appleandbee]

My life is complicated… Taking into account travelling times is difficult since I'm everywhere (in the city and surrounding areas for most the time though). Basically, apart from commitments, my life is spent slaving away for the grades required for psychology honours and prestigious graduate courses 

This is what my work/life balance looks like (excluding travel):

Uni~14 contact hours (technically more but I don’t go to maths lectures)
Work~16 hours on average

Spoiler

Debating adjudicating~2-6 hours depending on the number of nights-2 nights on average (the travelling can be long though since some of the locations are far away and late night public transport isn't great)
Café~12 hours (just weekends)

Socializing: I'm not a social animal although I do socialize with friends in my various commitments
Exercising: walking to places that I need to go, apart from the occasional game of soccer or tennis.
Leisure: not really sure

Spoiler

Cello~10 hours
Uni debating~2 hours
Public speaking ~2 hours
Working on projects for a social enterprise I'm involved in ~6 hours a week
Mentoring (for a community health as well as an indigenous education initiative)~12 hours a month
Other things: Facebook (mainly for volunteer and work related commitments), piano, reading (on public transport), dissecting an unhealthy amount of global affairs and economics articles