Tips from University of Birmingham graduates about how to make the most of your time at university.
Title: Make the most of your time at the University of Birmingham
Duration: 2.11 mins
Speaker Names (if given):
S1 Anthony McCourt (LLB Law 2001–2004)
S2 Karmi Baines (MA Heritage Management 2004–2006)
S3 Hannah Poulton (BA Economic and Social History 2003–2006)
S4 Stefan Lewanowski (BSc Computer Science and Software Engineering 1996–1999)
S5 Tina Freeth (BA American & Canadian Studies 1995–1999)
S1 University can be more than just about the subject – and of course it’s incredibly important to do well at your chosen discipline, but treat university as the beginning of your interview for your professional life.
S2 Anyone at University at the moment I would say to them: get as much experience as possible, work experience, paid experience, volunteer, put yourself out there, take the initiative, actually go to see someone, get a contact, say to them that you are interested is there any projects that are going that you could assist on – because if you don’t ask you don’t get.
S3 I think that you need to challenge yourself and do something that you’ve never done before that is out of your comfort zone; so it’s volunteering, it’s working, it’s a vast array of things you can do: there are so many opportunities, but you need to ensure that you’re doing extra curricular activity or something that's going to give you something more than the next budget.
S4 I’d certainly encourage people to maybe do a little bit of outside interest work; find things that they’re really interested in and just push them forward. Why wait? There’s no need to wait until you come the end – and in so doing you might find that opportunities will come your way and you’ll start forming a bit of a network with people.
S5 I made the most of my time at University by doing sport, doing basketball. Working as well is a really good thing, if you’ve got the time for it – I think those sort of things are really beneficial for when you’ve finished university.
S4 Don’t think that the university experience is something that just happens and above all, it is the start of your entire career – and look around at what opportunities are available right now and take them.
S1 Getting your sleeves rolled up at university – whether that be in societies, whether that be in sport or in Student Union groups– it’s fundamentally important and totally transferrable to your professional, young professional life in the City – and employers really see that and like to see you having evolved that from a very early stage.
End of recording