A day in the life of a Computer Science student at Birmingham

Alarm goes off. I ignore it. Five more minutes I say to myself before I press snooze. Then suddenly, I’m in a rush, throwing on a hoodie and power-walking to my first lecture. Computer Science lectures are no joke- they are fast-paced, info-packed, and just enough to keep my brain firing. I take notes, but let’s be real, I’ll be revisiting the recordings later when I actually process what just happened.

After my lecture, I head to the Sloman Lounge to socialise and take a break. I heat up my food in the microwave there, which is an essential part of my day because a good meal = better productivity. Once I’ve de-stressed a bit and feel ready to focus, I move into the labs to study. The monitors in there are UNREAL. I connect my laptop and suddenly I’ve got four screens open at once—one for lecture recordings, one for my notes document, one for Google searches (for any unfamiliar concept or terms I need to search up), and one for whatever else I need. Just sitting in front of them puts me in the right headspace to study and motivates me to get work done. They help shoot my productivity levels through the roof.

I get most of my studying done by the evening. If there’s no other lecture for the day, I start the job hunt. This means everything from networking events and hackathons to, most importantly, internship applications. Going through the Bright network, GRB and Trackr, I fine-tune my CV based on the job description, and start writing cover letters that (hopefully) don’t scream “generic”. The grind is real, but so is the dream of securing that summer internship before they academic year ends!

Once I wrap up my studying, I head home to cook dinner. Then, it’s time for society work. I’m involved in two societies and one initiative but its not as stressful as it sounds. For the initiative, I create a weekly post for their LinkedIn page, making sure everything is aesthetic and engaging. For the other, I help plan upcoming events, to make sure they’re inclusive and enjoyable.

Then for the remainder of my day, I pretty much do what I want. I call that my "me time." Most of the time, I end up scrolling through reels on Instagram for way longer than I’d like to admit. Other days, I catch up on shows, watch movies, or just do nothing at all, because sometimes, that’s exactly what I need.

Then, finally, I crash. Ready to do it all over again tomorrow.