A day in the life of a Maths student at Birmingham

I’m Matthew, a final-year MSci Mathematics student at Birmingham. I am going to discuss what a typical day looks like for me at university.

Lectures and other teaching hours

The exact number of teaching hours in maths depends on the modules you are taking at the time. Typically, you will have around 10 hours of lectures every week, plus in some weeks, a few guided studies and a tutorial. I will explain the difference between each of these:

• A lecture is where you learn all new content for the first time – a lecturer will stand at the front and explain the concepts and methods of the module.
• A guided study is a session where you can ask questions to lecturers or postgraduate assistants and sometimes the lecturer will demonstrate how to answer some questions. These are a useful way to get support if you want to understand anything in further detail than what was covered in a lecture.
• A tutorial is a session you have with a member of academic staff and a group of other students on your course. Usually, they are focused on maths, discussing questions and concepts. Sometimes they are focused on building skills for job applications.

How I spend my time around lectures

Now I am in my final year, I spend a lot of time working on my research project. I will occasionally meet with my supervisor where we discuss how my work has been going and I ask questions about how to progress in the project. This is an example of a module which works differently: not all modules are taught by lectures and assessed by exams and problem sheets. In first and second year, you will take modules which are based on computer labs and group projects. These modules are a nice change to the normal lecture-based modules, since they teach different skills which will be transferable to my future career.

In between lectures, I spend time in a study space on campus and work on what I have due soon. The School of Mathematics has three study spaces which aren’t advertised to the wider university, which are more suited to working with other maths students in groups instead of individually in silence. I enjoy working there with my friends to help each other with our coursework when deadlines are upcoming. During this time, I also spend time on job applications for after I finish university.

Away from my degree

Outside of maths, during my time at Birmingham, I have always been involved in student groups which have been a great way to meet new people outside of maths. This year, I am a part of Burn FM, where my friend and I host a weekly radio show discussing the music we are listening to. It has been so much fun doing this, having never tried anything like it before. I have also been involved in sports much more than previous years, taking part in table tennis and bench ball. These are a nice escape from the course since they are not competitive, and I don’t have to commit to going to every session if I can’t attend them.

After I finish all my activities on campus, I walk around 15 minutes home to Selly Oak. This is where the majority of students in second year onwards live, and as a result I am very lucky to live close to my friends. When I have a free evening, I enjoy spending time with them, sometimes watching a movie or just having a catch-up. I enjoy going to socials organised by my societies too, which helps me get to know the people there much better. My favourite activities aside from this are going running and attending live music events – Birmingham has many great venues of different sizes around the city, so there is always a show that I am tempted to go to.