What else can a university offer?

Woo! It’s time to get excited for I have wrote another blog…

As ever I like to have a useful message in my blogs (rather than me just rambling), in this one it’s student employment. Employment while studying is extremely important, or at least I think so. It has several benefits, no only does it earn you money it also stops you spending money as well (as you spend your time working). You also get to meet new people, get new opportunities and have a laugh.

There are numerous benefits to working while studying, there are also many more for working within the university/Student’s Union. For example as I work for the university, I get access to new and exciting opportunities. I did a First Aid certificate last year and got paid too! I also do work for my Student’s Union which is good, even better as I get 20% discount on food in the SU and free entry into our night club. Honestly I love life every time I use my staff discount to get food at the SU.

Working while at University also sets you up for later life, in the sense it allows you to gain skills, make contacts and learn things that will make you more employable.

Not to harbour on about the University of Greenwich , but they are really good for that. We have a whole department dedicated to student employment, not only finding them work but helping them prepare for work in terms of practising interviews and checking your CV etc.

So my word of advice is that when you are looking at Universities, look at what else they can offer you in terms of employment in the future and while studying, not just the UCAS points and where the uni is ranked.

Hope that’s helpful!

  

P.S.: Eric update. He got himself into a bit of bother the other day. Sadly his lady plant friend broke Eric’s poor little avocado stone heart. To help Eric through this difficult time we have swapped his water drip for a vodka equivalent.  We hope he makes a full recovery soon.

And time keeps ticking on…

It’s funny how the days and weeks just fly by and all merge into one. It’s only by what lectures and what work I have that I’m able to identify the different days.  Lectures drone on and seminars drag on but that’s just how it goes.  It is important while at university to always keep up with the assigned work and reading, to make sure you’re on top of everything, but then that is easier said than done.

I’m looking forward to the next couple of months, next month especially. Not only is it Christmas, which is good as I get a lot of presents.  But then it’s also bad as I have to buy an equal amount of presents to give, which is a lot of stress (especially for my family who are ridiculously fussy/picky).

 

But anyway I’m looking forward to next month as I am going to Belgium with the History department on the battlefield trip that should be good but also slightly more excitingly when I get back two days later I set off to Amsterdam for three nights. I have a feeling that it will be quite messy…

It was my sister’s graduation last week, she also went to Greenwich and is graduating with a First Class degree in Psychology (woo). While this might be fantastic for her, for me it is slightly irritating as I am now expected to match her degree and if I fail to do so I shall be forced to suffer an eternity of mockery and gloating.

But as ever in my blogs I like to have a useful message. In this one it’s finance! I’m the type of student who spends more time in their overdraft than not. So you could argue that it’s quite hypercritical for me of all people to preach, however you also could argue that it puts me in a useful position to give advice…

So my advice, to put it simply is to be aware. Be aware of how much money you have, how much money you are spending and how much money you will need until the next long installment. I’m not going to preach about not wasting your money going out and how you should stick to a very tight budget as I’m not like that nor do I think that actually works. So in short, just be aware, be sensible and then you should enough money to go out and actually buy groceries as well J

Also part time jobs are incredible important while at university. I’ll speak about that next time (I’ll just let you all suffer in suspense).

Eric update: he is still alive (I think) and I hope someone is watering him… I wonder if it’s actually possible to kill an avocado plant.

Until next time,

Carney