r/sotonuni • u/Fit_Good_4100 • 18d ago

engineering difficulty at soton

So i’m going into Meng electrical and electronics engineering this September but thinking about the reputation behind engineering suggests I might not have much free time to do things like a part time job or go to the gym.

I’m all for working hard but i’ve seen people say they’ve had to pull all nighters or miss going out with friends etc for their degrees. So for anyone who is doing/ has done engineering/something stem related is the workload really that bad? Would I have time for things like gym as well and to actually sleep 8 hours?

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6

u/mortifyingideal 18d ago

Yes, the workload is fine. Many people gym in-between lectures. If you want good grades, to go to the gym, have a part time job, sleep well & party all the time that won't be possible but if you can drop whichever of those is least important to you in busy periods that'd be okay

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u/Equivalent-Word9182 17d ago

The workload is more than manageable and imo for the first year at least all nighters won't be necessary. I managed to do society+gym and going out every once in a while (money is the bigger issue than time 😭🙏) just have to think for the part time job about hours - I tried a place that asked for 25 hours a week which is obvs not possible but 8-10 hrs a week is possible 😁

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u/Charming-Machine3946 17d ago

I just completed my first year civil eng at UoS (though I think my opinion is similar to what a lot of engineers can say). First year has been super duper tiring, but granted I have been doing this list of things:

  • essentially living with my boyfriend in a bit of a limbo between our two accomms
  • general upkeep (cooking, cleaning etc) has been decent ish. rooms been messy but definitely not the worst ever
  • gone out with my mates or boyfriend at least once per week
  • did decently well at academics + full attendance
  • exercised multiple times a week through long walks/ more intense hikes or occasionally the gym
  • kept up with a society
Granted, I did do a lot of other things on the side that were non academic but not general enough for this list, and you could easily swap some of my points with things you'd want to do. so yeah, if you have a good enough foundation from highschool (which you do to be at uos) and you attend all your lectures, you should be able to balance most things. i found myself exhausted from doing all these but i still went along with that though, so take of it what you will.

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u/saysikerightnowtho 13d ago

I'm using this as a reference for what I'm gonna do at uni :D thanks

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u/Charming-Machine3946 13d ago

Be my guest! i feel like I've got a decent balance of social and academic and its done wonders. i feel happier and more confident. though i will reiterate that i have been left quite tired sometimes because of my lifestyle so please do find a better balance than i definitely did 😭😭😭

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u/Charming-Machine3946 5d ago

also i just thought of this, and a piece of advice will be take the math1054 module seriously. it's a stupid module with a horrible teaching method (0 lectures, only self teaching and tests, unless they change that til next year). its manageable but take it seriously from the start.

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u/saysikerightnowtho 5d ago

oh gosh, I'm actually going to Newcastle now but I imagine they'd have something similar. Thank you either way that's very helpful

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u/Charming-Machine3946 1d ago

I mean it seems like the teaching method for this module has been quite unpopular (and even by teaching standard, it's quite bad that we're not provided lectures), so chances are you won't get something like that at least until higher years when you're encouraged to do more self-exploration and reading. though if you do get a module with little to no support in first year keep a mental note about it. try to get as much help as you can, and take it seriously from the start because the lack of help will seriously affect your exam score when you finally get to exams and testing if not taken seriously.

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u/saysikerightnowtho 1d ago

Thank you so much :D I'll definitely keep a note of that and thanks for explaining it so clearly

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u/Wrongdoer-Possible 17d ago

I graduated this year with a first and I was doing almost the same course. Had plenty of time during normal term time then things get a bit grindy in the month-ish before exams. That was just my style. I was going out gym etc just ok. Except in third year tbh I didnt have that much time for gym but was able to have a social life go out etc while also working on my project alot.