By Abbie Charmin (Second year BSc Hons Criminology & Sociology)
I am a Joint honours student and during my time at University I have read lots of articles presenting the ‘top ten tips to succeed at university’ or ‘how to make the most of university’, however, an issue with these articles is the idea that they seem focused on single honours students. But what about those students who choose joint honours? In 2013 58,255 students applied fora joint honours degree (The Guardian, 2015) showing that joint honours is a popular choice at university. There is a clear gap amongst the articles on how to survive or succeed as a joint honours student? This blog article aims to help students, specifically those on joint honours, succeed and thrive at university.
As a joint honours student,I have had lots of positive experiences and enjoyed my time studying at the University. I have also gained some knowledge along the way too. So, with this article I aim to help students who experience these similar points on their journey to hopefully more quickly and effectively deal with them.
Studying Two Subjects
Doing two different subjects can be difficult especially when the subjects you are doing may feel worlds apart from each other. However, there is a way to resolve this as links can be made between subjects. I have met some amazing people in my university life who have managed to find links between their two subjects even where vastly different. For example, I have found what I have learnt in criminology, can quite easily be transferred to a sociological context and has helped me to strengthen and back up points in my assessments. The links you find between two topics cannot only help you gain extra marks in assessments, but it can also help make university feel less stressful as you learn to cross over the information you are gaining from them. It can help you enjoy university to a greater extent as you are not constantly worrying about learning two sets of information.
Who Can Help?
Another issue I found to be prevalent when it came to the first few months of studying at university was not knowing who to go to when I had a problem. Doing two subjects means that there is an abundance of lecturers who you can go to for help and at times it can be difficult to know who is going to be the right one to answer the query that you have. This is something that can often put you off going to someone for help as you do not want to embarrass yourself or be an annoyance to them. However, lecturers are always more than willing to help students with any problems that they have and if they cannot help you or answer your question, they will happily point you in the direction of someone who can.
Choosing Option Modules
As a joint honours student I have found module selections for each subject tricky. Essentially you need to know which modules they can take and which semester they are occurring (spring or the autumn semester). However, there are a few more things that have to be taken into consideration: are the modules in the same zone and therefore clash timewise. This can stressful at times. But like I mentioned above, the lecturers and the university will do whatever they can to help you and make things as stress free as possible. The university does try their best to make it so that very few subjects clash with each other, but it is sometimes unavoidable. if a clash occurs,going to your lecturers is a good option to get guidance. However, a valuable lesson that I quickly had to learn was that sometimes you do have to compromise on occasion.
Making Friends
The final issue I am going to look at revolves around forming friendship groups from two subjects. I personally found this to be exceptionally stressful (but not everyone will). You will need to form friendships within two subject groups but you will only see certain friends once a week, and that can cause some worries about friendships. I learnt I had to just take a leap of faith, ask them out for drinks or for lunch and try to make time to socialise with them outside of my university lectures. Also, just like with single honour students, finding a balance, between studies and your social life is important. I have found this balance is important to help maintain friendships but also to succeed at university. If for whatever reason you struggle with finding this balance, you can always go to your personal tutor, a lecturer or the study skills service, they will do what they can to help you find that balance.
I love being a joint honours student and it is very rewarding. There are other tips and tricks about how to thrive and succeed at university. However, the four I have talked through, I have had personal experience with. The key thing I have learnt is that no matter what experience you have there is always someone on hand to help and guide.
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