At the Student Counsellors’ Office, we often meet students who feel they don’t have enough time. This can lead to:
For most people, planning seems “banal” – but, even though it is banal, it is also difficult. Especially if you are not used to it from school. Being a university student requires planning in order to maintain an overview.
Many students feel there are not enough hours in the day to have a student job, see friends, do sport, meet assignment deadlines and see family. It is also not uncommon the feel that it’s impossible to read everything on the course reading list. Therefore, when you talk to a student counsellor, we will usually discuss topics such as prioritising and structuring your time.
It is important that you as a student (and in general) feel you have the "freedom of choice" to prioritise the things that are important to you. By asking yourself these questions, you can learn more about the student life you would like:
At the Student Counsellors’ Office, we recommend experimenting with your planning and structure. One way of doing this is to make a weekly plan for your teaching period, so that you can create structure in your everyday life. In this weekly plan, you should include all your daily activities: lectures, seminars, arrangements with your study groups, self-study time, sport, meals, arrangements with friends, breaks, etc.
We also recommend that you discuss your structure and planning with your fellow students. This can be a good source of inspiration to help you prioritise. However, you should always remember that all students are different and may therefore have different needs in their student life.
Your plan may be very flexible or have a very fixed structure, depending on what works best for you. You may have to experiment with different ways of planning your day until you find out what works best for you.
Once you've tried experimenting and even got into a good rhythm with your planning, you may wish to consider discussing it with a student counsellor in order to optimise the way you plan your student life.
Learn more about weekly plans at Studypedia: Make a weekly plan.