20 Ways to be a Sustainable Student at Edinburgh Uni…

Photograph of Anna… by Anna / from Dundee / BSc Mathematics / 4th Year (UG)

With a new semester comes the opportunity to create sustainable habits and mindsets. I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not perfect at this, but by slowly making small changes, I’ve managed to transform some of my choices into less wasteful ones. I thought I’d share some of these with you in case you’d like some ideas of how to live more sustainably!

Continue reading “20 Ways to be a Sustainable Student at Edinburgh Uni…”

What’s it like to do a joint honours programme?..

Photograph of Jie Xin… Jie Xin / from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia / BSc Mathematics and Music / 4th Year (UG)

Having completed my first three years of my undergraduate studies as a maths and music student, I hope I could share a little about my experiences with anyone curious or prospective students.

Some comments and questions I always get when telling people about my programme include: “oh, I didn’t know that existed!”, “what made you decide on this particular programme?”, “you must be so good at both music and maths!” and “how do you combine maths and music?” Well, it does exist, I absolutely love both mathematics and music, and yes, I would love to think that I am good at both music and maths. For the question about combining maths and music, there are a variety of courses which do so, but it’s not a requirement for me to take them.

Continue reading “What’s it like to do a joint honours programme?..”

What Contact Hours at University are Really Like…

… by Fionnuala / from London / BSc Mathematics / 1st Year (UG)

I can remember, not that long ago, how nervous I was to start University. I was excited for the new adventure, meeting new friends and trying new things but it was slightly daunting not knowing what the teaching would be like. I understood that it would be completely different to school as that’s what everyone tells you but exactly how- I had no idea. Continue reading “What Contact Hours at University are Really Like…”

Employ.ed on Campus Internship…

A photo of Rebecca, author of the blog… by Rebecca / from Lincoln / BSc Mathematics [2nd Year Entry] / 3rd Year (UG)

If a lecturer can see that only 5% of the students on their course read their assessment feedback, then should staff bother to write it for every student?

Or, if a lecturer can see that one of their lecture recordings has had far more views than the others, might they want to find out why that is? Was the content of the lecture too difficult?

Answering these kinds of questions was the purpose of the internship I did last summer. The University provides around 60 summer internships based at the university, exclusively for Edinburgh students, called Employ.ed on Campus internships. My internship was one of these; I worked in the School of Health in Social Science as a Learning Analytics Intern. Continue reading “Employ.ed on Campus Internship…”

Time to Study! But where?…

… by Peter / from London / MA Economics and Mathematics / 2nd Year (UG)

Hey everyone! Studying Economics and Maths at the University of Edinburgh has been awesome. Meeting new people and making friends, trying new sports and joining societies which interest me: university has lived up to my expectations so far. But part of the package is studying for exams and the exam season really does catch you by surprise. So it’s time to study and I feel it would be useful to share my top locations to study. Continue reading “Time to Study! But where?…”

Accommodation in Edinburgh…

… by Yuxin / from Shenzhen, China / BSc Mathematics and Statistics / 4th Year (UG)

There are lots of opportunities such as the Open Days that enable you to visit the university before starting doing your degree. However, it was a bit hard for me to travel for 15-20 hours to visit the university before my first semester started. Luckily, the University has an accommodation guarantee for new students. This includes all first year undergraduate students plus direct-entry students (those who enter straight into the second year). For undergraduate students, you can apply for catered accommodation at Pollock Halls or other self-catered flats around the city for your first year of study.
For convenience, I chose catered accommodation in my first year, lived in private student accommodation in my second year, and then decided to come back to university accommodation in third year, but this time as a Resident Assistant. Continue reading “Accommodation in Edinburgh…”

A Day in the Life…

… by Tally / from Scarborough / MMath Mathematics [2nd Year Entry] / 2nd Year (UG)

Hi! My name is Tally and I am a second year maths student here at the university. One thing I was unsure about when coming to university was if I’d be able to juggle my studies and my free time. Turns out, it wasn’t as hard as I thought. To demonstrate that I thought I’d outline what a day in my life could look like to give an example of what a student actually does. Continue reading “A Day in the Life…”