A day in the life of an Engineering student

Welcome to my day in the life! I’m Phil and I’m studying Robotics and Electronics.

Monday morning, I usually start my day by checking my timetable on e:Vision. Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday I have lectures. This allows me to plan my working hours both retail and photography for the week. After that, I plan some gym hours and check where I have extra time that I usually spend at the Uni library with my course mates.

After checking all of that, it’s time to make my way to uni. Luckily, I live in Chelmsford close to the Uni so it’s just a 5 minutes walk, pretty much just enough to listen to one song.

Today’s lecture is practical, after a bit of theory explanation we have the chance to practice, build and wire up. Prior to starting to build a 555-timer circuit with a Led flashing at a rate of 10Hz, with a 50% duty cycle, some maths needs to be done, I don’t really enjoy it but it’s part of the fun.

Now that we have some numbers, I could physically build the 555-timer circuit on a breadboard, but before that, I am using Multisim a simulation software, I can find out if the resistors and capacitors found by doing my calculations are actually appropriate to build the physical breadboard without blowing up anything.

Lectures are done. It is not too late so instead of going home I would rather spend some time at the ARU library, it is almost time to submit some assignments, so it is best not to waste time. As usual, I go to the second floor (computer room), where I can talk and discourse solutions with my mates.

I believe that the best way to enjoy university time is to create a group of people with who you can study and confront yourself, definitely more heads work better than one. Spending some time at the library also helps with socializing with other students from different courses.

It’s 5pm and on my way going home, I just stopped at my working place to double-check and confirm my working rota for this and the following week. Planning is key even though I’m still learning, sometimes I still forget some stuff but I’m definitely getting better. It’s almost dinner time but before actually going home, I remembered to pass by the gym and do some exercise. It’s Monday, so I usually focus on the chest and shoulders. I spend roughly an hour before going home to have dinner, shower and straight to bed watching Peaky Blinders.

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Phil is studying Engineering and Robotics at ARU in Chelmsford. To find out more about our degree courses and student life at ARU, book your place at an Open Day.