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Published: 17 January 2017

A week in the life of a postgraduate Surrey Business School student

MSc Entrepreneurship student Laurel Collishe shares a typical week for her as a postgraduate student at Surrey.

Typical timetable

The following timetable is a personal example.

Monday

  • 7:30am - Wake up. Yawn. Say "good morning!" to my husband. Eat breakfast. Feed and cuddle the dog. Print parking voucher for the week. Pack up my laptop
  • 8:30am - Leave for Guildford from West Sussex
  • 9:45am - Latte at the Lakeside Cafe. Say hello to lecturers, chat about their weekends. Download lecture slides for the day
  • 10am to 1pm - New Business Venturing lecture and seminar
  • 1pm - Eat a jacket potato with cheese at the Hillside Restaurant
  • 1:30pm - Meet with other postgrads for group projects in the postgrad common room at Rik Medlik
  • 3pm - Head home
  • 4:30pm - Catch up with the family and news headlines
  • 5pm - Do lab course work
  • 6pm - Prepare, eat and clean up after dinner
  • 7:31pm - Cuddle the dog
  • 7:32pm to 9pm - Study
  • 9pm - Watch a film
  • 11pm - Fall into bed.

Tuesday

  • 6:30am - Morning routine
  • 7:30am - Leave for Guildford. Listen to the morning show on BBC2
  • 8:45am - Cappuccino at the Lakeside Cafe. Catch up on emails since no one else is around at that time. Download lecture slides for the day
  • 9am to 11am - Entrepreneurship and the Digital Economy lecture
  • 11am - Buy the Guardian and some chocolate covered brazil nuts at Simply Fresh and enjoy a thorough news perusal in the ground floor lobby
  • 12pm to 1pm - Entrepreneurship and the Digital Economy lab
  • 1pm - Eat a jacket potato with cheese at the Hillside Restaurant
  • 1:30pm - Meet with other postgrads for group projects in the Resource Centre
  • 3pm to 6pm - Research Methods lecture
  • 6pm - Head for home
  • 7:30pm - Grab a quick pint in the village
  • 8pm - Throw together some food
  • 8:30pm - Watch a film
  • 10:30pm - Collapse into bed.

Wednesday

  • 9am - Wake up
  • 9:05am - Fall back asleep
  • 9:20am - Wake up
  • 9:25am - Make a killer flat white in my kitchen and cuddle the dog
  • 9:45am - Catch up on emails
  • 10:30am - Do the laundry
  • 11am - Head into town to take care of the 10,000 things life requires
  • 2pm - Back home to write. There are always reports to be written and while doing said 10,000 things I have been tossing thoughts about innovation theory around in my head and need to update paragraphs. Get lost in writing and editing for several hours
  • 5pm - Enjoy a proper meal and catch up with the family. Wish I lived in Guildford so I could attend the Student Enterprise talks on Wednesday evenings
  • 7:30pm - Do a bit of reading for pleasure
  • 8:30pm - Plan my holiday to the Exit Festival in Serbia
  • 10pm - Have a leisurely bath with a glass of wine and catch up on Mock the Week while in the tub
  • 10:30pm - Zzzzz.

Thursday

  • 8:30am - Morning routine
  • 9:30am - Drive to Guildford
  • 10:45am - Coffee at Lakeside
  • 11am - Meet with any lecturers or advisors as needed
  • 12pm to 1pm - Marketing seminar
  • 1pm - Grab a gluten free wrap and water at Simply Fresh
  • 1:15pm - Meet with other students on group projects in a library group room
  • 3pm - Research Methods lab
  • 4pm - Enjoy a chai to stop my head from spinning about SPSS software. Book parking for three weeks time. Spaces in the main lot fill up ages in advance so you have to stay on top of it or use the lower pay and display carpark
  • 4:30pm - Put my headphones in and focus on studies
  • 6pm to 8pm - Marketing lecture
  • 8pm - Whizz down to Portsmouth and catch the 9pm ferry across to my house on the Isle of Wight.

Weekend

  • Take walks
  • Do eight to ten hours of online research
  • Do four to six hours of textbook reading
  • Do eight to ten hours writing
  • Rest
  • Ferry back to Sussex Sunday night.

Learn more about our business and management degrees and read what our students have to say about life at Surrey.

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