Student life

LEAD-IN

How would you describe your first year at HES?

What were the upsides and downsides?

Do you think it’s hard being an engineering student? Why?

Have you ever heard of M.I.T.? What do you know about it?

VOCABULARY

A) These words/phrases are going to be in a video we are going to watch. Match them with the correct
definition:

1) nerdy ( ) in the last year of university

2) to grind ( ) to understand something without difficulties

3) seniors ( ) expected to

4) freshman year ( ) someone who only studies and does nothing else

5) lecture ( ) between 6.00 to 6.59

6) to pick up something easily ( ) to do a difficult or unpleasant activity that is tiring or

repeated too often

7) 6ish ( ) first year of university

8) to be over something ( ) to be on the waiting list

9) due to ( ) a formal talk on a serious subject given to a group of people,

especially students

10) to be waitlisted for a university ( ) to be tired of something

PRE-LISTENING

A) You’ll watch an interview with some M.I.T. students ((8) Asking MIT Students If They Ever Sleep - YouTube).
Match the questions below to the probable answers.

1. What are you studying at M.I.T.?

2. What do you think is the biggest stereotype of M.I.T students?
3. What do you think about those stereotypes?
4. How many hours do you spent a week studying?
5. Do you ever feel burnt out at M.I.T. already?
6. When do you think is your average bedtime?
7. What do you want to do after college?
8. Do you like M.I.T.?
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9. What’s your favorite part about M.I.T.?

( ) The people here

( ) YES, since freshman year

( ) I’d say like six or eight hours

( ) That we’re nerdy

( ) For the most part

( ) Something big

( ) Sometimes it’s true

( ) That also depends on when the work is due

( ) Chemical engineering

LISTENING

C) Watch the interview and check if your answers are correct.

POST-LISTENING

In pairs, take it in turns and ask all the questions, replacing M.I.T. with HEI.

TALKING ABOUT YOUR STUDIES

The first thing you need to get right when introducing yourself to others, or discussing your life at university,
is explaining what you are doing and what kind of a student you are.
You can say:

I am studying AT university
I am studying AT college
I am studying AT vocational college

Notice there is no ‘THE’ unless you identify which university you are studying at.

I am studying AT university.
I am studying at the University of Edinburgh
There are 2 kinds of students at university, those who are attending for the first time, an undergraduate
student, and those who have already graduated once and are now doing a second or third degree,
a postgraduate student. So, you might say:

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I’m an undergraduate
I’m a postgraduate

There are many types of degrees, but the 3 main types are the following:

A Bachelor’s (e.g. BA / BS / BSc)

A Master’s (e.g. MA / MS / MSc)
A Doctoral degree (e.g PHD)

The first is an undergraduate degree and the other two are both postgraduate degrees. Below are the
different ways you might say you are following a degree course:

I am studying a bachelor’s in Chemistry

I am studying for a bachelor’s in Chemistry
I’m doing a bachelor’s in Chemistry
I’m pursuing a bachelor’s in Chemistry

In the United States of America, and some other countries, you may study one main subject, but you can also
opt to study an extra subject that is related to your degree, but not the main part.
The main subject is a major, and the secondary subject is a minor. These can be both used as nouns and
verbs:

I major in business
My major is business studies
I minor in marketing
My minor is marketing

It’s exam time and you really need to start studying hard. A useful expression here is:

To hit the books = to start studying with a lot of effort

I have an exam next week, I really need to hit the books.

When it comes to studying, there are 3 main kinds of class that you may come across at university. You need
to go to lectures, seminars and tutorials:

The common collocations are:

I go to lectures

I attend lectures

In lectures there are lots of students (maybe over a hundred) and the tutor talks and conveys ideas, whilst
students take notes.

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On the other hand, seminars are smaller than a lecture, usually less formal and students can ask questions,
and even debate issues.

In the UK, tutorials can be similar to seminars, but sometimes smaller. Also, tutorials can even be where a
student has one-on-one time with a tutor.

When it comes to homework and assessment, we have the following useful expressions,

The teacher gives out assignments.

The teacher hands out assignments.

Students do an assignment.

They must hand in the assignment.

Notice at school we talk about homework, but at university, we tend to talk about assignments, although it
is basically the same thing.

A Dissertation or Thesis

If you are doing a Master’s degree in the UK, then we use ‘dissertation’ to refer to a bigger piece of work
based on in-depth research you have done.

A ‘thesis’ is the same but at PHD level.

Do note, that in some countries these terms are used slightly differently.

Talk About Your Year

When you meet other students, a common question is, which year are you in?

Here are the terms used to talk about this in both the UK and the USA