A day in the life of a biomedical science and business administration student

Author: Christina Sexton

Photographer: All images used with permission

Uncertain where her future lies just yet, Maxine Hegarty is covering her bases with a double degree, happily spending her time shifting between subjects for a Bachelor of Biomedical Science/Bachelor of Business Administration.

8 – 9am

"I live quite close to campus and it doesn’t take me long to get there on the train. I like to download my lectures and watch them during my commute. It’s so easy and I don’t need the internet to do this. Otherwise, I might do some reading to prepare for an upcoming tutorial."

9 – 11am

"My day can vary because I’m doing a double degree and the subjects are all so different. For a subject like chemistry, it’s more about just listening to a talk from the lecturer. But I’ve just done a unit on experimental design, which is also part of my biomedical science degree, and it ran a bit differently.

Every week our class would join a video conference with the other biomedical science students on the Melbourne and Brisbane campuses for one big group lecture, with the teachers addressing all three campuses at once. I loved this set-up because it meant we got to listen to a mix of lecturers who might explain concepts in different ways to help us understand. It was also handy to know we could download these lectures to view later on, or watch live from home, the library or anywhere really."

11am – 12pm

After a lecture, I’ll head to the library to get some reading done for upcoming tutorials or I’ll try to get ahead on my assessments. Sometimes I’ll meet up with friends and we’ll just chat and hang out for a bit.

12 – 1pm

"The format of our tutorials can vary. It might be a group discussion for the entire hour, or we’ll be asked to share our answers to questions set in the previous tutorial. It’s usually very interactive."

1 – 2pm

"This is my lunch break and I either have something to eat on campus, or I’ll walk to a nearby cafe. There are plenty of options near campus, so I never have to look far."

2 – 5pm

"I’ll head home at about 2pm and have some time to myself. I usually watch Netflix, take my dogs for a walk, and maybe start some reading. I can usually work on a few tutorial questions at home, but if I’ve got a particularly challenging assessment coming up or I need some quiet time, then staying back to work in the library is key for me. There’s just too many distractions at home."

5 – 10pm

"I work for an events company and I’m lucky because my job is very flexible. I try to keep uni to weekdays and work on the weekends, but it’s not always possible. Sometimes I have to work at an event till late at night, but I’ve become pretty good at managing my time."

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Category Future student

Tags Business Current student Student Undergraduate