A day in the life of a podiatry student!

I am studying podiatry and have just completed my second year of my degree. I am going to share a typical day as a podiatry student at the University of Brighton.

Blended learning on my course

Similar to other courses, my lectures are held mostly online now via Microsoft Teams (due to the current Covid-19 pandemic), with occasionally some face-to-face teaching. As my course comes with placement opportunities at the Leaf Hospital (a podiatry clinic run by the university), as well as having normal lectures, I also have some clinical placements on some of the weeks. I love how my course allows us to treat real patients at the Leaf Hospital, as this enables us to practice what we have learned during the lectures! The clinical tutors are very helpful as well and they always share their clinical experiences with us.

Here is what a typical day looks like:

Lecture weeks

I get up at 7am and have breakfast. At 8.30 I check email and prepare for lectures, which run until 12 or 1pm. After lunch, I have lectures in the afternoon until 4 or 5pm. Then it’s time for dinner, a shower and socialising before revision in the evening, then bedtime at 11pm.

Clinical placement weeks

I get up at 7am, prepare my packed lunch and work in my clinical placement from 9am to 5pm. I relax in the evening, check email and prepare for the next day before bedtime at 10pm.

The difference between a lecture week and placement week

At this point, I guess some of you might wonder how many days per week that I have scheduled lectures/ placement. For a normal lecture week, I would normally have four or five days per week of lectures. On placement weeks, I only have to go to the Leaf Hospital for two days, so this means that the remainder of the week is for independent study.

Of course, I do not spend all my time on academic work for my podiatry degree. Occasionally, I have some days working as a student ambassador for the university and I would also go to a local donation centre to do some volunteering every Saturday. Apart from that, I would also have takeaways sometimes or go to the beach with my housemates.

(This blog was written during lockdown and may not represent current timetables)

Word from the uni…

Interested in this course? Read the full course description Podiatry BSc(Hons).

Interested in health subjects? Find out if you’d like to study a degree in sport and exercise.