By Annabel Faulkner
I’m Annabel and I am in my final year studying Accounting and Financial Management, here at the University of Sheffield. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time here in Sheffield and studying at the Management School.
One of the key reasons why I have enjoyed my course so much is because of the flexibility there is within the course. This is a benefit for many different reasons, from choosing from a wide variety of modules to taking a year in industry in your penultimate year.
I opted to undertake a research project between my second and third year; a scheme run through the central university and supervised by an academic member of staff in the Management School. This is an example of one of the many options available to you during your years of study within the Management School; all of which add to your CV and to the skills you build upon throughout your degree. I really benefited from the research project and it gave me an insight into the world of academia and into some of the topics that the Management School research alongside running degrees. It lasted for 6 weeks; however, I extended mine to last the majority of the summer as I enjoyed the work more than I thought I would! I had a great experience and built on many different skills such as interviewing, collating results and writing up a research report, which was new to me at that time. Overall, I would definitely recommend looking in to the variety of options there are for work and experience during the summer months, such as a research project, internship or year in industry.
In first year of study, the school get everyone ‘up to speed’ by introducing an assortment of modules so students get a taste of many topics and get to understand and learn about many of these and to know which they would like to specialise in. Then, in second and especially third year, the modules studied become more and more the choice of the student. You can pick from a huge variety of modules which interest you and can choose to specialise more in finance or the management side of the degree. The choice is yours! Some of the modules give professional exemptions whilst others are more practical. There are modules which have more coursework, are more exam-based or include group work. You are able to choose the modules which suit you and will benefit you most. This is a real asset whilst studying here because you can really tailor your course to suit yourself and also choose modules heading in the direction of where you would like to work when you graduate. There is also help on hand, in the form of your personal tutor, the Management Society and module leaders, to aid you in your choice.
The flexibility of the course really enables you to select the path you take yourself, rather than it being dictated to you. This is definitely one of the main reasons why I have enjoyed the course so much!