Hiya everyone! I’m George, a third-year student at Exeter studying BA (Hons) International Relations with Spanish. I’m originally from Kent, UK and in this blog I’m going to be discussing how to make the most of your degree. I will be touching on why doing this is important and the numerous ways you can do this at the University of Exeter! As a third year having just completed my degree, I am happy to say that I have made the most of my studies and I hope everyone who pursues university attempts to do this too!
Why make the most of your degree?
Your degree is more than a qualification; it is about taking advantage of the wide range of opportunities available to help you grow both personally and professionally. University is a unique period of life where you can build life-long friendships, try new things, join societies, participate in sports, volunteer in the local community, and create memories that will stay with you long after graduation. These experiences will not only make university more enjoyable and rewarding, but also help you develop confidence, independence, and valuable skills. At the same time, it is important to think about your future career and use your time at Exeter to advance your employability. Employers are increasingly looking for graduates who can demonstrate a combination of academic achievement, practical experience, and transferable skills such as teamwork, problem-solving, and communication. The opportunities I have pursed at Exeter has enabled me to develop this combination of attributes. By making the most of every opportunity at university, you can ensure that you graduate not only with a well-respected qualification, but also with a wealth of experiences and personal achievements that place you in the best possible position to succeed in your chosen career while looking back on your university years with pride and fond memories. I am going to talk about three main topics here, societies, career-orientated opportunities, and social opportunities.
Student societies
One of my favourite aspects of Exeter is its fantastic societies. There are over 300 and there are new ones founded every year! Societies are a great way to make new friends, find people with common interests, and find communities within the university that suit you. There are societies for every degree course, so no one is left out. There are societies for everything, whether you are sporty, musical, creative, a gamer, a Taylor Swift fan, or are from another country – Exeter has a community for everyone. An important thing to note is that all societies are run by the students themselves. This ensures a student-centred focus on member experience which means that societies listen to what the students want before making it happen!
Being on a society committee is also a big part of student like at Exeter, and it has many benefits. Over the last two years I have served as the President and Publicity Secretary for the International Relations Society as well as the Social Secretary for the Hispanic Society. Being on committee is incredibly rewarding, it is a fabulous feeling when you host an event and lots of keen faces show up. This year I hosted two student pub quizzes at the Old Fire House pub with all participants receiving pizza at half time. The room we booked was packed, everyone was chatting, people were making new friends, and everyone had something in common. Bringing people together is a great feeling and I am proud I have had a hand in putting on fun events for people to enjoy. There is no easier time to do something like this than at university, so go for it people!
Being on a society committee is also great for the CV, I have chatted about my various society roles in interviews which has helped me land internships and employment. Societies foster teamwork, interpersonal skills, and convey passion – all things employers love to see. Moreover, in a world where work experience and internships can be hard to come by, student societies are a great alternative way to gain valuable experience; it worked for me! Societies are also a place to simply have fun and do something you love to do. Academic work can be stressful at times, so it is important to take breaks, societies are a great place for this. I love to wakeboard and windsurf, and I was a member of the Windriders Society for two years. I love being out on the water, it always boosts my endorphins. Many societies also do trips both in the UK and abroad, I was lucky enough to do two wakeboarding trips to Rock, Cornwall as well as a windsurfing trip to Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands! Overall, societies are an amazing way to make the most of your time at university, and I’d thoroughly recommend researching Exeter’s societies more!
Career-oriented opportunities
Making the most of an Exeter degree definitely involves making the most of the wealth of career-orientated opportunities the university offers. I should first start by saying that Exeter’s Career Zone (the University’s dedicated career department) ranked 3rd in the UK in the Student Crowd Best University Careers Services rankings in 2025. The Career Zone is a fantastic hub for everything careers including interview preparation, CV assistance, job searching, skill development, networking events and more! I have taken advantage of the networking events the Career Zone has put on, these are big events where numerous employers and professionals come down to Exeter from a variety of degree disciplines to share their knowledge, thoughts, and experience with Exeter students. Through this, I have been able to talk with professionals in my discipline such as civil servants, geopolitical analysts, and a variety of think tank policy researchers and fellows. It should be noted that the Career Zone puts on such events for every degree discipline, I know my housemates who study Law and Economics have found their respective networking events incredibly useful.
As well as student society positions, there are many other ways to grow your CV at the University. The Career Zone advertises many student internships every week which are fantastic experiences which employers love. There is a weekly bulletin every Friday which advertise these which you can sign up to receive! There are also other part-time positions available, which are equally as good. I love writing, and having written for the University’s politics journal in my first year, I sought to professionalise my writing further. Exeter gave me this opportunity, and I successfully applied to the Student Content Creator Scheme as a blog writer – a freelance position I have thoroughly enjoyed this year. There is something for everyone, the internships and positions span all disciplines, two of my housemate’s study neuroscience and they have both completed internships with the University which I know has enhanced their employability.
Exeter also offers a dedicated employment award called the Exeter Award, an award designed to articulate your skills and boost your employability – it is open to all undergraduates and taught postgraduates. A final opportunity I believe Exeter does really well is something called Grand Challenges. This is a five-day project week where students work in interdisciplinary groups to design innovative solutions to real world challenges. There are many projects you can participate in such as social inequality, climate emergency, future food, and security. At the end of my first year, I completed the ‘defence, security, and resilience’ challenge. I found this experience incredibly rewarding and useful. My team completed a project where we put forward a solution to reducing the risk of online youth radicalisation by terrorist networks. As well as this project, I heard from a former Ambassador, wrote a policy brief, and participated in a crisis simulation. Grand Challenges is much more than just a project, it now has a dedicated place on my CV, and I have discussed it many times during interviews.
Career opportunities at Exeter are in abundance, I have certainly done a lot of them, but there are still things I wish I had got more involved in. Exeter is unique in this aspect since it offers such a variety of ways to boost your employability. This is certainly as aspect to delve into for any Exeter student looking to make the most of their degree. Opportunities like this are harder to come by after university so make the most of them now!
Social opportunities
A third, important part of making the most of your degree is making memories for life with your friends and having fun in your free time. Exeter is a great place for this. Making the most of Exeter is definitely taking trips to the beaches and to Dartmoor National Park, both of which sit right on Exeter’s doorstep! My housemates and I love to take a break from work by hiking in Dartmoor on any given weekend or by heading down to Exmouth beach, or any other beach nearby – there are loads! The outdoors opportunities are endless, and they are something very unique to Exeter. If you are considering Exeter, I strongly recommend exploring the surrounding areas as well as the University and city itself. Other events my friends and I have loved throughout our time at Exeter are the horse races at Newton Abbot, the Hijacked music festival, as well as the annual Enchanted Garden Ball that thousands of Exeter students attend at Shobrooke Park Country House. I’m so grateful that I have made great memories from these activities and that I have lots of pictures to look back on once I graduate.
Final thoughts
There is so much to do at Exeter outside of simply going to lectures and completing assignments. The University offers so many opportunities to enhance the overall student experience. I am so glad I have pursued lots of extra-curricular activities and done lots of fun things along the way. A degree at the University of Exeter is so much more than attending class. You can try new things, join societies, boost your employability, and make extraordinary memories with your friends. University is a once in a lifetime opportunity, so it only seems right to make the most of it in any way you can!