You are all ready for your new life at university. You have bought everything on your reading list, nabbing the last copy of Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose off the shelves. And despite having never watched it, you have decided that an À bout de souffle poster hanging in your student digs gives the impression that you are both unpredictably cultured and, possibly, French.

But there is one niggling doubt. OK, it is not really a niggle, more a cavernous doubt. You are not really sure if you want to go to university - you still harbour dreams of being a (whisper it) rock star.

Before you throw your highlighter pens out the window and strap on a Strat, think again. Many bands, such as The Long Blondes and MGMT met at university. The secret is to balance work and (literally) play.

One such band that dealt with this issue is Los Campesinos! Formed in the second year at Cardiff University in 2006, the seven-member band's rise was lightning quick.

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An early demo was posted on the internet, prompting a record company bidding war. The band had to prioritise what was important to them.Drummer Ollie - the band's members avoid using their surnames - says that when record companies were told that band members wanted to finish their degrees, they initially showed less interest in signing them.

So why were the degrees so important? “Nowadays bands don't have long careers like the Rolling Stones,” Ollie says. “They generally bring out two albums before people get bored and move on. We thought if we weren't successful we could still find jobs and if we were successful and still playing when we're 60, at least we have got our degrees.”

Successful they were. The band's second single You! Me! Dancing!, released less than a year after they formed, became a huge underground hit. The fever-pitch nature of the record industry suggested a need to release a debut album immediately, followed by a huge tour.

Los Campesinos! had other ideas. “We prioritised our degrees. We laid off the band a bit. We put out some singles but that was it,” Ollie says. He adds that while the band was glad to have stuck to its guns, occasionally it had proved difficult to maintain resolve. “We did a six-date tour in London then had to drive back to Cardiff for lectures the next day. It was anti-climactic; we felt like we wanted to carry on. Also we'd do exciting things like meeting labels and then go back to uni to write an essay.”

However, Ollie believes that maintaining the life/work balance proved hugely beneficial. “It gave us time to develop as musicians and to write better songs. So the album we eventually brought out ended up being a lot better than if we'd brought one out before.”

Other bands, such as Foals, had members who started university but quit mid-course. Jack Bevan, the drummer, was studying photography at Oxford Brookes and attempted to balance band life, a long distance relationship and being a student. Despite choosing to leave university, Bevan believes it is possible to mix band and campus.

“Initially we managed it by touring in the holidays and practising in [singer Philippakis] Yannis's college free in term time.”

Radio 1's Huw Stephens, an early champion of both Los Campesinos! and Foals, shares this opinion. “I'd say strike a balance with which you feel comfortable. Take your time - a few bands have taken their time, finished their studies then gone on to do well. Grades to fall back on are always a good idea.”

He adds that if you want to chase your musical dreams, it may be an idea to go to a university with a cultural background such as Edinburgh or Manchester.

“Cities and towns where there is a culture that opens its arms to creative types would be more encouraging to bands and music makers,” he says.

Case Study

Andy Zuk, 28, was in the rock bands Polanski and Ghosts while studying at St Anne's College, Oxford University. He is now studying to become an accountant, but still finds time to make music.

While at university, he says he never felt like he had to choose between his studies and the music. “The holidays at Oxford were so generous that we would just spend weeks doing stuff in the holidays and didn't really do anything in the busy term time. We didn't play live when we were at uni - we just used to record stuff for hours and hours, getting obsessed with the techie element way too much.”

After leaving university Zuk took up teaching to give himself more time to play with the band and later released a first single Hate This Music.The band started playing live to promote the record.

“By this time things had changed. The band started becoming more commercial and I wasn't interested in playing that stuff. Managers began to get involved and it turned serious.

The idea of the band was that it was a fun job and it wasn't fun any more. I decided to leave.”

His advice to anyone considering mixing work, music and studies is to “give music as much time as possible and don't spend all your time in the pub. Make the most of opportunities that come your way”.

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