I remember this time last year I was all over blogs and YouTube looking at tips for university students and watching university experience videos. Now that my first year of university is over I feel like I am qualified to give advice to freshers starting in September.
Socialize. This is something I wish I did more in my first year. Anyone who knows me knows that I'm a really chatty person and I love meeting new people. For some reason I found it really hard to socialize and I was really guarded. I joined the dance society and didn't really fit in or start making friends until December/January and I only really talk to 2 people in my seminar group! Don't be scared to go up to people and introduce yourself. I remember in freshers week people would randomly coming up to me and introduce themselves. So that's a tip for you guys and definitely one for myself going into second year.
Manage Your Time. I struggled with this quite a lot. I have a very hands on course, a lot of it involves spending hours in the newsroom; trying to find people to interview, going to court and on top of that I of course had coursework deadlines. I was also on the first dance team and trained 4 times a week, when it got closer to performances rehearsal could go up to 6 times a week so I was always busy. Not managing my time meant I was starting coursework 4/5 days before it was due which I promise you is not fun. I've done a blog post on how to keep organised which you can read here.
You're Not Going To Be Friends With Everyone. You are going to meet so many different people ( you will come across a couple of bell ends! ), you're not going to get along with them all. Some of the people you don't get along with might even be your flatmates. Or I could be wrong and you might end up being best friends with everyone you meet! I didn't get along with 2 of my flatmates and let's just say the thought of never seeing them again fills me with joy :). But I get along so well with my other 4 flatmates that the other 2 don't even matter, I'm living with them for the next year and I miss them so much too!!
Keep Active. I know that a lot of people feel that they put on weight when they go to university. I personally didn't take notice if I put weight on or not but every time I came back home to London my mum would say I look like I've been starving myself. I kept active through dance and right at the end of the year I starting going to the gym.
Manage Your Money. Let's just say half way through first term and second term my bank balance was £0.00 :)
Go to Freshers Fair. How can you say no to freebies!
Join a society. I joined the dance society and I must say it was the best decision ever. I only went to the dance auditions because my flatmate wanted me to go with her and I ended up getting on first team! Being part of dance I've had the opportunity to perform in the Capital FM arena, had the opportunity to go to Liverpool, participate in so many competitions and of course met some beautiful, talented people.
Have fun. It's such an amazing experience and it's going to go by so fast. You don't want to look back and regret anything. Work hard (very hard) and play harder!!
Have you got any more tips for students? If your starting university in September what are you most worried about?
