hey, hello, hi!
When I first moved to university, a small 5 years ago, I remember my mum driving out of the car park of my halls while I waved her off, pretending I wasn’t crying. I’m ready to admit that now but at the time I acted like I didn’t feel like my mum had just dropped me in the most foreign feeling place in the UK to fend for myself. Disclaimer – Wales turned out to be a pretty normal place once I’d got over the initial shock. By the end of the week I was already on a train back home on the premise I was surprising my mum – realistically I was homesick and was ready to sign up to a university closer to the south coast. In short, it’s okay to find moving to university scary, daunting, lonely, sad or all of the above. Believe it or not, the majority of people are in the same boat.
It’s very easy to ask anyone about their university experience and more often than not they’ll tell you that it was the best years of their life. And honestly, I’d tell you the exact same. But it’s inherent to look back on your time and only remember the good parts – looking back through rose tinted glasses if you will. While it’s great that you don’t generally care to remember the times you sat inside the only 4 walls you can call your own and cried until you couldn’t anymore because you felt lonely; or because the workload was too much; or because you missed home cooked meals (yes, this is a perfectly good excuse to cry), it doesn’t mean that these things don’t happen all the time.
The aim of this blog post isn’t to scare you into thinking university is this horribly overwhelming, unbearable time of your life. It has it moments, but for most of us it’s our first hint of true freedom which brings its own excitement and opportunities. Below are 8 different tips to act as a ‘life raft’ or a go to guide to make it that little bit easier to navigate when times do inevitably get tough.
- BE ORGANISED
I know. I know. How many times have you heard this. But this will always be my number one tip to anyone starting anything new – being organised it the biggest step to being successful at university. Like they say… work smarter not harder. Making sure you know your timetable, or at least have it synced with your phone, means that you can minimise that surprise lab feeling when you’ve had one too many drinks the night before. Knowing what equipment you need or what reading you need to do for each module will help you keep on top of your work levels. Bottom line is, being organised (along with making your bed) is the best way to pretend like you’ve got your life together!
- Join a sports club or society
Joining clubs and societies will give you a very welcomed break from studying and allow you to make friends outside of your halls/house and course. The benefit of these friends will be that you will already have a common interest – they are at the same club/society as you! There are usually opportunities within universities to try out new sports and hobbies. Speaking as a Cardiff University student, there are Give It A Go (GIAG) events that allow you to quite literally try something before you become a fully fledged member! These are great for accessing sports that you perhaps didn’t have available to you growing up but really wanted to try!
Filling any spare time you do have with activities and hobbies you love doing will not only benefit your mental health but give you a much needed method to release any pent up stresses!
- Prioritise and protect your mental health
With 1 in 5 students at university having a diagnosed mental health problem it is no surprise that there is added pressure on universities to do more to support students [1]. Between meeting the work load demands of your degree, managing your own finances, developing new friendships on top of maintaining current relationships with family and friends, balancing academic life with enjoying university life and leaving home for probably the first time it can be a pretty uncertain and challenging time.
Taking ownership of your own mental health is so important. While there may be people around you looking out for you, it can often feel like you’re alone with your own thoughts. Self-care is mentioned at every opportunity when talking about mental health, and of course if you can do things like eat healthy and exercise regularly to make you feel good then amazing. But when your mental health is particularly bad, it’s not always as easy as getting out for a 30 minute walk. It is definitely worth finding out early on what support your university does provide. Sometimes you end up so deep in a dark hole that even the thought of trying to find help is overwhelming. Hopefully, you won’t need to make use of the support systems, but if you do, it’s a lot easier to reach out when you already know the process. Additionally, there are some incredible charities out there that offer a range of different support systems: Samaritans, Mind, Papyrus, Sane, Student Minds.
- Set your own boundaries
Setting boundaries is something applicable to all aspects of life, not just academia. That being said, the peer pressure involved during university life is REAL. It’s very easy to fall into the trap of doing things because everyone else around is doing them, even though you don’t actually want to do them. The ability to say “no” to something you don’t want to partake in is probably one of the hardest boundaries to set, particularly when you’re fresh into university and trying your hardest to make friends. But no ‘friend’ is worth having if they make you feel pressured into doing something.
- Attend careers events and NETWORK
Universities generally give you some ability to tailor your learning to what you’re interested in within your degree or career aspiration – usually in the form of optional modules or projects you can be part of. Attending careers events early on can give you some insight on the aspects of your degree you could see yourself enjoying more – meaning you can pick modules and projects that align with your interests.
Additionally, companies are increasingly wanting applicants with relevant experience. Careers events allow you to network with people as well as ask companies about potential for placements or work experience with them. Doing this shows you are proactive in your search for experience and may actually give you an opportunity that wouldn’t previously have been advertised by the company.
Networking is a great way of broadening your opportunities through the people you meet. It is often the case that the people you meet at careers fairs are the best people to give you advice on your next steps or are able to give you contacts to someone who you may be able to benefit from talking to!
Side note: you don’t have to network at formal careers events… I have made contacts at both a gin tasting event and a wine tasting evening (I do have other hobbies outside of tasting alcohol, I promise!)
- Manage your money
Money problems are a huge taboo subject at university. The majority of people will have a fairly large sum of money dropped into their bank account every few months (hello student loan!) with no real understanding on how to spread it to make sure it lasts. There a masses of budgeting tips online – some people find creating a huge spreadsheet of their expenses helps them visualise their money. Others set up another account with a direct debit which automatically transfers their weekly/monthly budget into their main account.
Monzo (or Revolut) are accounts that you can manage easily from your phone. They both have physical bank cards too so are a really good option if you want to create a weekly or monthly budget! They also have a ‘good’ feature where you can categorise where you’ve spent your money – great if you want to cut down in certain areas, horrible when you’ve spent more money on takeaways than you have proper food.
Following that, make sure you’re aware of all the student discount websites you get access to by having an institutional email address !!! Definitely one of the biggest perks about being a student. If you don’t know about them already UNIDAYS and Student Beans are two common, free to use student discount sites – you just need to verify your student status via your university email address. There is also TOTUM (previously NUS) which costs £14.99 for access to more discounts. It is also worth noting that your student card will also give you access to discounts (usually in person) outside of these websites – McDonald’s is a great example of this.
- Deal with Imposter Syndrome early
University is inherent for those feelings of being out of your depth or lacking control which is where elements of Imposter Syndrome creep in. Firstly, it’s completely normal to feel like this – you’ve just undergone potentially the biggest change in your life so far! It’s okay to feel overwhelmed by it. You are also meeting people from all walks of life – I know I found it tough meeting people who had more experience and understanding of engineering than I did. But the beauty of first year is that it’s used to get everyone to the same level and ability. Feelings of not being good enough can often result in you either overworking to prove to yourself that you belong or quitting completely. Neither of which are productive solutions to the original problem. Accepting those feelings of doubt and dealing with them early on can mean they don’t sit and overwhelm you until the point of collapse. For more tips for dealing with Imposter Syndrome, check out Girls Who STEM’s handy guide.
- HAVE FUN
No one tells you that university was the best years of their life because they spent 10 hours a day studying, 2 hours in the gym, only ate healthy food and was asleep by 11pm. Letting your hair down is just as important as the serious stuff – the real key to a successful university experience is balance.
While these tips are what I would go back and tell my first year self, I will be the first to admit that they aren’t the ultimate hack to university life. It’s going to be hard. It might take you a while to find your feet and settle in to a new environment. There are going to be times where you miss home, or you hate your course, or you feel like you have no one to turn to. But as long as you have the resilience and determination to power through these hard times, it will all be okay in the end.
All my love, Meg x
P.S none of the links in this blog posted are endorsed by the companies – I am genuinely recommending them.
Girls Who STEM 