So for those of you who don't know me or are unaware, I am currently a first year university student at the lovely Macquarie University here in Australia. I have completed my first semester and last week I have just started back for my second semester. I am studying a Bachelor of Commerce with a major in Marketing and I am pretty confident in saying that I enjoy what I do. I thought I would make this blog post to share some of my first hand experience, advice, fears, things I have learnt and other random facts about university life that I have learnt from my time at uni so far.
It's okay for one of your main goals at the start of your university life to be "I want to make friends"-
Hell this was all I wanted when I started university. I was fresh out of the worst years of my life aka high school and I had left (well the same way I had started and lived through most of high school) with basically no friends. Uni was a fresh start and a way to show myself as the new person I am (more mature and just an all round nicer, happier person) and make new friends.
But on the same note, it's totally okay not to have friends everywhere you turn and not to become friends with everyone you speak to-
This one was a big thing for me to come to terms with. Though all I wanted was to make new friends that I could hang out with on weekends and have coffee with at uni, I have made very few of these "proper" friends. I have one amazing friend that I see all the time outside of uni and a handful that I am happy to hang out with at uni when we are there together and make good conversation. However I've learnt that it's okay not to have friends in every single class you take and know everyone around you (considering my degree is massive and there are literally thousands upon thousands of us it would be a bit odd if I did know everyone). Also not everyone you speak to is going to be a good friend to you or be suitable to be your friend. You need to get to know people and figure out if you're compatible and remember that not everyone may be as nice as you are.
You're still going to be figuring yourself out-
Although you may believe you've enrolled in a university course and you're a legal adult (most of us are 18 when we enter uni) that we should have our lives sorted and know who we are and know this is what we want to do. Wrong. From my experiences university is the whole process of getting to completely understand who you are as a person and figure out where you want your life to take you. Sure, the whole time isn't for figuring out what you want to study (otherwise you'd never get anywhere) but it is for figuring out what you want to do after you study and the person that you want to be!
University classes and expectations are literally nothing like what you experience at high school-
Ahh the joys of being thrown into the unknown. And not the shallow kiddies pool (because we are not children anymore in education that we are being forced to have *sigh*) but thrown with full force in the deepest part of the Ocean with the sharks (well so to speak anyway). There is no "easing" into the subjects or hand holding when you don't know what to do. You want to know how to do something (now depending on your tutors and lecturers help may vary) you have to go out of your way and schedule time to ask questions or send emails that may not always give detailed responses. Then when you get the answer you can still have no idea what you're doing. Hands up to anyone who can relate to this? Because I know this is exactly how I have felt starting each subject even this semester.
It's okay to fail a class-
This one hits hard. At the start of university I was so convinced I would could not fail anything because "it's a lot of money" and it's a "waste of time to do it if I fail" and that "I wouldn't get anywhere in life if I fail a class" (okay the last one is a tad dramatic, but in all honesty it is how you can feel). But let me tell you something now from personal experience, it's okay to fail a class. Life does go on. The sun will still come out everyday and you will be okay. Of course it is a horrible feeling when you get your results after studying like crazy (or not so crazy for some classes in my case- which may I point out is why I failed) and you look down the list and see that big fat F. It's not a good feeling, but you didn't take away nothing from failing that class did you? You will still have learnt course material (more than you may think) and most importantly you've learnt where you went wrong and what you have to do better next time to ensure success.
*Side note- if you fail a class twice, life will still go on and you will still be okay. You just may need to identify the areas that you go wrong and get that extra help to pass the class*
Ignoring your friends/family/relationship and only focusing on University is a horrible idea-
Well, I know many of us can be culprits to this. There's a lot that can affect us ignoring people around us that we care about (I know the main factors for me are stress and anxiety), but it's important to not get overwhelmed by the workload. Make time to have lunch with your friends and hang out with your family. Spend an hour studying and then take the rest of the night off to go see a movie with your boyfriend. You need to make time for the important people in your life just as much as you need to finish your assignments and study for that test. But I promise you, the world isn't going to end if you take a few hours off doing assignments or studying to catch up with your friends and have some social interaction. We all need that and it's one of my regrets during the first semester of uni because I felt like I had to stay home all the time instead of being social because I put myself under a lot of stress. I missed out on a lot of things and I'm happy now I can finally start making up that time with my beautiful friends that I drifted from at the start of the year.
It is absolutely vital for you to have 'me time'-
I am a major culprit of not making any 'me time'. I was always so busy focusing on homework and assignments, spending time with my family, working and spending all of my free time with my boyfriend (I rarely saw my friends as mentioned above) that I didn't have any time to myself. And trust me, it takes a toll on you and people will notice. You are treating your mind with the education, but you need to remember to treat your body and your soul as well. Read a book, go for a walk, take a yoga class, fly a kite, jump in your car and drive somewhere you love by yourself while listening to your favourite music. Whatever it is just do something for you. You won't regret it, trust me.
Coffee will essentially save your life most days-
When you've had two hours sleep because you thought it was a good idea to go out all night when you had 2 assignments due the next day, that you then had to pull an all-nighter for (probably not the best idea)... Coffee will save you when you feel like death the next day
Buy second hand textbooks (when possible)-
Trust me on this one, you will save a small fortune. Most of the time the previous editions of the textbook for your classes will work just as well as the brand new edition and you are able to source them on the Internet or from flyers around your uni for a fraction of the price. If you're like me and doing a Commerce degree, you will know that on average a textbook costs around the $150 mark. As well as buying them second hand, once you've finished the course if you no longer need them, re-sell them to other students in need and you will have some extra cash handy to help purchase your next round of textbooks (or if you're like me it will be used for alcohol the night your exams finish to party and forget about everything you've just done).
So that is all I can think of right now that I have personally experienced or learnt. Of course there are other things I should have learnt like
- Don't procrastinate
- Listen to the recommended 10 hours per subject study time a week
- Trying to park at uni and drive in peak hour traffic is the worst idea I'll ever have
Thank you for reading!
*I just want to point out that these are all coming from my personal point of view, but I believe I can associate myself with the vast majority of new university students, although I am aware that there will be a large number of people that disagree with what I say because we are all different people!*
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