Your student days are known to be one of the best times in your life — the profusion of freedom, making life-long friends, and studying something you love. Some of life’s greatest offerings which shouldn’t be taken for granted and will allow you to make memories to last a lifetime. These days go quickly though, so here’s how to make the most out of your university experience.
The First Few Weeks
Getting to grips with your surroundings should be your priority in the first few weeks. You should be exploring the area you live, finding the nearest transportation networks such as bus and walking routes. This is also a good chance to find doctors, pharmacies, and any other essential amenities you may need whilst living in your chosen area. You may also wish to source the local café’s, restaurants, and bars to try them out! Take a look at our blog ‘living in derby’ to find out more.
This is also a great time to explore your university grounds and familiarising yourself to where everything is located — where your lectures will be held to the libraries. It’s important to understand that you can only really make the most out of your university experience if you know where everything is.
Fresher’s
And let’s not forget fresher’s week. The pinnacle moment for any first-time student. Look at your university event page to see what’s on. You’ll probably need to put yourself out there, so try out societies you’re interested in and spark a conversation with someone.
It’s a great chance to start meeting people and building relationships which is indispensable. Particularly when you’re at your most vulnerable living away from home. Take this time to find people who you feel most comfortable around and who you think will make your university experience enjoyable. But don’t worry if this doesn’t happen straight away, friendships take time. It’s worth noting that everyone else will be in the same boat as you — you’re not alone!
The Facilities and Your Tutors
As much as universities encourage you to have fun and ‘let-loose’, let’s not forget the main reason you are here — to get a degree. It’s easy to get swept away in the freedom and newly found independence but with that comes responsibility. Whether you are an international student, or a home status student, you will be paying a lot of money for this experience. This ultimately means you deserve to be getting the most out of the university facilities and tutors.
Explore what facilities your university offers. Depending on your degree, you will have access to a plethora of seminars, lectures, workshops and more. It’s worthwhile to try everything out, even if it doesn’t sound particularly appealing at first. You will never know what suits you, your studies, and your working methods until you try them. Remember each lecture, seminar and lab practical you go to is costing you money.
Top Tip: There are useful apps you can download onto your laptop to record your lectures as you’re making notes. These typed notes and recordings will be very handy during revision.
Equally, your tutors are there to help and support your educational journey. You should always ask if you don’t understand a topic, would like to explore an idea for your essay or want book recommendations. Your tutors will have appointments in office hours you can sign up to or you can email them. Establishing good relationships can be vital when you write your dissertation or need an academic reference.
Acknowledge if there’s a problem
Hopefully, you won’t encounter any problems with your university experience or your degree, but it can happen. The degree you set out to complete might not be for you, so It’s best to mentally prepare for this situation and recognise the warning signs. Don’t struggle doing something you’re not enjoying — you can usually change modules within the first few weeks. You can also change course or university if you think you’ve made the wrong decision, but this is often subject to entry requirements and availability. Talk to your tutor or course leader about your options if this does happen, there are always solutions.
You should also seek help if you’re struggling with money, living issues or mental health problems. Your university will have a range of support services available to you, so make use of them. See the information about student mental health for more on where to seek help at university.
Remember, navigating a new environement and new life-experiences is challenging so it’s important to be kind and not put too much pressure on yourself. If you make mistakes, it won’t define your entire university experience. The important thing to do is to always try your best and ultimately, try and enjoy your time there whilst you can.
