First Year at University
Ten Tips for an Enjoyable and Successful Time
Nov 30, 2007 Alison K Crawford
1. Make sure you complete orientation!
Orientation is the most important part of the first week on campus, usually divided up into course or degree groups. New students are guided around the campus and shown places like the student centre, the cafeteria, their faculty blocks and important teachers’ offices.
2. Buy the right text books!
It’s pretty embarrassing to find out you have the wrong books, so always make sure. Don’t bother buying them before classes start, as reading lists change a lot over time. The lecturer will often tell you what you need in the first class.
3. Go to BOTH the first and last lecture of the semester!
These are the two most important times of the semester, telling you about work loads and exams and due dates for assignments among other things. If you slack off in a few classes, that’s ok but never miss these.
4. Read your unit outline!
These slim booklets handed out at the first lectures are full to the brim of good information. They have reading lists, text book information, course summaries, tutorial times, exam info and all you need to know about your assignments.
5. Get a mentor!
Mentors are students on campus who have been here for longer than you, my university states they have to have finished at least the first year in a certain course. [UTAS, 2005] They will help new students out with work and answer all questions like ‘where’s the nearest printer?’ and so on.
6. University is not a time to slack off!
Despite what people might say, we are not generally a bunch of slackers who sit around drinking all the time. New students might think that’s so, but lecturers actually give you a lot of work when you think about it. Of course, some more than others but never leave your assignments until the days its due unless it’s an emergency. They really don’t like this and if an assignment is handed in after the due date, they take marks off.
7. Extensions are awesome!
If, for some reason, number six happens to you and the assignment won’t be finished in time, go to the lecturer and ask very nicely for an extension. Lecturers are pretty nice people and it’s not their job to fail you so they will often give extensions of a few days, just don’t ask for it on the day its due. Three days before the due date is usually the required length of time you have to have. But if you don’t ask, you’ll never get one.
8. Exams cannot be fluked!
Never walk into an examination after the end of semester, sit down and commence without ever studying. Studying for exams is imperative, since they are normally worth at least half your yearly mark. University policy is to give students one week to study for the exams, so make the most of this and use it wisely. Watching soap operas does not constitute studying.
9. Make friends!
If living in student accommodation, friends will often pop out of the woodwork in the first few weeks. For the rest of uni students, they have to work a bit harder to make friends. Attend parties and mixers, talk to people in tutorials. Friends met at University will often be friends for life. And friends make great study buddies.
10. HAVE FUN!
What is University if not a time to experiment? Away from home, doing things you’ve never done before, being adults, it’s a great time. And getting drunk once or twice isn’t the worst thing you could ever do in your life.
So in the end, University is not all about careers and assignments and exams, it’s about finding yourself as a person and having a great ride along the way.
DISCLAIMER: University and Colleges are different in each country. For more update information, please contact your university's website. This article is only a general guide.
Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University
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