Accommodation and housemates

  • • Don’t ever leave a note for your housemates with helpful suggestions like “remember the bins go out on Tuesdays” because no matter how innocent or helpful you think you are being, or how many smiley faces you use, you will always be the crazy rubbish lady who leaves weird notes.
  • • Find out very quickly if any of your housemates have never cooked for themselves before, because There. Are. Going. To. Be. Fires. You should also learn what to do when a fire happens (eg don’t throw fire-y frying pans out the window)
  • • If a guy claiming to be from reception shows up on your first day in your new house saying he needs to take back your tv and a replacement will be sent up to you, he is obviously a robber and his friend has the car running outside filled with stuff they have stolen from unsuspecting first-year students like yourself.
  • • Make sure to close your windows properly if living in a student village as there is going to be someone who will climb in your window and steal your laptop.
  • • Get along with your housemates, this will make your life so much easier. But on the other hand, stand up for yourself when needs be. Find the balance.
  • • Cut your house and room keys. Put a big keyring on your keys – the bigger they are, the harder they are to forget.
  • Academic life - embolden

  • • Don’t be laid back about group assignments because someone in the group is without a doubt going to let you down and do absolutely nothing. (Don’t be that person!!) This will happen throughout college and you will come to realise group assignments are the absolute worst.
  • • Learn how to use online databases to find journal articles because it can be a minefield and also because you will need these journal articles when one of your sneaky fellow students takes all the books out of the library (or returns the book with the pages relevant to the assignment torn out). On this note, don’t wait until exam week to venture into the library. Someone smarter, more organised and sneakier than you will go in on week one and take out all the essential reading for your course so you won’t be able to get it.
  • • Find out where the most reliable printer is on campus. Learn how to use and pay for printing in the first two weeks and not on the day your assignment is due. Befriend the IT people because technology is not going to be your friend on college deadline days.
  • • Make friends with people on your course - this is key to getting on academically. There is going to be a day early on that you will sleep in/show up at the wrong lecture hall and you’ll need their notes.
  • • Get on your course Facebook page, WhatsApp or equivalent. This will help you so much with knowing when things are due.
  • • Know who your course director is and meet them if possible. Don’t let the first time they see your name be when you’re failing something.
  • • If you’re struggling, say it. Tell your lecturer you don’t have a notion what’s going on - they will usually try to help.
  • Fun stuff

  • • Sign up for clubs and societies, go for the really wacky ones like parkour and ultimate frisbee because they are bound to be a laugh and when will you ever have the chance to do something like that again.
  • • Go out – there will be plenty of nights to stay in, so if your friends ask, do it and enjoy it.
  • • Be open to new experiences – nervous about meeting with a group of new people? Just say yes!
  • General college life advice

  • • Get help. Universities have supports for everything, use them!
  • • Learn to be you. Secondary school is over, stop comparing your grades, image and all the rest to others. Be an individual.
  • • Don’t leave that one seat gap in the lecture hall. Sit down beside your fellow student and chat. They’re in the same boat as you. In the same vein, don’t rush off after lectures. Stick around campus after you have finished to chat to your classmates. Wander around with a new friend and get to know them. This is very important in courses like Law or Arts where you only have approximately 12 hours of lectures a week – make an effort to get to know people as much as you can during the few hours you do see them.