Everyone says that University is the best time of your life, that you’ll make long lasting friends, get drunker than ever before, have lots of sex, learn tonnes and come out a grown up with a good degree and great prospects for work. That’s quite a lot to live up to and sometimes then it can seem disappointing at first. That’s why Uni is also a hot spot for suicides and why 1 in 4 students in the UK are depressed. Here’s what to actually expect from Uni, both so you can decide if it’s for you and so you have realistic expectations.

Firstly, it may take you a while to settle in. To start with you won’t know your way around and you probably won’t have any friends yet either. Conversations will be stilted and no one will really know you. Your Uni may or may not have put on a fantastic freshers’ week full of activities. If they have make sure you attend everything and if they haven’t you’ll need to search for events yourself such as society pub crawls and the like. Maybe arrange your own for the flat? Just realise that in order to get a good start at Uni you mustn’t be shy and you will have to risk being a gooseberry by going out with groups of people you don’t know and may not get on with.

In the initial week you’ll probably make a few friends but chances are some of these will fall by the wayside as you find more like-minded people. Be yourself and in time you’ll establish some strong friendships that will develop quickly due to proximity. One week of living with someone or on there doorstep and you get to know far more about them than some of your older friends from home. This is why you should really hope you get put in halls with a bunch of people you like and why you really shouldn’t commute from home.

The academic side of things also starts slowly and you should be given a little time to get settled before they turn up the heat. Particularly helpful is the fact that the first year doesn’t count so you can afford to slack a bit so long as you still get that crucial 40% (unless you’re doing a placement in which case you need a good grade to make yourself stand out). In the second and third year they’ll start to up the ante but don’t let it get on top of you. While everyone says it’s so much harder than A-Levels, in reality it’s not really all that much different. If you just find a formula for what they’re looking for you can churn out essays and exam answers much the same as you always have (only you’ll have more freedom and less structure). In fact in the first year and some of the first a lot of it might seem like recapping and this can quickly get boring and seem almost like a waste of time. It’s only toward the end of the course you’ll get into the really deep stuff and start having to turn down nights out. This is when it finally starts to feel satisfying though and you’ll see the benefit of all the boring stuff. By the end you can justifiably feel very pleased with your dissertation once it’s bound and completed.

Mack LeMouse

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