Advice for Freshers

Moving to University, for most people, will be the biggest move they have ever made! It certainly was for me. I am currently coming to the end of my second year at uni, and feel that I have some valuable pieces of advice for incoming freshers.

Whilst I have called this post Advice for Freshers, most of these points are relevant to anyone at university. So without further ado here are nine pieces of advice…

Join a Society

The majority of universities hold a Freshers Fair in your first week, where they expose you to all of the societies they have on offer. This is a great opportunity to speak to other students who are already members of the societies that interest you.

Joining a society is a great way to make friends at university, outside of your accommodation. I would highly recommend joining a society, especially in your first year.

Find a budget that works for you

The amount of financial support each student gets varies, it is not an equal playing field. Therefore, finding a budget that works for you is crucial. If you can get this in place as soon as possible, you won’t be scrambling for money in the last few weeks of term.

Student loans are paid at the start of each term, so you will need to come up with a plan to make this money last nearly 4 months. If you have no idea where to begin with budgeting, read this post. It will walk you through three simple budgets that you can implement. Or you can download this FREE workbook that will help you budget your student loan step-by-step.

Have some money set aside for Freshers week

Freshers week can soon become very expensive, especially if you end up going out every night. Combine this with the fact that you won’t get your first loan payment until after this week, you’ll need to have some money set aside to avoid going into your overdraft in the first week.

Put in effort

Whether or not your first year counts (in terms of your end grade) will depend on your university. At the university I’m at, first year does not count towards your final grade BUT it does count when it comes to study aboard or placement years. Therefore, regardless you still need to put effort in!

First year is a great opportunity to find study methods that work for you and get into the routine of attending all of your classes.

Avoid paying for books

You have probably heard the common rhetoric that books are the most expensive thing about uni – I believed this too. This view changed completely when I got to uni!

Most universities have brilliant libraries, where the majority of the materials have been digitalised so you can access all of your course materials online for free. Don’t buy any books until you know for sure that your uni doesn’t provide it.

Over the past two years that I have been at uni, I have only brought two books. Both secondhand and crucial for my dissertation. Therefore, I have spent less than £10 total on books.

However, I do realise that for some courses, you may have to buy some textbooks (law for instance). If this is the case, buying secondhand will dramatically reduce the cost.

Learn some ice breakers

Those first few hours with your new housemates can often be very very awkward. Having some ice breakers under your belt will help break the tension. Sometimes all it takes is one person to kick it all off.

Unpack and get settled asap

Making your uni room homely and organised before term starts will make you feel more settled and ready. Use your downtime during Freshers Week to unpack and set up the room exactly how you like it. The sooner you do this the better, it will help you adjust to the move.

RELATED READING: 5 Unique Dorm Room Essentials

Eat well

Another common student rhetoric is that they live on pasta and beans on toast – this doesn’t have to be true! Although I absolutely love both of these meals 🙂

Meal prepping, discount stores and bulk shopping make eating well on a budget very realistic. If you don’t know where to start or can’t cook, there are hundreds of student cookbooks out there that can help.

Make memories

Your years at university may be the best of your life! Embrace everything and keep an open mind (obviously keep it legal). By saying yes, who knows where you will end up?

Make memories and don’t forget to take pictures!

There we have it, my biggest pieces of advice for incoming freshers. Are there any other pieces of advice you think I missed?