After nearly 4 months holiday, University is starting back for the year and it's time to return to reality for students.
I am in my third year of University now and this semester finish up all of my Journalism subjects and begin my major in Entrepreneurship. Here are some tips that I have picked up, or learned from personal experience, throughout my two years of Uni.
You can get to a point where you lose faith in your course whether it be a shocking timetable or the fact you have to do all the classes you aren't looking forward to from your course. By going into the situation with a negative mindset, you are setting yourself up for failure. Walk through those University gates knowing that you are going to try your best and do as well as you can. I went into one of my subjects last year thinking "I'm going to hate this so much" and no shock here, I hated it. However, it does work the other way around where you will be excited for a subject then end up disliking it...and that's okay too! Just like foods and TV shows, you aren't going to love every single thing and same goes with University subjects. Going in with an open mind will really give you a clean slate to start out the course without judgments of it.
Be prepared
I think we have all been there- walked into a class and realised everyone has a certain textbook, notebook, sticky notes and highlighters ready to go and you're sitting there like "I brought a pen". Yeah, it only has to happen once before you learn the necessity of checking your textbook lists and going back to university shopping beforehand. Ensure you have all of the require resources before you attend your first lecture or tutorial and you will save yourself a world of stress. The tip I have is if I textbook is just recommended, wait until the first few classes to see if it is really necessary before purchasing it.
Brush up on your knowledge
This is especially important if you have a class that has a pre-requisite of a subject you have previously done. So for me, I'm doing the subject management this semester but it has a pre-requisite of marketing therefore I am blowing off the dust on my marketing textbook and giving it a bit of a flick through. This will ensure you are caught up on all of the expected knowledge. This is a great habit to get into anyway, puling out a textbook and brushing up on your knowledge every once in a while is great for retaining the information. You don't want to spend tens of thousands of dollars on your degree only to come out not remembering anything.
Organise
The best way to stay on top of everything is by keeping organised which means having a calendar and diary/agenda where you put in all of your class times and due dates. Sticky notes are great for adding additional information to your diary that you need to know but might have forgotten otherwise. This is especially great if you have a job because you can map it out and ensure work doesn't clash with any classes.
Make friends
This seems like such an obvious tip but unlike school, in University it is all too easy to sit at the back of a lecture hall and roam through campus going the whole time without talking to a single person. Go out of your way to start conversations and make friends in your classes because it makes group work a lot easier and having someone to talk to about due dates or compare lecture notes is always amazing. Besides, why would you want to feel all alone during this incredible social experience?
Those are my very brief but also extremely accurate tips to follow if you are new to University or you may have been studying a few years. Remember, education is a privilege and you want to make the most of this amazing time of your life so work hard and have fun.
Thanks for reading!
