You’ve got through Freshers’ Week in one piece (just) and your student life is just beginning.
It’s a daunting but exciting time and these tips uncovered on the internet by the team here at student accommodation provider Portergate might just help make things go a bit smoother.
First off are these student life skills, which according the savethestudent.org will help you survive university life:
www.savethestudent.org/extra-guides/freshers/13-skills-to-help-you-survive-university.html
They range from knowing when to call it a night to figuring out the washing machine – all essential to student survival.
And when it comes to your course there’s the valuable ‘avoiding tricky seminar questions’ tip.
The Good Universities Guide has also come up with its checklist of advice:
It includes these wise words which we heartily agree with: ‘Don’t be too hard on yourself’.
It might take you a while to get settled. So don’t expect to get perfect grades straight away and try to enjoy your time at university while it lasts.
According to the Daily Telegraph “University is not just about taking a degree – it’s about learning to be an adult.” Stern stuff!
Check out the newspaper’s survival tips here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/universityeducation/student-life/8677131/Student-living-tips-for-university-survival.html
It seems that everyone has some advice for you as you set off on the big university journey.
Parents think they still know best, and one of the best advice columns Portergate has come across over the years, still has to be from the Mumsnet website. www.mumsnet.com.
According the site, these were lessons “learned the hard way” by Mumsnetters during their own uni days.
They ranged from “be careful which clubs you join” to “know your limits” – or to put it another way: “When you feel sick, stop drinking”.
Other great tips include “read the instructions” – important when doing your washing and “adjust your expectations”, which is a sound piece of advice when you head off to the shops to do your food shopping for the week.
Another piece of sound advice, which Portergate continually passes on to students embarking on their university career, also makes the list. “Stick to your budget”.
And it comes as no surprise that the Mumsnet top 10 includes an instruction to “listen to your parents.”
The article quotes one of its mums explaining: “Before I headed off to uni my dad said, very seriously, ‘Well… don’t do anything stupid.’ It pretty much covers it all!” Quite!
Balancing your budget and making the pennies count is another theme for would-be advisors, with a host of tips to be found on the internet.
We checked this one out from the Independent website and found some sound advice to share:
As all students will find out – every penny counts, even when it comes to buying a round of drinks in the Student Union bar. Count those pennies now and at least you’ll avoid suffering a financial hangover.
