Starting University - A Fresher's Survival Guide

There’s every reason to be nervous at the outset of your university career. You’re leaving the familiarity and comfort of your family, home town and school friends to enter the complete unknown. You’ll be living on your own for probably the first time, and will have to feed yourself, wash your own clothes, manage your money and oh yeah, get a degree somewhere in between all that. You’ve probably spent most of the summer trying not to think too hard about it, and wanting to slap well-meaning relatives who insist that ‘these’ll be the best years of your life.” What if I’m the one anomaly who has a lousy time? you can’t help but wonder. Fears about fitting in and making friends are to be expected, but it’s not very helpful when everyone just responds with ‘just be yourself’. I agree, it’s far too vague. Here are some specifics from someone who’s been there, done that, and survived.

1.     Be Open

I mean this both in terms of your personality, and your door. When you first arrive at your room in Halls of Residence, grab a hefty textbook or the iron your mum gave you, and wedge your door open. People will pass by, pop their heads round, and hey presto, the introductions make themselves. Remember, you’re all in the same boat, so go stick your head round a few doors too. Leave that door open for at least the first week, and if you get on really well with your floormates, you might find it stays open for the rest of the year anyway.

You don’t have to be false, scarily chirpy or forward to meet people. In the first week of uni, conversations pretty much write themselves – you ask where people are from, what course they’re, what A Levels they did and so on. Having a chat with someone doesn’t mean you have to declare undying friendship – the first week is just about seeing what’s what. Remember, you’re surrounded by about 10,000 other young people – so play the odds and start saying hi.

2.     Be Neutral

Leaving home for a fresh start carries with it the temptation to totally reinvent yourself. And why not? No one at university knows or cares what you were like at school, so why not change your name/haircut/wardrobe to something outlandish? By all means try out some new looks, but my advice would be to let the Freshers’ chaos pass before you make any bold statements. Trying to stand out from the crowd too obviously can lead to you being pigeonholed, and the people who label themselves within their first week often spend the next three years trying to peel the label off. Example – a chap in my halls spent the first few days prancing round campus in a bowler hat. People took one look at him and thought “pretentious twonk”. Which he was, and not very popular as a result.

The advice to "Be yourself" still applies here. ‘Yourself’ isn’t your clothes, hair or music, it’s your personality – let that shine through rather than distracting people with your taste in Slayer, penchant for cross-dressing or  love of medieval cloaks. Once you’re more comfortable with those around you, and have palled up with people who like you for what you are, then you can start bringing out the crazy stuff. There’s plenty of fancy-dress nights at any self-respecting Students Union – don’t waste all your outfits by trying far too hard in the first week. Remember, no one ever looked at someone in jeans and a t-shirt and thought “whaaat a prat.”

3.    Pace Yourself

I'm not being patronising when I tell you to go easy on the sex, drink and sausage rolls for the first few weeks of uni. Trust me, I know the temptation to go mental once you reach the campus gates. I went to an all-girls private school where the opportunities for rebellion were zilch. We had to wear navy blazers with lemon-yellow pinstripes – suffice to say I’ve suffered more than most of you.  But, even I realised that I had 36 months ahead of me in which to drink until my eyeballs melted and gawp at foxy members of the opposite sex, so I waited a few weeks before trying either.

Being ‘the gal who was hammered every night’ in your first week won’t get you any respect or kudos. We had such a girl in our halls, and people simply laughed at her. Drink, go out and have fun by all means, but stick to the middle lane to begin with. Those who drink less notice more, and will be out meeting people and learning about them, whilst their hammered counterparts will be facedown somewhere missing out. Wait til you’re with people you know, like, and trust before letting them see you blammoed.

The same goes for sexual liaisons. Not just because of reputations – although sadly that’s still something one has to consider, as there’s nothing people like better than a bit of harsh judging. But because you’ll want to get to know Foxy Bod from next door a bit before hooking up with them, just in case they’re hiding a hideous character flaw/a secret lover/an STD.

4.     Be Prepared

Doubtless your parents will make sure you’re weighed down with most of the essentials anyway (although maybe bring your own contraception, ahem), but there are a few things I’d especially recommend in addition.

Bottle Opener – fabulous ice breaker. Wear it round your neck on string, and you’ll be instantly popular at any party. You’ll probably get offered a sip of any drink you offer to open, and then conversation follows. Too easy.

Lighter – in the same spirit, people always need lighters at parties. Offer to light a fag and you’ll be appreciated and talked to. It’s worth a bit of smog to meet a few peeps and circulate.

Tissues/baby wipes – because you never know when the communal toilets are going to run out.

Stain Remover – because someone will spill snakebite and blackcurrant on your favourite top/jeans. They won’t mean to, but they will.

First Aid Kit – because you will catch everyone else’s colds and end up with Fresher’s flu. Take cold remedies, painkillers, plasters, savlon, anti-histamines, antacids, Alka-Selzer...sod it, just clear out your parents medicine cabinet and take the lot.

Stationery – don’t wait til you get to uni and end up paying the not-very-subsidised rate at their stationery shop. Get all your gear before you go – Wilkinson’s in particular are wonderfully cheap.

Amazon vouchers – if relatives want to reward you for your A Level results, or perhaps give you an ‘off to uni’ going-away present, ask for these. Buying your textbooks for full price is a sucker’s game – there are always students flogging off their old books cheaply online. And don’t buy everything on the reading list – just what the university library can’t help you with.

5.     Be Realistic

The Fresher’s Fair will give you the opportunity to join all kinds of societies. By all means take the chance to try out something new, but don’t go mad. Remember you have to pay for membership, and ask yourself, are you really going to fit in a yoga class, judo, windsurfing, paintballing and letter-writing for Amnesty International every week?

Society attendance has a phenomenal drop-off rate after the first few weeks, so it may be worth waiting and joining when you’re sure what you want to do and what your timetable is. Joining the trampolining club, only to find yourself waiting round the trampoline for a turn with 50 others ain’t much fun – but it might be a lot better in a few weeks when there’s only 8 of you.

6.     Think Beyond The Bar

Freshers are relentlessly targeted in their first week with seductive offers of free drinks and bar crawls organised by the student venues.The idea behind these is to loosen up your inhibitions and wallet with the first free drink, then keep you spending through your drunken haze. Do this for 7 nights, and the rest of the term is going to be one of financial hardship. Instead, try varying your activities with a DVD night in someone’s room, or if you must booze, do it on the cheap. Get everyone to kick in a few quid, buy booze in bulk (supermarkets, students love ya) and play drinking games at home. You’ll save money, still get blotto, and be in a safe environment where your own bed is within crawling distance.

7.     Do Some Work

Just some. That’s all I’m asking. Most universities only require you to get 40% in your first year exams to pass, so the bar isn’t set very high. But there’s always some wazzock who thinks they can wing it even though they’ve slept through all their lectures and not handed in a single assignment all year, and said wazzock inevitably ends up failing and being kicked out. Don’t be that person. Keep a handle on your course – between the fun, of course. Don’t go to the other extreme and pull 8-hour days in the library though. That kind of madness can be saved for finals.

8.     Enjoy It

You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll put on weight, and no one will care because they’ve all gained the ‘Fresher Fifteen’ as well. You’ll get happy, you’ll get sad, you’ll feel stressed, you’ll feel confused, you’ll feel free. You’ll think you’re the most grown-up person in the world til you go home for the holidays and your parents make you feel about 13 again. You’ll emerge a changed person three or four years later, wondering how it all passed so quickly. And when you experience the horrific tedium of working life, you’ll look back and realise just how good you had it. Remember – this is the only time the government will give you money to be young and stupid – so ENJOY IT!