Starting at University

We’ve written this guide to help make sure you’ve remembered everything you need both before and when you first start university.

Emails

Before your first day, make sure that you have read all of the emails you’ve received from your university - check there aren’t any in your junk/spam folder.

Socials

Check out socials and webpages related to your university. This could be the university’s main pages; your department might have its own page. There may even be some groups specifically for new students to meet before your first day. If you are moving into university accommodation, often there will also be a group for each hall or building so you may even find someone you’ll be living with.

Important Documents

Make sure you have all of the documents you need to take with you on your first day, this could be qualification certificates or identity documents like a passport.

Learn the Route

Make sure you know the route to your uni and where you have to go on your first day. If you’re someone who would benefit from being certain of where you’re going, there’s nothing wrong with doing a trial run of the journey in a less time –pressured, low-risk way. You could also use this to test out different methods of travel and compare the costs. Would you rather take the bus instead of the train to save money each day even though it takes slightly longer?

Money

Consider if you would like to open a new bank account. Many providers will offer a student account which may have added benefits on top of normal accounts. It can be useful to have more than one bank account to help with budgeting while at university. To find out why alongside more budgeting tips, check out our budgeting at university guide.

Don’t rush out and buy all of the textbooks your lecturers have mentioned straight away. Your university will have a physical and virtual library where you could access the books for free. Sometimes you might only to read one or two chapters (not the whole book) so save your money to maybe buy one or two of the core textbooks you’re likely to come back to again and again. Depending on your course you’re unlikely to need a high-spec laptop, if one at all. Most universities will have desktop computers on-site that you can use and some even have laptops you can loan out for a period of time. However you might prefer to have a laptop depending on your learning style. You might want one so that you can type out notes during lectures, do work at home without having to come in, or your university might not offer laptop loans or be unable to offer you one as they had too many requests. If you do get one, make sure it has enough memory for your work to last the length of your degree, or you can get additional memory another way i.e. online storage or a usb stick (just don’t lose it!).

Freshers/Welcome

Week Before welcome week/freshers week do some research on what your university has going on in the first week of term. Have an idea of what activities you are interested in and when they are happening. Some activities also require a ticket in advance, so researching early makes you less likely to miss out. On the other hand, don’t feel like you have to go to everything, make sure you have time for you so you don’t burn out during the first week.

Have Fun!

Do something fun before your course starts as you’re likely to be busier during term time with your studies.

Get Prepared

If your uni offers any online sessions before the start of term, GO! Spacing out everything you have to take in will make things less overwhelming. If you aren’t able to make the session, email the organisers and find out if the session will be recorded and if so, could it be sent to you after. No one wants you to fail university, so they will try and help you.

Questions

And finally, if you’re not sure of anything, ask! Universities are aware that it can be a lot going to a new place where you might not know anyone. You will likely have a personal tutor who is there to help you. Your success should be important to them! Use office hours to ask anything you’re not sure about: something covered in class, what’s being asked of you for an essay, or a topic you want to discuss in more detail. Ask them! That’s what that role is all about.

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