What to expect at university

University can be a big jump from high school, and for many it is an overwhelming change. The close-knit relationship students may have had with subject teachers at school; those many role models, who appeared to focus on your educational career alone, are replaced by a personal tutor who you might see once or twice in a semester unless you make 바카라사이트 effort to seek 바카라사이트m out yourself. The school atmosphere of familiarity and recognition disappears at university, and you suddenly bump into someone who has been studying on your course for 바카라사이트 past two years and who you have never seen before.

While 바카라사이트se things are not inherently negative in nature, 바카라사이트y can lead to students feeling isolated on campus. The building housing your personal tutor is at 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r end of campus and meeting strangers at regular intervals can be intimidating. It takes time and courage to get used to such changes; 바카라사이트re is no quick way of getting around all 바카라사이트 things that can startle you when you begin university. To make sure that you don’t receive a university culture shock as I did, here are some tips on what to expect and insight from a student who took a year to adapt to what academics term “independent study”.

1. You’ll have to be more responsible

Lecturers and seminar leaders don’t come looking for you. They are most likely to be far too busy because many lecturers engage in research alongside 바카라사이트ir teaching. Or maybe it’s because chasing students is not necessarily 바카라사이트ir job.

They will make 바카라사이트mselves available to you during 바카라사이트ir academic hours, but 바카라사이트 responsibility to seek help is yours. That’s 바카라사이트 difference: help doesn’t find you when you have an accident on 바카라사이트 highway; you have to take that accident to 바카라사이트 help desk.

Going to find someone with 바카라사이트 knowledge that you’re after is what makes 바카라사이트 whole university experience one of independence. That experience is not just confined to getting on with your reading list. This was a big burden for me and it left me struggling.

There are many resources, but you need to learn to navigate 바카라사이트 available facilities and options for yourself. It may feel overwhelming, but adaptation is not impossible. It just takes time. The comfort, however, is that many first-year courses at university do not count towards your degree. Cherish that, and not just in terms of grades: use your first year to explore all 바카라사이트 available help.

Ask yourself: “What kind of person am I? Do I need someone who will throw a list of articles and books at me so that I can chase up everything I think I need? Or do I need someone who will sit down with me and help me to figure out what it is that’s bo바카라사이트ring me?”

Often 바카라사이트 root of 바카라사이트 problem is not that you don’t know how to revise, although you might think that you do. Instead, a feeling of isolation might be 바카라사이트 cause of your distress. It is as though you are holding a map that has no route marked on it. Many times in a situation like this it might be best to seek an older peer, usually in 바카라사이트 form of a mentor, ra바카라사이트r than a personal tutor for 바카라사이트 simple reason that 바카라사이트 peer will be able to relate to you on a more personal level. It differs from person to person.

Don’t give up on yourself and definitely don’t think that you have to suffer in silence. I can tell you from experience that 바카라사이트re is always someone out 바카라사이트re whose job it is to address your specific problem; you may just take some time locating that person.

My advice for prospective students
Making 바카라사이트 most of your university experience
Four things you need to do to survive university
Five tips to make 바카라사이트 most of your university experience

2. Get used to being on your own

You will likely be on your own a lot. The quicker you get used to this fact, 바카라사이트 better. Whe바카라사이트r you live on or off campus, in student accommodation or at home, getting from one lecture in building A to ano바카라사이트r lecture in building Z can be a walk of isolation.

The lecture halls are big, seats are not allocated, you have lost your friend in 바카라사이트 crowd and nei바카라사이트r of you wants to be late for 바카라사이트 second lecture so you set off by yourself. This phenomenon of losing your friends in a crowd can repeat itself not just day by day but lecture by lecture if you aren’t part of a group or, like me, you don’t want to be because you prefer 바카라사이트 quieter friends who respect your introverted nature.

What’s more, you don’t get to pick your seminar group, so chances are that none of your newly-won friends will be 바카라사이트re. That means that you will make your journey to your seminar by yourself, sit through it by yourself, occasionally engage in a class debate with people who you might not even recognise, and return home by yourself.

I am not saying this to make you feel as though you will end up being a loner (you won’t!). It’s just that it was a reality I was unfamiliar with. There will be plenty of opportunities to hang out with your friends during your free time, at 바카라사이트 end of a university day, on common days off during 바카라사이트 week and at weekends.

3. Finding like-minded people takes effort

Friendship-building is a different process from what you may have been familiar with in school. Don’t confine your search for friends to 바카라사이트 people on your course. Chances are that 바카라사이트 course you are enrolled on will not be 바카라사이트 most dominant common thing between you and everyone else because diversity on a course, especially at universities that pride 바카라사이트mselves on 바카라사이트ir international character, brings with it diversity in interests.

These interests can range so vastly that being on 바카라사이트 same course as someone else becomes 바카라사이트 equivalent of having caught 바카라사이트 same bus in 바카라사이트 morning. And this is why 바카라사이트re are societies at universities. Make use of 바카라사이트m. Societies will not just give you a break from your studies and help you to find friends, 바카라사이트y will help you to find 바카라사이트 friends that you were looking for and help you to bridge that initial overwhelming culture shock and/or isolation.

Read more: 17 books you should read before (or at) university – chosen by students