There are only a few more months of high school left to go. How prepared are you to enter into university life? I knew I was nowhere near prepared for university so I decided to ask some of my university friends for some tips or must-knows before I stumble into university life. Many of them gave me some really awesome tips not only on how to succeed academically but also success in university life, life away from home.
1. Know how to cook.
At the moment, many of us still don’t realize how luxurious a life we live at home. We are able to come home everyday and dinner is already made. Thank you parents! However, what happens when we leave for university and we no longer have our parents there to make the delicious suppers that we take for granted? Are we just going to eat KD and instant noodles everyday? So in the summer, learn how to cook. Have your parents teach you their recipes or just do some surfing on the internet for fast and healthy recipes. Eating instant noodles every day is just not going to cut it.
2. Read your syllabus!
According to one of my uni friends, the syllabus that you get for each course is basically your bible to success in university. It tells you the objectives of the course and any important dates. So even if you have to spend hours looking through those pages, it is worth it in the long run so you can better plan out your time and make sure you don’t miss due dates.
3. Know you way around
Get to know your new home for the next four years. Although there’ll be people to show you around campus, there is no harm in getting to know the city better as well. Know how transit works in the city as getting to know the city will make your life a whole lot easier….unless you want to stay on campus for the whole year.
4. Learn how to manage your time
Get a planner (either on your phone or an old-school planner)! Planning things out instead of procrastinating and leaving everything until the night before is probably the best treat you can give yourself. Deadlines in university are DEADlines, you will basically die of regret if you don’t meet them. So, when you have projects, whether it is labs or some other assignment make sure you do the work as soon as possible. Procrastination may be your friend in the short-term, but in the long-run it will be your worst enemy. Not only will this benefit you academically, but it also helps clear up your schedule so you can have a balanced life.
5. Get involved
Whether it is volunteering, joining a sport or club, being engaged in the school community is a great way to enrich your university experience. At the U of A, they even have a dodge-ball league! Whatever you do, it is crucial to remember that university is more than just an education experience, but it is a social experience as well. To get the most out of university, being engaged would be a great contrast to the dull textbooks. Being involved in meaningful activities also gives you a sense a belonging in the school. Instead of saying, “I go to this university”, you could say, “I am a student at this university”(which shows that you are actively involved within the community).
6. Good Friends are important
For many of us, university is going to be a fresh start because our friends may not be going to the same university as us, therefore it is only natural to build new friendships. According to a university friend of mine, it is important to make friends wise. This does not mean judging everyone you meet on a scale of 1-10, but it simply means that when building friendships it is ideal to pick people who are like-minded in work ethic so you can motivate each other to stay on track and to increase your chances of surviving university.
7. Financial Management
After hearing about this tip that I’ve been oblivious to for the past 16 years of my life, I experimented with managing my own finances without relying on much money from my parents. And the truth is, not having many money or in my case, not having money because you spend it too quickly really sucks. With the freedom of becoming adults who can manage our own lives comes with responsibilities. As many of us have learned through Career and Life Management, a monthly budget may be the most useful thing we have ever learned besides trig (hahaha). Keep track of your income and plan how much you would spend on certain things. Don’t buy things impulsively. University is not about luxury, it is about survival!
8. Ask Questions
It is crucial to ask questions during class or during the tutorials offered. This seems so straightforward but apparently many people are scare of asking questions in university because you are in a class of a few hundred people first year. The hard reality is many of us don’t feel all that comfortable to gather our thoughts quickly and comfortably ask a question. However, after asking that first question, the “stage fright” goes away.
I hope that these 8 tips can help you ace university! Good Luck Everyone!
