Surviving Your 1st Year at Uni in the UK

To say that I went into university unprepared is an understatement, as I had no idea of what was in store for me—or where to look for practical advice.

Being a clearing student, I got placed in possibly the worst accommodation available (a mere £85 a week contract), in a building that hadn't been refurbished in at least 20-30 years. Bugs crawling out of the floor was normal, coming back from lectures to a freezing bedroom also; along with grossly untidy flatmates and parties above me every night for a month.

But here I am, not too far from the end of my first year, and I feel like I've got a good enough experience to share some advice. I did make sure to note that this advice is from someone in a UK university—I have no idea what university is like over the pond in America. I hope this advice helps you!

Accommodation

1. Ask your mum how to clean (if you don't know how), and bring as much cleaning equipment as she says you should.
2. Learn to cook proper food - so many of my flatmates survive on ready meals alone (this is super unhealthy and really not cost effective)! Student cookbooks are generally cheap and contain actually affordable recipes!
3. Take pictures of your room and kitchen/shared spaces - this is really important as if you don’t report any faults that you find when you move in, they will be blamed on you!
4. Join/make an accommodation group chat - this helps you to meet people before you arrive.
5. Sit down with your flatmates as soon as you meet them to agree how/when chores need to be done (this is also really important so that you live in a clean space and everyone does their part!) - even better, make a flat group chat.
6. Make sure to apply for a TV license if you need one - you need to submit an online form even if you don’t bring a TV or use iPlayer/Demand TV (so then they know you don't need one).
7. If you're as lucky as me to be at a small university and have an accommodation team, put the numbers for the accommodation office/campus help team in your phone (in case you have complaints)!
8. Look up when flat/bedroom inspections are and note them down - don’t be caught off guard, make sure your flat/room is clean for when they come
9. Bring at least three blankets, especially if you’re in old accommodation (it will be cold come winter)!
10. Make sure you know what isn’t allowed in your room (fairy lights, candles etc.) - and of any loopholes! The inspection team at my uni is not allowed to check cupboards, so we hide non-regulatory things in them.

Budget

1. Make a food budget - be careful about overspending and make sure to factor in nights out.
2. If you have finance assistance, be sure to note down/set a reminder when your loans are scheduled to come in.
3. Go to Freshers Fair - even if you don’t want to join any societies, there’s loads of freebies/vouchers being handed out.
4. Think before you buy any course textbooks - a good uni library will have plenty of copies. Buying textbooks, given that a semester is only three months long, isn't totally necessary - but if you need to, always search student websites/eBay etc., for cheaper books.
5. Research shops in the town/city around your uni before you get there (cheap supermarkets, pharmacies, banks, pubs etc).

Work/Lectures/Other

1. Suss out the library as soon as possible (where the best seats are, your subject area(s) bookshelves, printers, water fountains, book borrowing/renewal computers/desk).
2. If you're lucky like me and have a 24/7 library, make use of it! I find it best to separate my home environment (bedroom) and my work environment.
3. Find out the buildings you will have lectures/seminars in and know how long it will take you to get to them (stick a campus map on your wall)!
4. Personally, I find it easiest to take notes on a laptop - lecturers speak/flick through their PowerPoints far too quickly for you to write down anything meaningful. If you have questions or things you don't understand, that's when a small notebook will become useful.
5. ALWAYS start your assignments at least 1-2 weeks before it's due. My rule of thumb is to always submit an assignment between 2-4 days before it's due - just to be safe!
6. Register with the nearest doctor to campus - it’s no use being registered at home, you’ll be on campus the majority of the time, so registering with a local doctor as soon as you move in will make getting appointments if you suddenly fall ill WAY easier/faster.

And I'll leave it there for now, thank you for reading (▰˘◡˘▰)