Do you find making friends at university a hard thing to do? When you think of a typical university student meal, the only thing that comes to your mind is noodles? Stop thinking of the student life as something complicated to cope with, and do your best to make a good university experience.
Follow our advice on how to have a good university experience, or if you already have a good one, make it even better!
A wider circle of people
Of course, you’ve already made friends at university, but those people are mainly your first-year flatmates, and it may seem that your social circle is limited somehow. Living with people from your course and spending a lot of time mostly with them, that’s not a big surprise. But you can always meet new people outside your course and make your social circle a little bit wider.
It’s okay if you can’t boast of a conventional student experience
Things like noisy parties and clubs, lots of takeaways and instant noodles, very little studying and cleaning, etc. have walked the other way; however, don’t even think to feel sorry about that! There is no need to worry and be afraid of being outside ‘the norm’ if you don’t feel like clubbing all days long and eating noodles three times a day. You might have no conventional student experience because you know the reason why are you here and because you are in love with the subject you are studying; maybe, you just prefer to spend your time elsewhere and in another way.
Part-time job
Except for extra cash, a part-time job at university gives you a worthwhile experience no matter what are you doing (whether it is a cafe or tutoring). Moreover, it’s still great for your CV. And if you are doing something relevant to your future career, lucky you are, as it may be a stepping stone to your future career after graduation. It’s recommended to work 15 hours per week for maximum.
Fight with that impostor syndrome
To have an impostor syndrome means that you feel like you haven’t earned something that you’ve received, like you don’t deserve to be there no matter what level you’ve already reached. This impostor syndrome is damaging to your university experience. For example, you may not get into classes with limited space, just because you may think that you don’t deserve it enough, while the others do. You can be sure there are many of your fellow students who think the same.
A routine
Getting to the university may seem to be the best thing ever, as you have no routine, are able to sleep as much as you want and may be spontaneous with no strict plans. Of course, you are the big boss of your time now, in a way, which differs a lot from that one at school. There is no doubt you have to use this opportunity and benefit from it to the fullest, just be sure it won’t go too far, as you are here to study, aren’t you?