Everyone’s in the same boat
Lectures, making friends, settling into your new student room and just adjusting to a new city can be difficult at times. University and college campuses are packed with people from all walks of life who suddenly find themselves in the same boat – living away from home for the first time. Clubs and societies are great for making new friends, and with hundreds to choose from there’s something for everyone. However, if you’re happiest away from the action, that’s fine too.
Reaching out for support
If you find yourself needing some support, you’re in the best place for it. Universities and colleges have your best interests at heart, so they offer a helping hand in all sorts of areas, including:
- Academic study skills
- Mental and physical health
- Financial advice
- Specific learning difficulties (see Disabled Students’ Allowances)
Your student union will also be on hand with guidance whenever you need it – alongside organising social events and activities, of course.
Watch: What does being a higher education student actually look like? Check out the video below to find out.
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It’s your experience
When you’re not in lectures or working on coursework, your time in higher education can be shaped around your own interests. Check out some of our blog posts to see what being a student in HE looks like, or listen to our HE Knowledge Hub Podcast, where we talk to recent graduates about lots of different aspects of their HE experience.
Check out these websites for further information, advice and help for new students:
A lot of cook books aren’t built around a student’s budget and can often require difficult to acquire ingredients and equipment. However, Student Recipes is perfect for cooking in student accommodation,. This site has hundreds of meals which are easy and cheap to make, so it’s a great place to look when you are struggling to come up with ideas for dinner.
The Student Room is one of the biggest student forums on the web, with hundreds of discussions covering everything you could possible imagine. This is a great way to find like-minded students who can help you with a range of questions and issues.
Save The Student is all about saving students money. Every week they post the best ways to save money and loads of student discounts, deals and sales.
More than likely, you will have to do a lot of writing during your time at university and proof reading can be a laborious task. Grammarly Is a free online proofreading tool that is a lot more powerful than standard spell checkers. This can prove to be a massive time saver for longer essays that make take a while to proof. Similarly, if you find yourself going over the word limit for your essays, try www.hemmiingwayapp.com. This will help remove any overly long or complex sentences and removed unneeded words.
The web is useful, but it can also aid procrastination more than anything else. This site blocks a website of your choice if you try and access it too much, Perfect for when you have spent far too much time browsing Facebook and not enough time studying.
This is of course useful for everyone, but university can be a time where you health can suffer due to stress, overwork or just generally being in a new environment. The NHS site is a great resources for how to feel healthy and what to do if you are feeling ill.
References can be one of the most annoying parts of doing an essay, especially in your first year. This handy tool will generate out the correct style of references for you, saving you a lot of time.
University is just another step in your career and it’s always best to think about job prospects from the start. Milk round has tonnes of advice on career options and placements. It also advertises a lot of graduate jobs.
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Check out our blog post on Accommodation for Students