Freshers?

[Xin Rong]

I was just wondering if anyone else had started university this year as i have and i thought it might be a good idea to share our experiences so far.

I'm at manchester uni, which i was really happy to get in to and i only really applied there as a joke because its a red brick and i didnt think i had a chance in hell of getting in, especially if there was an interview as i usually give a first impression of being a bit ditzy lol.

So far my experience has been ok but not great, because its a red brick i generally dont feel like i fit in as im a common girl from w.c. background and everyone here seems to be the opposite lol. So far i have made a few friends but dont really fit in well with my room mates despite 2 of them being from my home town.They are so clearly just out of parental control that its annoying as they think they are so bad for doing such mediocre things that i have been accustomed to for the past few years i.e. staying out all night, drug experimetation etc and the usual stupid things you do. Luckily though i have been able to bring my friends from home with me for nights out and such as bolton is only 15 minutes away from my uni so its not all bad.

As for the actual university side of things i am finding it really difficult to just to find out whats going on as the uni has just started doing everything on line but its so unorganised because its new its like impossible to find out what to actually do and the lectures and tutorials so far seem to be useless and noone really seems to have any infomation as to what is going on.

The financial side of things is pretty tough also, im expected to spend like £300- 400 on books, which would be fine if i had a loan but i dont because of complications on the form in regards to my dad being a tax dodger for the last ten years lol. Therefore only like everyone else i do not have a loan and must support myself without any parental help because of my abondonment of them for being useless lol

In conclusion although there are many negative sides to my start at uni i still have hope and will continue doing the best i can and hopefully make some more like minded friends and obviously do well.

Ok thats enough of my saga, now lets hear some of yours lol

 

[SpikedBuffy]

College can be really sucky sometimes, and then wonderful other times.

I graduated from Northern Illinois University two years ago.

A word of advice, is enjoy it now, before you're inthe "real world". My husband and I refer to college as the 'sweet life' that we miss.

We supported ourselves pretty much by getting part time jobs on campus. We both worked in the computer labs, so we could study and stuff.

 

[Mr. Pointy]

Here's a Pointy tip for freshers, which I didn't find out until too late 🙁...don't spend a fortune on text books...there should be a university library which is absolutely heaving with the little buggers 🙂 They should have multiple copies of any set texts and all you have to do is make sure you go in occasionally to prevent them from becoming overdue 🙂 Plus if the particular text you need for an essay isn't there, you can usually find a similar book next to the gap on the shelf, which may be just as useful and provide the answers you need in a slightly different way...which often makes a refreshing change for your lecturer...for example, I was very late in starting an economics essay and, when I got to the library, all copies of the recommended text were out so I picked a couple of texts next to where it should've been and used those for my work...as a result I was highly complimented by my lecturer for not trotting out the standard arguments and received a high mark...all because I was too lazy to get straight down to the library to find the set book 🙂