Student Tips for Success at University from a Counsellor - part 1

I recently had a mini break away and visited the area where I did my undergraduate degree. Inadvertently I was there for Fresher’s Week, which has brought on some reminiscing of my days at university and has inspired me to think about some tips for success at university life. Today I want to focus on surviving the change to living away from home. Having spent life up till now living with family, even with breaks and holidays alone, the idea of now living away from the family home can feel overwhelming. Firstly you are not alone in that! But here are some tips for things you can do to successfully adjust to univserisyt and living away from home.

1: Don't go home too often or too soon.

For many people those first few weeks away from home can be difficult, especially if it’s the first time you've really been away from family for a god length of time. It can be tempting to go home frequently to alleviate that homesickness, but in the long run it might actually mean the homesickness lasts longer as we don’t get past the difficulty. In the modern world there a lot of options for keeping in touch - start a family WhatsApp group, FaceTime friends and relatives, set up a regular time to chat, use Facebook to keep up to date with what’s going on with old friendship groups. It can be hard to do but, if we're wanting to make a successful transition to university, getting used to being away from home is the important part. 

2: Beware of FoMO and the danger of social media use

More of a caveat to the previous point; but as useful tools as social media can be to keeping in touch with people from home, as well as forming new friendships at university, don’t start judging yourself based on what you’re seeing other people post. Scrolling through a wall of people celebrating success, excitement and positivity can cause a Fear of Missing Out (FoMO) where we feel we should be doing much more than we are or feeling better than we are. At some point I mean to write more in-depth about this toxic side of social media use, but bare bones: people are less likely to share their negative experiences on social media and so we receive a tailored view from people en masse and it is unrealistic to compare this to our own experience. 

3: Get Involved

I’m imagining you already had hobbies and interests before you left for university. Make some time for them now. You’re probably not the only person who has them and more than likely a society or club exists within the students union that you can meet other people with that interest. OR perhaps you’d like to volunteer on a project locally or through the university, or find a part time job. It creates a sense of continuity for your sense of self; being able to do now things you already know how to do. It creates a sense of success in your university life.
This has a triple benefit: it’s enmeshing you in the local experience so you’ll miss home less; you’re getting a rounder experience than merely studying and sleeping; and in the currently climate where more people than before are going to university it’s something to make you stand out from the crowd when it comes to the job hunt after graduation. 

4: Buy a door stop

Slightly tongue-in-cheek, but I do feel that having one with me meant I was able to settle into the university experience a little easier as I could keep my door open and the people on my corridor could and would chat with me on their way past. It meant that I felt less isolated in the breeze block  halls of residence experience. Playing a video game with the door open lead to two of the other guys on my corridor asking to join in on playing a co-op game with me and we put a lot of time into a few games together.

Hopefully these few tips mean you'll be able to make a successful transition to university and make a home from home. In part two I want to look at useful tips for success at university in terms of how to approach learning and studying.

* * UPDATE * * Part 2 of this post is now available here.