Current undergraduate students from the University of Birmingham discuss how to prepare for your university experience.
Title: Preparation for University
Duration: 2.07 mins
S1 To be successful at university I think people really need to have a desire to achieve something.
S2 You’ve got to be determined and dedicated. You can’t sort of drift through your course and hope that everything works out for you; you’ve just got to put in the hours to get the results.
S3 You just need to be able to keep up with the workload and balance it with a reasonable social life.
S4 Be prepared to get the most out of it and not to shut any doors, not to say ‘well, I’m not going to do that because I’m not interested in stuff like that’. Just be open to the experiences and to be open to getting the most out of the experiences and be prepared to work hard and to stay focused because it’s worth it.
S5 If I was starting university again I’d want someone to turn round to me and to say to really have fun. That is a large part of university. I’d want them to tell me to sort out my timetable, find out what things I enjoy doing, go out and meet everybody, have a great time and don’t be worried because everybody’s in the same position.
S6 Some tips that I’d give for students who are preparing to go to university is just to smile and chat to everyone and just remember at the end of the day everyone’s in the same boat and everyone wants to make friends.
S7 Be yourself and meet lots of people and get involved in lots of things.
S8 My advice would just be to go for it and to speak to people, get any advice or help or support that you need and just be willing to give it a go because there’s so many students that start and feel a bit nervous and there’s so many students with different outside commitments or health problems or anything that they’re juggling so just never feel isolated or on your own; there’s always someone out there that either will identify or will know how to help or support you.
S9 There's lots on offer, whether it’s societies, whether it’s volunteering or whether it’s really using the world-class facilities and the world-class academics here at Birmingham to get the, you know, the best degree possible. So see what’s out there and use it.
END OF RECORDING