Elodie found the leap to university tricky but worth it, and now shares how she got to grips with independence, time management and adult life.
Starting at UoB for me felt like stepping into a totally new lifestyle. Coming from school, I was used to structured days, timetables, repetition and living at home. At UoB, that structure quickly changed into an independent style of learning and living. My lectures introduced the key content our assignments would be based on, but it was up to me to go further, understand my readings and research into topics I wasn’t as confident in. Gaining this independence was a real struggle at first, I’ll admit, with a complete lack of being chased for deadlines by a teacher, but it pushed me to become more self-disciplined, proactive and diligent.
One of the biggest adjustments that took a lot of getting used to was time management. With a much less intense day-to-day academic schedule, it allowed for a lot of time to not be used proactively. But I quickly learned that the amount of contact hours is there for a reason, and that part of the university experience was figuring out how to balance my independent studying alongside socialising and downtime. What made this all easier for me was that the whole of my academic department was very supportive, understanding and willing to help. Office hours with lecturers were very helpful to go over any work I was struggling with and offered the similar support I was used to from school.
Living away from home was another major change. Very suddenly I was responsible for so much, cooking, cleaning, budgeting, and this was very daunting at first. Even simple tasks such as going to the supermarket felt challenging. But it really didn’t take long for me to settle into routine, and I now thoroughly enjoy having this independence and find it rather rewarding.
Looking back to first year, the transition was not easy, but it has been totally worth it. My biggest piece of advice is making sure to give yourself a good chance to settle in. You don’t need to have everything figured out straight away. First year is the perfect opportunity to really push yourself and you’re allowed to make mistakes and struggle. It’s all part of moving into adult life. But I promise, stick with it and you will be grateful you did.
BA Social Policy and Criminology
I'm a second-year criminology and social policy student. Outside of studies, I enjoy netball, cooking and playing the pi...
