For the typical, run-of-the-mill uni first year—a fresh-faced eighteen-year-old ready to use their now-valid ID till it’s broke within an inch of its grubby life—uni is that sacred time for experimentation, acting like a pretentious jerk while joining the Young Greens, attempting to run the student newspaper on the scraps of resources you’re allowed, and fitting in some classes around your extremely strict boozing schedule. I’ve said it a million times and I’ll say it again, what a time to be alive.
Which brings me to this: uni and the freedom, hookups, new friends and overly generous holidays it brings probably constitute the years of your life most devoid of real life responsibilities. Our condolences, but it’s all considerably more serious from here on out.
Anyway. Aside from being a sweet ride by literally all accounts, there’s still some adjusting to go through once you leap through those gates like the sweet li’l undergrad that you are. Uni has a lot of unspoken rules, etiquette and a lot of the helpful as hell stuff is left unsaid unless you specifically seek it out. Which is why we’re here.
Consider this your cheat sheet, young comrades with a great passion for learn-ding and an even greater passion for initiation drinking rituals. You’re welcome.
STUDY TIPS
If you’re at uni, you’ve already past the first test – YOU’RE IN. But sometimes the blur that is Schoolies and the reckless abandon that follows getting your ATAR in the mail, the actual process of learning useful shit and handy skills to embiggen (first tip: learn all the Simpsons references you can. It is a universally uniting force of nature and many a best friendship has been formed by yelling an out of context “Bob Newport!” into the crowded abyss of a 9am lecture) your *career* gets lost by the wayside.
Giving overall advice on How To Study would be pretty fruitless: a Med student will study in a vastly different way to a Philosophy major. But what I will say is this: getting into your study groove is as important as actually getting your assignments done. The timetables of uni are notoriously loose – there’s no need to fit your study into a strict 9-5 kinda dealio if that’s not your jam.
Find the time of day you’re at your most productive, log the fuck off Facebook, have your weapons of choice at the ready (a double shot, scrap paper, chic pens and post-its, some vaguely healthy snacks) and give yourself time and an organised space to WERK.
Start using a physical diary, too – iCal and phone apps make things look kewt, but pen on paper gets shit done. If things get really dire, there’s always this SelfControl app, which allows you to forcibly block any websites you choose for a certain period of time. You know things are srs when you succumb to clicking on its icon, which looks like this:
*shudders*
USEFUL A.F. WEBSITES
Speaking of websites—segue schwing—there’s a bunch of sites out there that will save your precious, presumably cute butt in times of need. Unless you’re studying, like, a Bachelor of Pilates, you’ll probably at some point need to write an academic essay, and your tutors will inevitably bust your metaphoric balls over referencing and your bibliography.
Enter www.citethisforme.com, a service that does exactly what it sounds like: it cites and compiles your references into a neat bibliography according to your preferred referencing formatting (i.e. Harvard.) Doing this one took me about three seconds by just searching “Said, Edward”, and look how beautiful it looks.
Project Gutenberg is another great one – it’s a collection of out-of-copyright books and articles that you can legally download on to your ereader or tablet for FREE. Think Franz Kafka, Lewis Carroll, James Joyce, Oscar Wilde, Arthur Conan Doyle, Dickens, Twain. You can have your trendy Jonathan Safran Foer meta epic, but, real talk: classics are classics for a reason. Git it, grl.
Archive.org – for public domain everything. Super useful for creative projects, sourcing images or just killing time. Would.
asoftmurmur.com – if you’re the kind of person who can’t quite study in silence, can’t quite study with music, asoftmurmur.com allows you to play blissful background noises of your choice. You done good, Internet.
ted.com – when you’re feeling uninspired or shitty about uni or life in general, there’s pretty much always a TED talk to get you back in the game. The same goes for the soothing timbres of Ira Glass in the comprehensive This American Life archives.
HOW TO SAVE MONEY
The biggest tip here is obviously: get a job. Which we’ve pretty much got sorted. But even if you do have a fairly steady flow of cash, $$ can still be tight when you don’t get that many shifts, or you’ve blown your latest paycheck on funding your poor life choices. We feel. Some things worth considering, tho:
- If you’re 22 and studying full time, ole mate Scott Morrisson and the people at Centrelink declare you “independent” and you may be able to receive free money by the way of Youth Allowance. Those under 22 might find it a bit trickier: you may need to have your parents’ income mean-tested, or you may need to prove special circumstances – if you’ve had to move away from home to study, for example.
- If you don’t still live at home, but you have parents living not too far away: use their washing machine and exploit their bounteous love for monetary purposes. We’re talking “let’s have dinner at home on Sunday!” trips which both gets you parental brownie points, free dinner, and usually, leftovers. On a related note: buying cheap Thai at the local uni haunt is always a good idea, but shit can get real expensive real fast. BYO leftovers to uni – there’s always going to be a couple of microwaves lurking around campus if you know where to look.
- Check out your uni’s Student Association: depending on your uni, they often set up programs such as free (or cheap) breakfasts or lunches on campus on certain days of the week. Instant coffee never tasted so sweet.
- Goon. Fruity Lexia. VB. Having a night out doesn’t have to hurt your wallet.
- Dress yo’self in the wares of online stores which offer student discounts: ASOS, Topshop, The Iconic, Myer, General Pants for starters.
- Being poor doesn’t mean you have to be a gross ramen-eating grub. With the utmost respect to instant ramen, you can whip together a delicious, healthy meal on the cheap pretty easily. BBC Good Food has a starter guide, Student Recipes is another one. When in doubt, turn to carbs and eggs; add cheese, garlic and any herbs or spices you can find to absolutely everything. When really in doubt, turn to your faithful friend, the grilled cheese. There’s even a whole subreddit dedicated to jazzing up the humble classic. Frothing:
HOOKING UP
Do I really need to tell you about the magic of Tinder? If I ever had to explain Tinder to someone who (bless) literally had no clue, I’d call Tinder a service that cuts to the chase in your pursuit of making sex eyes at potential sex friends. Efficiency at its finest.
I’m sure y’all are more than competent in making transactions of the sexual nature, but something to think about when you’re thrown into the steaming pile of hormones and angsty sexual frustration that is a tutorial filled with baes, is to choose your hookup victims wisely if you’re interested in getting with somebody in one of your classes.
Most importantly, though, don’t be stupid. Be safe:
ESTABLISHING YOUR CREW AND GETTING INVOLVED
The friends you make at uni can be some of the best in your life. Hunt down your people with eagle-eyed determination – be the annoying person who starts making conversation in class breaks, ask potential BFFs out for a beer after lectures. Even if it’s at 10 am. Especially if it’s 10 am, actually.
If you’re getting bad juju from the people in your classes, never fear: keep those relationships professional, but go ahead and find friends through the *countless* clubs and teams that are on offer at university – try out Ultimate Frisbee, join the theatre group, or the borderline alcoholic association that is the “wine club”. Finding your boos won’t take long.
Information like the above is great and everything – you know, knowledge is power, et cetera – and presumeably that’s why you’ve signed up for the next decade of crippling HECS debt. But if you’re going to get a high distinction in university life, you’re going to need to equip yourself with all the necessary practical tools – the paraphernalia of academia that will not only make your day-to-day effortless but also your entire existence a pure pleasure.
SURVIVING EXAM TIME
There’s that whole “students work 24 hours a day, seven days a week…for two weeks of the year” meme, which can often be true, depending on your level of dedication. Exam time can be a genuinely stressful time, so making sure your body is ready for that sort of thing is pretty important. Scheduling study time, getting enough sleep, good food and exercise is essential for doing well.
Also keep in mind that universities always have a solid support network on offer: if you’re going through a particularly rough time for whatever reason, applying for special consideration for your exams could be a wise, mature move. Similarly, most universities have counselling on offer for free, cheap, or bulk-billed: sometimes talking through a stressful period with an unbiased outsider can make the world of difference for your motivation and confidence.
Equipping yourself with a good note-making routine and sticking with it is a big one, too: maybe you prefer to organise your notes on your computer, or maybe you’re more of a ~visual~ learner who needs to write things down for your brain to actually take anything in. Either is fine. Just make sure your note-taking is productive, and your highlighting is not too enthusiastic, rendering the task fruitless:
Most of all, though, HAVE FUN at university, make the most of it and learn lots of valuable factoids and skills to kickstart your career. Proud of you already, bb.
