The Final Straight

I thought I’d better write this post quickly because time waits for no one and that certainly feels like the case when I look back on the past year at university. Time flies, the semesters are so short you barely have time to get started before you are told to go home for the holidays. (AKA Essays month)

There are seven weeks of teaching left for me and in my first year, that may have actually made me happy. Now though, after meeting many new faces, getting involved in university societies and making great friends, it is quite a sad thing to contemplate. I remember a post I wrote a year or so ago where I claimed I couldn’t wait for the real world, to jump onto the first rung of the career ladder and get started with life. In some respects, that is still true but now there is something which has attached me to university life. People. 

They say that the time and experiences you have at university are priceless and to be honest, I used to think that was a load of nonsense used to justify the extortionate fees they charge us. However, I have begun to realise that parts of those statements are true. Of course, the problem for many students is that these experiences aren’t served to them on a silver plate. You have to go out there and find them and that is why many university students may find those claims about uni life to be exaggerated or false. 
As my time draws to an end, the advice I would give to students is make the most of those opportunities. Attend events, get involved, don’t get so buried in your degree and grades that you forget to develop yourself as a person. Fresher’s may find this particularly difficult, having just come out of A-levels where it was drilled into their heads that the only thing that matters is grades. I know people who have much heavier workloads than me who are involved in many different societies. You can do it, it just requires a bit more work and organisation. 

If you go through university focussing solely on your degree,  chances are you will come out the other end thinking you haven’t got your money’s worth. £9,000+ a year to sit in cramped lecture halls, listening to professors drone on and having your holidays filled with revision or coursework. That isn’t the best way to spend 3-6 years of your life.  So you may as well make the most of what uni life has to offer, get involved in something meaningful and if you’re lucky, you may even forget about the tuition fees that you are paying.  

Until Next Time

A Worried Student