4 WAYS TO START YOUR YEAR AT UNI RIGHT

The new university year is fast approaching, so I thought now would be a great time to share my advice for starting the year on the right foot. Putting in some time to get organised, adjust to higher expectations, and set goals for the year ahead before term starts will help you hit the ground running whether you’re a wide-eyed fresher or a weary postgrad, so here are my tips to start the year right!

Assess the last year and set goals accordingly

Have a hard think about where you were with academic work at the end of the last year – were you on the brink of a First? Struggling with a particular subject? Looking at the feedback on your assignments to see if anything crops up repeatedly will give you an idea of where to focus your attention in the coming year, and thinking about which modules you enjoyed and which you didn’t will help you choose your new modules to complement each other (and your strengths!). If there’s a topic or two you just haven’t been able to get your head around, book in a chat with your tutor to help you get up to speed before you’re immersed in the busyness of the new year. I know exactly what my shortcoming was last year, and infuriatingly, it was the basic but necessary institution of referencing. Referencing. I know. My first step on returning to uni for my all-important final year will therefore be to email my tutor and beg him to thoroughly explain what’s required of me, so I can take on my dissertation without that stress hanging over me!

Return to uni early

If you’re starting uni for the first time, this isn’t so important as you’ll have a ‘honeymoon period’ of freshers’ week and the first couple of weeks of teaching to get settled, but for returners, I’d recommend going back to your university town early – think two to three weeks before lectures begin. Take the time to properly unpack and organise and decorate your new room, nab any books on your reading list that are in short supply from the library, and find a job, if you work during term time. Get to know the route between your new home and uni, find the nearest Lidl (and better still, place an online delivery order for all the heavy things), and batch-cook a few meals to put in the freezer before the madness of term starts and you suddenly find yourself landed with 9 readings, 4 essays, a groan-inducing group project, and myriad events to organise for your society!

Think about joining a new society

Speaking of societies, are there any new hobbies you’d like to take up? University clubs are a brilliant way to start an new activity as they’re subsidised by the uni, making it much cheaper than doing it of your own accord. The beginning of the year is the best time to start as there’s often a free taster in freshers’ week, and fitting it into your week from the off is much easier than adding something new once you’re bogged down with work! If you hate going to the gym, why not take up a sport? It’ll be easier to motivate yourself to exercise knowing you’re going to have fun with friends than be alone with your thoughts, mentally competing with the sweaty person on the next rowing machine. If you regularly found yourself lonely or at a loose end last year, consider joining a new club – not only do you have a ready-made friendship group, you’ve got a common interest, giving you lots to talk about! There’ll be plenty of socials, too – from wine and cheese nights to trips abroad, telly nights in to fancy-dress socials with costumes that make you laugh so hard your tummy hurts, these events are a real uni highlight. I can personally attest to the joy of the University of Manchester Pole Fitness Society (shameless self-promo, sorry). I have found an exercise I love so much it never feels like punishment, gained so much confidence, and met some of the kindest, wisest people I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing. Thumbs up all the way.

Huge thanks to a friend of mine for commissioning this for my birthday, and another friend for painting it – it’s based on a photo from our Pole Soc photoshoot!

Plan your term

Essential. I can’t recommend having a physical diary enough, preferably one with a whole page per day – even if you’re meticulous about using your phone calendar, being able to see everything at once on paper really helps visualise your workload, and plan your social life accordingly.

Here’s how I use mine:

As soon as I find out my deadlines, I write them in big capitals on the dates, so I know not to plan any nights out in the week and a half or so leading up.
I then fill in my uni timetable, adding all my lectures, seminars, and grammar and speaking classes. If there are any other recurring events, add them too – for example, I add my dance classes, plus my uni offers a free swimming session every week, so I add that in as a maybe (whether or not I make it depends on how much work I have).
Each Sunday, I compile a list of all the tasks I want to get done throughout the week: seminar readings, translations, grammar exercises, work on essays such as readings, planning, writing a particular paragraph – the list goes on. Then, I estimate how long each task will take me (the further you get into term, the easier this will become as you adjust to the new level of difficulty), adding 15-20 minutes per task in case it takes longer than expected.
Each evening, I plan my timetable for the next day, mentally assigning whether I need to be in the library, if I can work from home, or if I’d like to go to a café.

Since I started planning my time for maximum efficiency, my productivity has increased m a s s i v e l y. Nine times out of ten, if something’s written in my diary and I have all the materials I need, it’ll get done on time, and if it isn’t, I either won’t do it on the day I’d imagined or it’ll take me hours. Knowing when you’re going to do everything also allows you to relax better when you are doing something for yourself or socialising – there’s no worrying about ‘when am I going to write that essay?!’ as you’ve already scheduled a time and place to worry about it later. So, bliss.