Whether you’re starting next month or next year, I understand that trying to prepare for university can be extremely stressful.
Of course, everyone’s experience is different, but that doesn’t mean I can’t give you some real tips!
Believe me, I’ve tried and erred many a time, and picked up some things along the way that would have helped me better prepare for university.
That’s what we’ll be going over in this post. I’m here to share my own experience and insider information on the subject. So, grab some snacks and let’s get right to it!
Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links. When you purchase something from a link on my site, I earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.
Obviously, heading in prepared means you need to prepare, so there are some things you should do even before the start of university, and these surprisingly often get overlooked.
1. Prepare by Gathering the Necessities
First off, you’ve got to know what you’re doing and where you’re going. I would say that’s rather important.
Most schools have a website you can consult. With that said, before the start of university, I want you to hop online and go on a digital scavenger hunt to find:
- A(good) map of the school
- A copy of your schedule (if you’ve registered for courses already)
- The school calendar
- A list of important admin contacts
Once you have all of these, download them and save them in a folder. I recommend you print them off and keep them in your bag too, you never know what might happen.
As for the contacts and calendar you gathered, put them in your phone for when you need to quickly contact someone or need a calendar reminder. Just trust me on this one, it can really be a life saver.
Bonus Tip!
If you already know your schedule, chances are you will have access to your school’s online learning site before you start university. At UofC we use Desire2Learn, but your school might use Google Classroom, Moodle, or Blackboard Learn.
Once you log in, you’ll find alerts and announcements that are important as you prepare for university. It’s very anxiety-inducing showing up on the first day without having read the prof’s introduction doc with “be sure you have x app downloaded and make an account on x site before class” written in it.
If you come in prepared, you’ll be answering the show-you-know questions while others are frantically trying to download and sign up for things.
2. Take a Walk
Alright, now you’ve gathered all the physical resources you need to prepare for university come your first day, but what comes next?
I really wish I had done this when I first started at UofC, but taking a walk around the school before the start of university just to scope out the scene is probably the most useful thing I ended up doing going into second semester. I must say, it was so much easier getting to class next term because I found out what these buildings looked like at all.
Not only that, but I was able to draw the route on the physical map I had and note landmarks.
This is another good tip: Finding landmarks and naming them. It doesn’t need to be hyper-specific, in my friend group, we’ve got places named “the spot” and “the failed pool”, all references to when we first came across them.
3. Don’t Be Afraid to Go to Orientation
Seriously! I don’t know why people hesitate to go. It’s literally a session designed to help you adjust to the new environment. Why wouldn’t you go?
As an added bonus, sometimes universities give early course registration or scholarship opportunities to students who attend! By going, not only would you be helping yourself prepare for university, but you’d also be lining yourself up for some pretty sweet opportunities!
4. Sort out Your Finances
Okay, for this one, I’ve got to be brutally honest: University is very expensive. Now isn’t the time for poor financial decisions, so you need to have some kind of plan for how you will spend your valuable resources.
I would say there are three main aspects to this:
- Have a source of income: Get a job! And even if you have a job and RESP set aside, apply for every scholarship you qualify for!
- Budget your resources: Obviously, your supply isn’t unlimited. Plan out how much you’re willing to spend for living expenses, school expenses, and fun time. The 50/30/20 rule is always a good one to go off.
- Stick to your budget: This might seem self-explanatory, but it’s easy to overspend. And if you do, don’t be ashamed; I’ve done it; they’ve done it; we’ve all done it. Just try to prevent it as much as possible moving forward.
Too many of us know the feeling of panic when we realize that our spending has been all over the wazoo, so let’s not let that happen to you too!
5. Prepare to Arrange Transportation
As you prepare for university, it’s important to consider how you’re going to get there and home, and this can be especially important if you’re living off-res.
If you’re living in a dorm, your transportation is probably as simple as a ten-minute walk to the main building, but that’s not always the case.
Before your first day, figure out how you’re going to get to and from school. Can you walk? Should you drive and figure out parking? Do you have a car? Is transit the better option for you? While the list goes on, the important question you should ask yourself as you prepare for university is: What works for you?
6. Create Your own Calendar
I cannot stress this enough. Once you have access to your classes, you have access to the syllabus. The profs are required to provide it to you. Therefore, I strongly suggest you have a separate system for logging your progress and scheduling study/work/social time etc. that isn’t just the listed due dates in the syllabi.
Personally, I like using notion because I can keep everything I need in one app. That includes notes, grade logging, schedule, to-do lists, important links, and a space for journaling.
If you’d rather have something simpler like a google calendar, go for it! It’s your log after all, so it better be functional for you.
7. University is Probably Not Going to Be what You Expected
Like I said at the start of this post, everyone’s experience is different. While it’s more than okay to go in excited, don’t be disappointed or feel overwhelmed if it isn’t exactly how you imagined it.
Additionally, I would like to place a strong emphasis on how it will look very different from the movies.
That said, don’t be too nervous! Just because it’s a bit unpredictable, doesn’t mean it has to be scary, as long as you’re aware that it won’t look like the plot-line of ‘Loser’, your culture-shock shouldn’t be too bad.
In brief:
- Some of the things that probably won’t change: Your personality, your likes/dislikes, your family.
- Some of the things that probably will change: Your friends, your study habits, amount of sleep…
Jokes aside, another thing to note is that the start of university really surprised me with the vast crowd of people not giving a crap. Seriously, once you get to university, nobody cares what you think of them, and they’re not thinking about you. You’ll 100% understand this by midterms.
8. It’s Okay if University is not for You
Not everyone’s path, situation, or career exactly lines up with college. And that’s okay! If you’re not too sure whether a university education is the right way to go for you, why not take a gap year?
I have numerous friends that ended up taking gap years and working. Some decided to apply the next year, and some decided trades were calling their name after their start of university. Some still aren’t 100% sold on the idea and are instead growing a career at the company they worked for in high school!
The options are not limited to getting a degree, feel through the other options if you’re not ready to dive in yet. Don’t discount apprenticeships and workplace growth, your ideal career could be waiting for you there.
Conclusion
Post-secondary can be a really exciting new experience. Because of this, it can also feel a little nerve-wracking at times as you prepare for university, but I hope that my tips helped you feel a bit more grounded, and sure of what you need to do to be ready.
Well, thanks for making it all the way to the bottom! *blushes* I hope you enjoyed this post, and I hope to have you back soon.
Adios for now!
Looking for more inspiration? Check out some of my other posts below:
- A Perspective on School Clubs
- 7 Small Daily Habits to Boost Productivity
- 8 No-Experience Jobs for Students to Make Money in 2024
- 5 Super Simple Steps to The Perfect Dorm
- 7 Tried and Tested Secrets to Beat Procrastination
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