Starting university can be pretty daunting. Most of us had only just gotten the hang of high school before we were given SATAC uni applications and told to choose a career we\u2019d be happy with for the rest of our lives.\u00a0So you\u2019ve finally come to terms with the fact that you\u2019ve left high school (or that amazing gap year in Europe) behind and you\u2019re ready to conquer the new world that is university.\u00a0But what can you expect from your first year of uni? Well, I go to the Magill Campus of the University of South Australia – or UniSA – and here are just a few tips that I\u2019ve picked up this year:<\/p>\n
A few weeks after you get accepted into your course, you\u2019ll get an email about enrolment. Mark that day on your calendar and set alarms and reminders on every device you own!
\nIf you\u2019re one of the lucky ones that manage to get online at 9:00am, you might score yourself a day or two off uni. But if you\u2019re too slow, you might find yourself with four hour breaks between tutes and classes starting at 6pm.<\/p>\n
There are two main types of classes at uni \u2013 lectures and tutorials. Most of the time, lectures aren\u2019t compulsory and you can access recordings online (yes, this means you can skip them).
\nTutorials, on the other hand, are similar to classes in high school where a tutor leads a group of about 20 students through a discussion of that week\u2019s topic. There is some other terminology (seminars, workshops etc.) as well but they\u2019re basically the same as tutes. Speaking of tutes\u2026<\/p>\n
Lectures are okay to skip because you\u2019re just being fed information but tutorials are much more interactive. Tutors will often discuss important subject matter or allocate groups for group assignments (*shudder*). Not to mention, most tutors take attendance and they\u2019ll start to lower your grade if you miss more than 25% of their tutes.<\/p>\n
For some reason, universities love group assignments. They randomly group four people together and hope they all have matching schedules to be able to meet up more than once AND share the workload evenly to produce a masterpiece PowerPoint presentation. Most of the time, this won\u2019t be the case so prepare yourself for the anxiety that is having your GPA rest in three other people\u2019s hands.<\/p>\n
The university grading system is a little confusing at first. In high school, you\u2019re used to getting an A, B, C, D or E but at uni, it\u2019s HD, D, C, P1, P2, F1 or F2. Basically HD = A, D = B, C = C (convenient) and F = fail. So a D\u2019s actually a pretty awesome grade!<\/p>\n
You have no idea how many times I\u2019ve accidentally tried to log onto the University of South Africa\u2019s student website instead of the University of South Australia\u2019s. Just for clarification, we are UniSA.<\/p>\n
Your high school probably issued a school diary every year with sections for you to fill in homework. But at uni, you get nothing. Head to Kmart or Typo to pick yourself up a cute diary that you know you will use. Fill in all your assignment due dates before semester starts because nobody else will be reminding you that major essay is due in a week.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a high chance you will have to catch the bus to uni. Whether your campus is in the city and you don\u2019t want to deal with city parking or because you don\u2019t have your license yet (me), you will most likely be using public transport every day. So load up your phone with some music and get your Pok\u00e9mon Go out.<\/p>\n
Since most high schools in Australia have compulsory uniforms, we didn\u2019t really have to think about what to wear every day. The general rule at uni is to dress comfortable yet presentable \u2013 what you\u2019d wear to the shopping centre or a friend\u2019s house. You\u2019re much more likely to get weird looks around campus if you\u2019re in a party dress and heels than if you\u2019re in a hoodie and tracksuit pants.<\/p>\n
Go to O-Week. Even if you\u2019re not interested in all that orientation kind of stuff, go for the free food and stationary. And the free stuff doesn\u2019t stop at O-Week! I\u2019ll never forget the day I wandered into a secret (free) pizza party in the library between tutes. Seriously, never say no to free stuff (especially food).<\/p>\n
I cannot stress this enough. Get onto the \u2018Textbooks, buy, swap and sell Adelaide\u2019 Facebook page or studentvip.com.au for some awesome deals on barely used textbooks. I managed to snag my semester one textbooks for $100 when they would have cost $240 brand new. Just make sure you ask to see a photo of the textbooks before buying so you know they\u2019re in relatively good condition.<\/p>\n
On the topic of saving money, make sure you sign up for all the student discount memberships ever. Websites like Student Edge and UNiDAYS offer 10% to 40% off major clothing brands, electronic brands and, of course, restaurants and cafes. A lot of local businesses around the Magill Campus also do deals for UniSA students so make sure to keep your student card on you at all times!<\/p>\n
You will definitely get hungry on campus at one point or another. Since there are only two places to get food at the Magill Campus, here\u2019s the lowdown: Aroma sells more pricey, caf\u00e9 type food while the Caf sells cheaper, school canteen kind of food. In my opinion, Aroma is definitely better as there is more choice and the food is actually quite good. But if you\u2019re looking to save a bit of money, head over to the Caf.<\/p>\n
Do not graduate from UniSA before trying the cheesy hot chips from Aroma! These chips only cost $5 and you seriously get a gigantic bowl of melted cheesy hot chips. So get together with four friends, fork out $1 each (outrageous, I know) and have at it. They do have a whole list of other flavours (e.g. Moroccan spiced, sea salt and balsamic vinegar) but cheese would have to be my all-time favourite.<\/p>\n
Week 5, Week 9 and Week 13 (AKA when all of your assignments and presentations are due). This sucks because you\u2019ll think everything\u2019s nice and cruisy but then BAM ASSIGNMENT, ASSIGNMENT, ASSIGNMENT, ASSIGNMENT. Then, by the time you\u2019ve recuperated from the week of torture, BAM ASSIGNMENT, ASSIGNMENT, ASSIGNMENT, ASSIGNMENT. It\u2019s a never-ending cycle.<\/p>\n
Even before semester starts, you\u2019ll probably be bombarded with emails from Campus Facilities giving you \u2018Advance Works Notices\u2019. So 99.99% chance of the time, none of these will even affect you. Most of them are about the lights in some obscure building having to be changed at 6:00am in the second week of break or something. You might want to pop these into your spam folder.<\/p>\n
After a few weeks at uni, you\u2019ll notice that the back of toilet doors are almost always covered with notices about some study that the university\u2019s doing. Don\u2019t just ignore these! Since Magill is home to the psychology courses, a lot of the studies conducted there involve answering a few questions or taking a few tests and guess what? Most of the time you\u2019ll be reimbursed for your time with a $20 – $50 gift card! So sign yourself up!<\/p>\n
There\u2019s the designated section of the UniSA library for group work or casual work with friends and then there\u2019s the \u2018quiet study\u2019 section. If you walk into the dead silent \u2018quiet study\u2019 section with your friend gossiping about one of your lecturers, you can be sure to feel the death stares from the entire room. So don\u2019t do it.<\/p>\n
If you have any lectures in the H building, you might want to consider taking your notebook over your MacBook. I cannot count the amount of times I\u2019ve heard the crash and bang of stuff falling off the desks in that lecture theatre. At least four times a lecture. If you\u2019re one of the brave souls to insist on bringing your laptop, make sure you hold onto your desk or at least balance it with your lap. Trust me on this one. I speak from experience.<\/p>\n
Whether half of your graduating class from high school is headed to the same campus as you or you\u2019re the only one from your area, make sure to talk to new people! Be the first to initiate conversation and let your friendship circle grow from people who are the same age as you and went to the same high school as you. I\u2019m still friends with the people that I got lost with on our very first day of uni!<\/p>\n
Starting university can be pretty daunting. Most of us had only just gotten the hang of high school before we were given SATAC uni applications and told to choose a career we\u2019d be happy with for the rest of our lives.\u00a0So you\u2019ve finally come to terms with the fact that you\u2019ve left high school (or…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19502,"featured_media":116240,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[85],"tags":[209,108,106],"thb-sponsors":[],"class_list":["post-76612","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uni-life","tag-adelaide","tag-unisa","tag-unisa-tips-advice"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n