Making the jump from school or college
A realistic Guide to life at UCLan - written by students!
By Sarah Burnham, 3rd year, BA(Hons) Public Relations and Business
Unlike school or college, university can be more exiting and offer you many more opportunities, but there are time pressures on your work which you may not have experienced before. The responsibility for your work and your degree is placed entirely on you, meaning you have to be a much greater manager of your time, be able to work to deadlines and be self motivated. All of these are essential skills which should be developed in your first year as they will prove crucial later in your university development.
Importance of your first year as a starting point for a good degree should not be underestimated. Don’t stress about your work too much, but do make the most of the time you have in first year. Take the time to get to know the library and the library facilities, especially book cataloguing system, reservation requests, the key resources and 24 hour loans. Try also to get acquainted with Harvard referencing as you will be likely to need to use this in all your work and now is an excellent time to learn the basics.
Build a support network here in Preston, as for the first time you may be away from your friends and family. Your support network will include all the new friends you will make, but also try and ensure you know contact details for people in the University who can help you when you might need it most, for example learn the office location and email address of your course leader or favourite lecturer. Your course representative should also provide a good link to make sure things are running smoothly.
Course reps are elected in the first few weeks of term, find out who yours is from your lecturer, or even stand for course rep yourself. Also note, the Students’ Union is a great source of help and advice, the Student Affairs Committee represent you on education, activities and participation and campaigning, and they can all be contacted by email or be found on the first floor of the SU building.
