University is about so many things for so many people at so many different times of our lives.
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As someone who has returned to university as a mature age student, this is one of my favourite times of the year - I'm buying highlighters and exercise books, scouring Facebook Marketplace and eBay for secondhand copies of the (exorbitantly priced) law text books and getting excited about the semester to come.
When I was an undergrad it was also about returning to Melbourne to live on campus, see my friends and get back into the routine of coffees, study groups, going to the gym, heading into the city and generally enjoying my first taste of adult freedoms.
My Dad, a design and technology high school teacher, still proudly remembers how I used what I learned in year 11/12 D&T about project planning and time management with my assignment calendars and colour-coded homework timetables.
My Mom, an English high school teacher, would listen to my essays over the phone and play devil's advocate to help me sure up my arguments. I can't imagine that job was either fun or easy.
But as I get ready for this coming semester of law study, I am reminded of those who have never been to university before, and those who are the first in their family to attend tertiary education.
It can be exciting, but it can also feel daunting, scary, overwhelming and like a thousand pounds of pressure applied to your chest.
So lend me your ear (eyes?) and I will share what I've learned over the course of undergrad, honours and grad school.
It's OK to be nervous. Change can be daunting and you know what, I don't think anybody is truly ready to go to university on day one. I remember shedding a tear or two into my pillow in my dorm room at Monash!
But just because it's daunting doesn't mean it won't be great. Embrace the weirdness, and develop a routine - familiarity creates normalcy and you'll find your way one step at a time.
Find a friend. You don't need a thousand friends, but finding one friend who is in your classes is a godsend.
I know we all hate group work (well, I've never met anyone who doesn't at any rate). But group work in first year subjects is a strategic move to help you get to know your classmates.
If you can find someone in your class that you can study with, discuss your lectures with, argue your essays with, then you will find university both more enjoyable and easier to manage.
We all learn different ways, but for me I found that talking about the subject matter really helped me to understand the work and that is the key to learning.
Organisation, organisation, organisation. Find a system that works for you and stick to it whether that's a paper diary, a large yearly planner on your wall or an app on your tablet/phone - whatever it is, use it to make sure you don't miss deadlines, forget tutorial tasks and remember meetings.
Managing your work is really key - especially if you have a full-time study load, because you'll find that assignments often fall due around the same time. You need to plan ahead to be able to manage it all.
Caffeine is not a food group. I am about to be a hypocrite here, as I was the queen of the all-nighter when I was an undergrad, but sleep is important for optimum brain function.
And yes, I know I sound like your mum now, but if you can, organise your routine so that you sleep regularly and well. It does catch up with you and you don't want that to happen at exam time!
Always save your assignments and back them up. I cannot tell you the horror of realising the night before an assignment was due that your computer has crashed and you've lost everything.
I save everything locally and in the cloud so I have backups - please don't learn this the hard way like I did.
Finally, remember to have fun. Uni isn't just about the classes you take, it's about growing up and learning who you are and who you want to be.
Remember throughout it all, "I am me, for that I came." (Gerald Manly Hopkins).
Zoë Wundenberg is a careers consultant and un/employment advocate at impressability.com.au