What I wish I’d known before starting university: five reasons not to be worried

I’m not someone who likes change, in fact, I’m pretty averse to it. When you’ve got something good, why change it, right? But change is a pretty unavoidable part of life, whether it’s in the form of going to a new school, making new friends, living in a new home…or starting university.

Whether you’ll be coming from a town an hour’s drive away, or from halfway across the world, university is bound to be a big change, and I remember feeling dread at the thought of starting at Warwick. But now I’ve realised that there is genuinely nothing to fear, and I actually wish I could go back to starting all over again! Don’t believe me? Let me try and prove it to you with this list of five reasons to not be worried…

1. You will find new friends. I may not have conducted a formal study on this, but if I had to guess the one thing that most people are scared about before starting university, it would be whether they could find friends. Now, it may not be straight away, it may not be with the people you expect, but you will find them. How can I be so sure? Because the principles for making new friends stay the same! Show interest in learning about other people, go to social activities (of any type), and simply spend time with one another. All these criteria are inevitably involved in university life, so if there’s one fear that will solve itself, it’s this!

2. You will grow a firm fondness for your accommodation. Belle from Beauty and the Beast said it best: “Home is where the heart is”, and your new accommodation will be your home. At the end of the day, whether it was your first choice or your last, your accommodation is going to mean the most to you, specifically because of your decorations, your flatmates and your memories made (including funny disasters). So, there’s another thing to not panic about!

3. You will experience, and enjoy, new-found independence. You may think that you can get away with relying on ready-meals, saving the washing-up till there is physically no capacity left in the sink, and expecting your teachers to remind you to hand in assignments, but after just a few days at university you’ll learn that here, you won’t be able to be so dependent on others, and most importantly you won’t even want to! These few years are the perfect chance to experience independence and freedom, and while there may be disasters in adulting along the way, it’s all part of the ride!

4. You will not be bored.I remember thinking at school that I got a lot of emails every day about activities going on — but believe me that at university, emails are on a different level. Whether these are emails from the Careers Department about career fairs and internships, Student Mobility emails about international exchanges, Warwick Arts Centre or Warwick Presents emails about films, festivals and fun events, you’re bound to receive multiple ideas of things to do every week! That’s not even to mention the vast amount of society events that you can find out about on social media, or sports clubs that you can join at the Sports Hub! Even if you have no ready-made plans, just head along to Central Campus and there will be something you can get involved with!

5. You can still be who you are. The concern that was the most pressing to me when I started university is whether I would still be able to be myself while at university. The short answer, I’m glad to say, is definitely yes! Like waking up or going to bed at a particular time? Enjoy cooking certain foods or taking part in certain hobbies? Want to keep strong relationships with friends and family from home? Yes, yes, and yes you can. Even though at university, it’s likely you’ll become more confident and try things outside of your comfort zone, you don’t have to give up parts of your identity for anyone or anything. Be yourself, as everyone else is taken, as they say.