Student survival guide: The brave new world of university

Third-year student NICOLE ROUGHAN* remembers how it felt to be a fresher, and offers a few tips for beginners.

Starting university is a breeze. There are none of those first-day jitters about whether your friends will be in your class, because you already know they won't be.

No worry about getting the best teacher, because you don't yet know any of the lecturers. Instead, the biggest concern a lot of people have is simply wondering how to fill in the hours of their first day.

It seems obvious, but, yes, you really do simply turn up to your lecture room and hope others do the same.

Don't be afraid to use your map, but once inside the correct building don't bother with the room numbers, just ask other people which lecture they're waiting for. There, you've met some new classmates already.

It's at this point, standing outside your lecture room together, that you will realise the scope of the university. For a start, chances are that not all your peers will be first-year students, not all will be recent school-leavers and, inevitably, not all will be in the right place.

You may be lucky and spot a familiar face in the crowd. Most students find their first weeks filled with unexpected friendliness from and towards people they never knew or liked at school. It's a refreshing change.

Inside your lecture, take some time getting used to your lecturer, as there are a lot of foreign accents around. Work out your note-taking preferences. Don't be put off by people, even lecturers, who insist that the best students take minimal notes. Do it your way, and if people sneer as you move to your fourth page, don't let them join your study group for exams.

Lectures are the easy part. Spend your first weeks trying out the facilities available to you. Learn to use not only the library (take the tour), but also the computer labs in your department.

Assignments seem far less of a chore if you can fit them into your breaks during the week rather than on Sunday nights. Use the time on the computers to write or research, using the online journal resources available (take the library tour again).

If you start the year feeling comfortable with the resources that are available for your academic work, you will be more confident in using them come essay time.

For the breaks between classes, the possibilities are endless. There will always be parks, bars and friends to fill the time with, but a university offers much more.

Talk a group of friends into joining the recreation centre and entering a social sports team. Join anyway and work out in the gym or take up one of the numerous sports, dance and health classes the centre offers. Even if you detested PE at school, sign up to gain access to the coldest, tastiest water available on campus.

If you can't stay away from the lecture theatres, there will regularly be open seminars and performances to attend. Pick up a timetable of the week's programme of guest lectures and concerts and go along.

Alternatively, read your university magazine for details of concerts and events organised by student leaders.

In your first weeks you can either pretend to know everything until you actually do or ask other students who have been there before.

Universities are places to share knowledge, and there's only one question you won't be helped with. Where to park? I'm not telling.

* Nicole Roughan is starting her third year at the University of Auckland.