Making the Transition: High School to Uni

By Clare Bertolus 

Any talk about the transition from high school to uni tends to polarise a conversation. Some love it straight away, others struggle to acclimatise like a polar bear in the face of global warming. Either way most people get there, but making a good start could be as simple as having the right outlook.


The reason that people are so divided on the transition subject is the one fundamental difference between attending high school and going to uni. High school is about other people helping you, uni is all about helping yourself. For many people this difference is the difference between hitting the ground running and struggling to take off.

There is no doubt that suddenly being faced with the task of running your own life can be daunting. But having a bit of initiative in taking control of your studies,  responsibility for your social life and maybe getting a job never goes astray. It will make the transition much easier than waiting around for someone to take care of it for you.

Perhaps the most starkly different thing about university life is the amount of freedom you will have when it comes to your studies. There is no one on your back telling you to 'do that reading', or 'get this essay under control'. Sounds great, but if you don't do it then it's all on you when you fail. If nothing else you have to remember that every time you fail a subject, you have to repeat it and pay for it....again! So put in some effort when it comes to the studies - and your life will be a lot less disappointing and expensive.

Often new students struggle with the structure of university education. They find lectures impersonal and tutorials intimidating. They miss the one on one relationships they're used to having with teachers. 

It's important to remember two things:

- The first is that help is there if you ask for it. In an institution the size of a university it can be hard for lectures to notice if a student is struggling, but your uni is bound to be packed with student services just waiting to be asked. Check the website, or ask one of your tutors for help if you're finding it hard to pull the work together. You will always find help where you seek it.

- The second thing to remember is that you are far from alone. Making new friends can seem like the hardest task of all. Tougher, even, than all that reading. The upside is that it is by far the most rewarding element of uni life (and with a bit of elbow grease on your part) it can come together.

It might seem like everybody already has friends. Or maybe you feel like you've got your social life sorted and can't include anyone else. Neither story is true.

Make the effort to reach out to people. Sit next to someone in a lecture, or someone in your tute for coffee. Get peoples' phone numbers and actually call them, organise to do something on the weekend. The best thing is that everyone is new, no one feels entirely comfortable. Take advantage of that and pounce on some friends. There's no reason to ditch your high school friends, but unless you're all doing exactly the same course, you're going to need some contact with the outside world on a daily basis. So when people talk to you,  talk back. Friends are the icing on the cake of university existence. But these things rarely just happen, reach out to people and you will be rewarded one hundred fold.

On the financial front things are slightly more flexible. Sometimes it can seem like, with all the other changes in your life, holding down a job as well could be too much. If you have the luxury of choice, do just that, luxuriate in it. There is no other point in your life that you will have so much freedom with so little financial responsibility.

On the hand hand, people who are working have a lot more cash to throw around. Having a job also tends to give you a bit of structure in an otherwise wispy timetable. There is a certain comfort to be found in routine. A comfort which may be particularly appealing in those early days of heady freedom.

Whatever your feelings to begin with, it is important to remember that the transition from high school to uni is a huge learning curve for everyone. Some just take it a little steeper than others. If you think your problems run deeper than some first semester jitters though, it might be a good idea to evaluate where you stand at the end of the semester. Perhaps the course just isn't for you, and you would be happier elsewhere.

Starting uni is truly revolutionary in the Bolshevik sense of the word (right down to the queuing for food). The seemingly limitless freedom is something that people either take to immediately, or struggle with initially. Taking some responsibility for your life is the key to slipping seamlessly into the system instead of crashing and burning. 

Remember, university life is what you make of it.