Fresher tips
What is freshers' week actually like?
A mix of events, fairs, nights out, and introductory sessions spread across the first one to three weeks of term. It's loud, busy, and often overwhelming — but you don't have to do everything. Pick what suits you, skip what doesn't, and know that the friends you make in week one aren't necessarily the ones you'll keep forever.
Is it normal to feel anxious or lonely?
Completely normal — and extremely common. Research shows nearly three quarters of students experience loneliness in their first year. Everyone around you is pretending to be more confident than they feel. Give it time, keep showing up, and know that the settling-in period takes weeks, not days.
Does first year count?
At most UK universities, first year doesn't count towards your final degree classification — but it does count for several things that matter: building study habits, keeping your place on the course, and laying the foundations for second year. Don't sleepwalk through it.
How do I make my money last?
Know what's coming in, track what goes out, and build a weekly budget before the first maintenance loan instalment disappears in a week. The students who stay on top of their finances in first year aren't the ones with more money — they're the ones who planned for it.
Before you leave home
The best way to arrive at university is with as little to worry about as possible. A bit of admin done before you leave means more headspace for the things that actually matter once you get there.
Apply for student finance early
If you haven't already, apply immediately. Maintenance loan payments arrive at the start of each term — a late application means late money. You can apply before your place is confirmed and update the details later.
Open a student bank account
Most high street banks offer student accounts with interest-free overdrafts and perks — NatWest offers a 4-year Tastecard, Santander a 16–25 Railcard. Compare the 0% overdraft limits — that's the feature that genuinely matters.
Register with a GP near your university
You'll need a local GP for anything beyond minor illness. Don't wait until you're already sick to do this — most universities have a health centre on campus that makes registration straightforward.
Sort your accommodation paperwork
Read your tenancy agreement before you sign. Take photos of your room on move-in day — note any existing damage and email it to your accommodation office. This protects your deposit at the end of the year.
Apply for your council tax exemption
Full-time students don't pay council tax. If you're moving into private accommodation, apply for your exemption certificate from your university and submit it to your local council immediately. Don't ignore any council tax bills that arrive — respond to them.
Join your university's pre-arrival groups
Most universities and halls have WhatsApp groups, Discord servers, or Facebook groups for incoming students. Join them. It's low pressure, you can meet flatmates before arrival, and it makes move-in day feel significantly less daunting.
Build a rough first-month budget
Before you arrive, know your rent, your approximate weekly food budget, and what you're allocating for socialising. Students who think about money before term starts are significantly less likely to hit financial difficulty by November.
Get a 16–25 Railcard
£30/year and gives you 1/3 off most rail fares. If you're going home even twice a year, it pays for itself. Buy it before you travel to university — you'll want it for the journey down. Some student bank accounts include it free.
What to pack for university
Your room will come furnished — bed, desk, wardrobe, chair. Everything else is on you. The golden rule: pack less than you think you need. You can buy almost anything once you're there, and an overcrowded first-year room is genuinely stressful to live in.
📦 The complete packing checklist
- Duvet, pillows & bedding (check if single or small double)
- Mattress protector
- Extra blanket — halls heating is unpredictable
- Hangers and laundry basket
- Extension lead — the most essential item you'll pack
- Desk lamp
- 1 plate, 1 bowl, 1 mug, 1 set of cutlery
- 1 saucepan, 1 frying pan
- Chopping board & a decent knife
- Tin opener, wooden spoon, spatula
- Tupperware — label your food in shared kitchens
- Tea towel and washing-up liquid
- 2–3 towels (bathroom towels disappear fast)
- Shower caddy if you have shared bathrooms
- Flip-flops for shared showers
- Laptop, charger & headphones
- Passport, driving licence, or other photo ID
- NHS number and any repeat prescription details
- Student finance and accommodation paperwork
- Basic first aid kit and paracetamol
- Cold and flu medicine (freshers' flu is real)
- A door stop — keeps your door open and lets people stop to say hello
- A small amount of food to get you through the first few days
- Something that makes your room feel like yours
Making the most of freshers' week
Freshers' week is typically one to three weeks of events, fairs, and social activities at the start of term. It's louder and more intense than the rest of university — and it can feel overwhelming, particularly if you're not naturally extroverted or you don't drink. Here's how to approach it.
Making friends — without forcing it
The pressure to have made your "people" within a week of arriving is one of the most unhelpful narratives around university. Some people meet lifelong friends in freshers' week. Many don't — and end up finding their closest friendships in second year through a society, a course module, or a random conversation that led somewhere.
Where friendships actually form
Your flat / halls
Proximity is the single biggest driver of friendship in first year. Keep your door open when you're in. Hang around in the kitchen. Suggest easy shared activities — cooking together, watching something, going to the supermarket. You don't need to be best friends with your flatmates, but making an effort early pays off all year.
Your course
You spend three years with these people. Sit next to someone new in each lecture for the first couple of weeks. Make a group chat for your year or your seminar group. People on your course have the most obvious common ground with you — use it.
Societies & sports clubs
The students who join a society and keep going to it consistently report stronger friend groups and better overall satisfaction with university. Shared interests plus regular contact is the formula for friendship. Even if the first session feels a bit awkward, go back a second time before giving up.
Part-time jobs
Working a few hours a week — especially in hospitality or student-facing roles — is one of the most underrated ways to meet people outside your immediate social bubble. It also gives structure to your week and extra income, both of which help with overall wellbeing.
If you're struggling to connect
Loneliness in first year is far more common than the university brochure suggests. Research finds that close to three quarters of UK students experience moderate to severe loneliness at some point during their studies. It tends to peak in the first few weeks and again after winter break — both of which are well-known pressure points.
If you're feeling isolated, the most effective things you can do are: keep showing up to scheduled activities even when you don't feel like it, make one small social initiative each day (a message, knocking on a flatmate's door, sitting with someone at lunch), and talk to your university's student support service if it persists beyond a few weeks. Loneliness that goes unaddressed tends to compound. The university knows this and has support in place for exactly this situation.
Freshers' myths — busted
Some of the most common things people believe about starting university are either exaggerated or flat-out wrong. Here's what's actually true.
Everyone immediately makes their best friends in freshers' week and has an amazing time from day one.
Most students feel lonely or anxious in the first few weeks. The friendships you see on Instagram are a highlight reel. Genuine connections take months, not days — for most people.
You have to drink to have a good freshers' experience.
Most universities now actively cater for non-drinkers — sober socials, alcohol-free nights, and dedicated societies. Around 1 in 4 UK students don't drink. You'll find your scene; freshers' week isn't the only window for it.
First year doesn't matter — you can coast through it.
First year usually doesn't count towards your final grade, but you need to pass it to progress. More importantly, habits formed in first year — attendance, study routines, essay skills — directly determine how difficult second year feels.
If you feel homesick, something is wrong with you.
Homesickness is normal, almost universal, and typically eases significantly within the first month. It doesn't mean you made the wrong choice — it means you had a life worth missing. Stay busy, keep in touch with home, but also give your new environment a real chance.
You need to go to every event in freshers' week or you'll miss out.
Freshers' week is a marathon, not a sprint. Burning yourself out in week one is one of the most common mistakes new students make — and it often leads to getting ill with freshers' flu at exactly the wrong moment. Pick what interests you and pace yourself.
Everyone already knows what they want to do with their life.
Most students don't. And the ones who say they do often change their minds by final year. University is partly for figuring this out — not for having it already figured out on arrival. Don't perform certainty you don't have.
Studying smart in first year
University studying is fundamentally different from A-levels. There are fewer contact hours, more independent learning, and the emphasis shifts from being told what to think to developing your own analysis. This transition catches a lot of students off guard if they're not prepared for it.
How university study differs from school
| At school/college | At university |
|---|---|
| Lots of structured contact time with teachers | Fewer hours of taught sessions — more self-directed study expected |
| Content largely delivered to you | You're expected to find, read, and synthesise materials yourself |
| Regular homework and formative tasks | Often fewer, larger assessments — end-of-term deadlines cluster heavily |
| Attendance is compulsory and monitored closely | Some lectures are optional in theory — but attendance still matters |
| Your teacher tells you if you're falling behind | It's your responsibility to identify and address gaps |
| Success means knowing the right answer | Success means constructing a well-reasoned, evidenced argument |
Go to every lecture, even when you don't feel like it
Reading slides online is not the same as being in the room. Attending builds context, helps you identify what you actually need to understand, and keeps you connected to the pace and direction of the course.
Start essays and assignments early — always
Deadline clustering is real. Three assignments in one week is common in first year, and the students who start everything two weeks in advance are the ones who don't pull all-nighters in the library in January.
Use office hours and seminars
Every lecturer has office hours — dedicated time for students to ask questions. Most students never use them. The ones who do get better feedback, understand the marking criteria better, and generally perform better. Ask questions in seminars too; that's what they're for.
Read the feedback on everything
The most valuable thing about a first-year assignment isn't the grade — it's the feedback. Read every comment, understand what it's telling you to do differently, and apply it to the next piece. Students who engage with feedback consistently improve. Students who only look at the grade don't.
Build a study routine that suits you
Some people work best in the morning; others come alive at 10pm. The key isn't when you study — it's whether you have a consistent structure that means work gets done before deadlines. Find what works for you in the first few weeks and protect it.
Use the library properly
University libraries have resources — databases, journals, books — that most students never access. Learning how to use them in week one saves hours of frustration when you're actually writing an essay. Most universities offer introductory library sessions in the first weeks of term.
Budgeting & money
Your maintenance loan arrives in three instalments across the academic year. It is not a windfall. It's a finite amount of money that needs to last an entire term — and the students who treat the first instalment as a spending spree are typically the ones calling home for emergency funds by November.
Build a weekly budget before term starts
🧮 Weekly spending estimator
Drag the sliders to match your expected spending. Compare it against your available weekly income from your maintenance loan and any other sources.
Money-saving habits that actually work
Get TOTUM (NUS card) or UNiDAYS
Student discounts are significant. TOTUM (£14.99/year) and free apps like UNiDAYS give you discounts at restaurants, clothing, tech, and services that add up to far more than the cost. Always check for a student discount before buying anything.
Shop at Aldi, Lidl, or use Olio
Aldi and Lidl consistently undercut major supermarkets on staples. Olio is a free app where people give away food and household items they don't need — a genuinely useful source of free stuff near most universities.
Cook in bulk and batch freeze
A large batch of pasta sauce, curry, or soup made on Sunday costs under £5 and provides four or five lunches. The single biggest money-saver in student life is not eating out or ordering delivery during the week.
Use your students' union for nights out
SU venues are almost always significantly cheaper than commercial venues for drinks and entry. A night at the SU bar costs a fraction of a night in a city-centre club. Not as glamorous, but your bank balance at the end of term will thank you.
Cooking & eating well on a student budget
You don't need to become a great cook in first year. You need to be able to feed yourself reliably without spending a fortune on takeaways. A repertoire of eight to ten basic meals is all it takes — and it's something you can build in the first month.
10 meals every student should be able to make
| Meal | Approx. cost per portion | Time | Why it's useful |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pasta with tomato sauce | ~£0.60 | 15 min | Base for dozens of variations — add tuna, mince, veg, anything |
| Stir-fry with rice or noodles | ~£0.90 | 20 min | One pan, fast, works with whatever veg needs using up |
| Chilli con carne (batch) | ~£0.80 | 35 min | Freezes perfectly — make a big batch on Sunday, eat all week |
| Scrambled eggs on toast | ~£0.40 | 5 min | Fast, cheap, protein-rich. Works at any hour of the day |
| Jacket potato | ~£0.50 | 60 min (oven) | Virtually zero prep, filling, and almost impossible to get wrong |
| Lentil soup (batch) | ~£0.40 | 30 min | One of the cheapest meals you can make, genuinely tasty |
| Omelette | ~£0.50 | 8 min | Add leftover veg, cheese, anything — fast high-protein meal |
| Tomato and chickpea curry | ~£0.70 | 25 min | Vegan, freezable, very cheap — works with rice or bread |
| Overnight oats | ~£0.30 | 2 min prep | Prep the night before, breakfast ready instantly |
| Fried rice | ~£0.50 | 15 min | The ideal leftover meal — uses up rice, veg, eggs |
Looking after your mental health
Starting university involves a significant number of simultaneous life changes — new home, new people, new academic environment, new financial pressures, new levels of independence. It's a lot. And research is clear that the transition into higher education is one of the highest-risk periods for developing mental health difficulties in young adulthood.
That doesn't mean university is bad for your mental health — the data suggests it isn't, on average. But it does mean that taking it seriously from the start is sensible, not overcautious.
The basics that actually move the needle
Protect your sleep
Sleep deprivation compounds everything — anxiety, academic performance, social functioning. Freshers' week is sleepless by design, but it passes. Build a sleep routine as soon as term starts in earnest. It matters more than most students acknowledge.
Move your body
Most universities have gyms or sports facilities, many of which are free or discounted for students. Even a 20-minute walk each day has a measurable effect on mood and anxiety. Don't treat exercise as optional when things get stressful — it's exactly when it matters most.
Be careful with social media comparison
Social media shows you everyone's best moments and hides everyone's hard ones. The gap between how university "looks" online and how it actually feels is never wider than in freshers' week. If scrolling is making you feel worse, that's information worth acting on.
Ask for help early
University wellbeing services are better and more accessible than most students realise — but they have waiting lists, and those lists are longest at the times when most students are struggling (January, April). Reach out when you first notice something's off, not after it's been building for two months.
Where to get support
Your university's wellbeing service
Every UK university has a student wellbeing or counselling service. Contact them through your university website or student portal. Most offer both self-referral and emergency appointments. Register early — don't wait for a crisis.
Student Minds
The UK's student mental health charity. Provides resources, peer support, and a directory of university mental health services. studentminds.org.uk
Samaritans
Free, 24/7 support for anyone in distress. Call 116 123 — available any time, from any phone, for free. If you're struggling, you don't need to be in crisis to call.
Your students' union
Most SUs have a welfare officer and peer support network. Less formal than counselling services, lower barrier to access — a good first step if you're not sure you're ready to speak to a professional.
Practical life admin
The boring stuff that nobody thinks about until it becomes a problem. Sort these in the first two weeks and you'll avoid unnecessary stress later in the year.
Learn to do laundry properly
Check clothing labels. Separate darks from lights. Use the right programme. A shrunken jumper or a pink-tinged white shirt is a rite of passage, but it doesn't have to be yours. Most halls have laundry rooms — budget around £5–£10 per week for the machines.
Get contents insurance
Many halls include basic contents insurance, but it rarely covers expensive electronics adequately. A dedicated student contents policy typically costs £50–£100/year and covers your laptop, phone, and belongings. Check what your parents' home insurance covers before buying a separate policy.
Register any bike or valuable items
Register your bike with Bike Register (free) and use a decent D-lock — ideally two. Bike theft is endemic near universities. A £100 lock is worth it for a £500 bike. Register other valuable items with Immobilise.
Update your address for important mail
Student Finance, DVLA, your bank, and your GP all need your new address. Missing a letter from Student Finance about your application can cause significant payment delays. Set up mail forwarding from home if you're not sure what might be sent there.
Check if you need a TV licence
You need one if you watch live TV or use BBC iPlayer — even on a laptop. £174.50/year (2025/26), split across the household. If nobody in your flat watches live TV at all, you need to inform the DVLA but pay nothing. Don't ignore the letters — the enforcement process is genuinely unpleasant.
Get a pre-payment certificate if you're on regular medication
A Prescription Pre-Payment Certificate (PPC) costs around £111/year and covers unlimited prescriptions. If you take more than two prescription items a month, it pays for itself immediately. Apply through the NHS Business Services Authority.
Frequently asked questions
What if I hate my flatmates?
How do I deal with freshers' flu?
Is it okay to go home in the first few weeks?
I don't drink — will I still have a good social life?
What should I do if I'm struggling financially?
What if I want to change my course or university?
How do I make friends if I'm an introvert?
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