What not to worry about when you start university

The first time I read the Life at Southampton blog was back in 2014, right before I was off for my first year at the University of Southampton. I read a blog post from former blogger Kristin about what she wished she’d known in her first year and it has inspired me to write a little post about what not to worry about before you go to uni.

I moved to England on the 20th of September 2014 (my birthday, for those who are especially interested!) with my whole life packed into two suitcases and one thousand questions, worries and scenarios made up in my head.

While I was crying my eyes out on my way to the airport it really hit me that I was going away – and for some stupid reason I kept talking myself down. ‘My English isn’t good enough’, ‘I can’t cook’, ‘I wont make any friends’, what if I fail my year?’ … the list continues. I wish I had someone then to tell me the following five things:

1. Everyone you meet is in the same situation as you!

It is so hard to forget, but it is true. Everyone will require their own time to adjust to moving and some might do this quicker than others. Be nice to everyone and have a positive attitude.

 

2. You don’t need to go out every single night, get ridiculously drunk and join 10 societies to make friends.

With that being said, going to some events during Freshers’ and joining a couple of societies are great opportunities to make new friends, but it is not the only way to make friends. You will make friends regardless of how much or little you go out during Freshers’.

3. If English isn’t your native language (like me) it will improve with time.

This obviously relies a bit on yourself as well; the more you practice speaking English the better it will be. It will be a hard change from the English you’ve learned at school to suddenly be surrounded by academic English everywhere – but you get used to it.

4. Cooking might be a challenge, but practice makes perfect.

Try and plan dinners with flatmates where you cook together or one person cooks and the others do the dishes. Like many other things, cooking at university is what you make it!

5. Re-sitting exams isn’t the end of the world. 

Having only ever known how resitting exams in Norway works, I was quite horrified when I learned that it is a lot stricter in England! Luckily, I have never had to re-sit any exams or a year, but it can happen to anyone. The University goes above and beyond to help you and to accommodate you if you have special needs for an examination, but the hard work needs to be done by you.

Along with my top five points, here’s some extra advice I’d like to give you for your upcoming move to University:

Don’t get stuck with one group. This is very easy to do, because you meet a group of people you like and suddenly you do everything with them. There’s nothing wrong with that, but remember to be open to meeting others as well – you will meet new people through every year at University.

If you don’t like your flat – try and change it. Most people get on very well with their flatmates and of all the people I know at university I only know one person who changed flat duringfirst year. It’s good to keep in the back of your mind that the possibility is there, because you will spend a lot of time with your flatmates, so it’s in everyone’s interest that you get along.

And one last thing…

During your first year, you will be told numerous times by fellow students that ‘First year doesn’t count’. Keep in mind that this is not entirely true:

1. You do need to pass your first year, meaning 40% or over in all core modules.

2. If you want to go on exchange the application process happens when you are in your second year and your first-year grades will be a part of your application; the most competitive places obviously require good grades. This also applies to you if you wish to apply for internships in your second year.

3. If you end your third year and are just between a First and a 2:1 your tutors might go back to your first year and see that you had such a good average that they will give you a First …or vice versa if you didn’t work at all.

Apart from that… just enjoy your Freshers’ and welcome to the University of Southampton!

Our beautiful Highfield Campus

Alexandra

My top five tips for making your phone University ready

With preparations for student life well underway, today I thought I’d take the opportunity to give some tips about how you make your smartphone/tablet ready for university.

These are my five most crucial apps or updates which make my day-to-day life during term time here at Southampton so much easier....

1. MySouthampton app 

This app is a  must. You can do everything on it, from browsing for free computers in the library to checking bus times, your timetable and email. You can even contact IT help and get a campus map up in an instant. I mostly use it to check my timetable and look up where certain buildings are (I still don’t know all the numbers by heart). You simply download it and use your Sussed username and password to access it!

Download MySouthampton

2. Blackboard app

This app, together with the MySouthampton app, makes everything that has to do with coursework and University logistics so much easier.

The Blackboard Mobile Learn app lets you check all your modules, module announcements, information, course content and more. It’s handy to have if you wish to have a quick look at the slides before, during or after your lecture, or if you want to have a look at the module handbook and you don’t have a copy of it to hand.

The only thing which I wish you could do with the app is checking your grades on it. Turnitin is not optimised for smartphones; so when your lecturer reminds you that you’ve received feedback on your coursework during a lecture and you don’t have a computer with you, you will have to wait to check your feedback.

Download the Blackboard Mobile Learn app

3. Configure your soton email

The University IT pages have a simple explanation to how you configure your soton email to your phone and computer. It makes it so much easier than having to log into Sussed everytime you want to check your email – and trust me; you will use your soton email a lot – probably more than you use your private email.

4. RefMe 

University was the first time I had ever encountered Harvard referencing and, although this app is by not a substitute for attending the library sessions about referencing, this app is a lifesaver for your bibliography and referencing adventures. It’s very easy to use and you can access it from your computer as well as your smartphone.

5. West Quay Cars and Radio Taxis app

We do have Uber in Southampton, but getting a car is nearly impossible and unlike many big cities, you don’t really save much by using Uber here. That’s why it’s good to have the apps for the big taxi companies in Southampton, which makes ordering a taxi easy.

The Students' Union also has a deal with these companies, which means that if you ever find yourself in a position where you don’t have money to get home, you simply hand in your student ID to the driver as a deposit and pay for the fare upon collection your ID from the Union's reception.



I hope these tips can come in handy for anyone starting University later this month, or maybe current students who still haven’t discovered RefMe!

Regardless, the above mentioned are without a doubt the apps I use the most during term time, so I hope this blog post is helpful for others too!

Happy app-ing!

Alexandra

Life after Southampton: one year on

Over the next few months, some ex-Life at Southampton bloggers will be sharing their experiences as graduates. This week, Physics graduate James Gray looks back at his time at the University and updates us on what he's up to now.

A year has now passed since I graduated with a First Class Masters in Physics and so much has changed that I’m struggling to work out where to start.

I guess I should begin by recapping how this whole process started, so let’s rewind half a decade(!) to the moment when I first arrived at Glen Eyre halls in 2011, weighed down with suitcases and boxes and feeling thoroughly daunted about the next four life-changing years that were ahead of me.

I began, like many people, as a slightly timid but enthusiastic fresher, who was unsure of exactly what to expect. However, within days I had settled into my halls and within weeks I was thoroughly immersed in student life.

Throughout my time at Southampton I met a lot of new people and was exposed to a lot of new things, including blogging, the bizarre sport of Tchoukball and the even more bizarre world of quantum physics. However, my most important discovery was the field of medical physics, which, with a lot of hard work and perseverance, I managed to secure a job in after I graduated.

New Terrace in Glen Eyre Halls – my home in first year.

After a long summer break, which included trips to Amsterdam and the New Forest, I embarked on my chosen career. I am now a trainee medical physicist in an NHS hospital on the Scientific Training Programme and I have discovered that no-one seems to know what we do!

Medical physics is a broad area of healthcare science, which, as a broad generalisation, covers the use of radiation for medical purposes, including everything from creating radiotherapy treatment plans to testing x-ray equipment. It is a greatly varied job and one that patients ultimately rely on, even if they don’t realise it!

Having fun testing a UV cabinet looking like a riot officer.

My training follows a similar structure to that of a doctor’s; I have a long list of competencies and assessments to complete over three years, which relate to four rotations in my first year (these are ionising imaging, non-ionising imaging, radiation safety and radiotherapy), before I specialise into one of those four areas for the remaining two years.

I am currently undertaking my third rotation out of the four and when January comes I have chosen to specialise in imaging with ionising radiation, which encompasses work within both nuclear medicine and diagnostic radiology. I also have the opportunity to go on an elective; a 4-6 week work placement of my choosing, which can be anywhere in the world, so long as I can relate it back to clinical science! I am currently thinking along the lines of radiopharmaceutical research, development and production, but the options are limitless!

After three years of training, which includes another masters degree, I will have my final practical exams and I will then qualify as a state registered medical physicist – it’s a long and hard road, but I am more than up for the oncoming challenges!

Medical physics arts and crafts – making a radioactive test object that can be imaged on a gamma camera for one of my nuclear medicine competencies.

My job also involves bits of chemistry and biology – these are samples of broth I prepared to assess my aseptic technique when dispensing radioactive liquids.

My job involves a lot of testing medical imaging equipment, like this MRI scanner.

On a personal level, the transition from being a student to being an adult in the 'real world' has been one that I have enjoyed. One of the best changes is receiving a paycheck at the end of the month, making a new group of friends and realising that my time at the University of Southampton taught me many of the skills that I have needed in my professional life.

Since I graduated I have left home and moved into a lovely flat with my girlfriend in the quaint town of Haslemere, which lies on the borders between Surrey, West Sussex and Hampshire. Southampton is therefore not too far away and over the past year I have not been able to stay away! I have been fortunate in that I have friends who have stayed in Southampton and given me the perfect excuse to come and visit my old haunts, including Jesters, The Cowherds and, of course, the two Portswood ice cream parlours!

Highfield Campus in the sun on my last visit to Southampton.

When recently visiting the University and the surrounding city it has been hard not to feel overwhelmed with nostalgia. I felt it the most while walking around a sun-bathed Highfield campus, seeing all the student hubbub and feeling tempted to revert back to being a student and enjoying it all over again!

Therefore, my advice for anyone going into their last year at university is to really make the most of it – join a new society, get involved in everything you can and make use of all of the career resources that the University offers. However don’t feel pressured to focus on careers, because your final year of studying should still take priority. I only applied to two jobs in my final year, because they were the only opportunities I was truly excited about. Don’t waste your time on applications that don’t excite you, because you can’t replace passion and you should be following your dreams!

And finally, to all the new Freshers who are about to embark on their own Life at Southampton – I envy you! You will fall in love with Southampton and your time will fly by!

Thank you Southampton for everything! And thank you for reading this blog.

James

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