Starting a new life at Coventry university can be an overwhelming and intimidating experience. As new students try to get their footing, many make some interesting mistakes. And now it’s time to share them with you, in the futile hope that you won’t make the same mistakes as we did! Below are 20 mistakes every Coventry University Freshman makes!
Packing everything you need to survive for an entire year into a suitcase can be a daunting task, so it’s inevitable that some things will be forgotten. Yet there are some items – like your ID and a warm cozy jacket – that you really need to remember to take. If that’s already got you worried, check out my what to take to university checklist– we’ve got you sorted!
Freshers tend to carry along stuff that they don’t necessarily need when reporting. They pack up all the things they own from their parent’s house. This actually makes them forget the most important things and eats into the small space they have in the hostels.
Being pestered by existing students and departments to join their teams and societies is something you can expect to experience during freshers’ week and this can be a positive thing, especially if you have the desire to play for the football team or join a particular social club. However, saying yes to everything is a mistake many of us make, and you’ll most definitely end up doing this too.
Now, don’t get us wrong, we are familiar with the phrase “go in hard or go home”, but you know, sometimes sleep is pretty good too. Fresher week is billed as one of the most exciting, memorable weeks of your life. And it probably is. So understandably, it’s tempting to want go to every single event one offers.
It might be a bit unfair to call this one a ‘mistake,’ but it’s not like getting freshers flu is completely out of your control. Going out every night, barely sleeping and eating like a five-year-old is not conducive to good health, and it’s highly likely that you’ll be stricken by the infamous illness at some point either during or immediately after freshers.
Yes, it does sound like something your mum would say, but unless you want your designer clothes to suddenly undergo a traumatic makeover, then don’t skimp on the washing skills. Always divide your washing into coloured and white washes at the very least and take care to note the recommending washing temperatures. And stick to them.
Freshman year is the great time for students at CU to explore their interests, make connections and start building their resume. So instead of hiding in your dorms, try to be a bit social and make time to get involved on campus.
So we know that freshers week is likely to be one of the best weeks of your life, but that doesn’t mean that all the rules should go out of the window! Fail to budget in freshers week and you could find yourself financially ruined for the whole term, which is the complete opposite of fun-times. Set yourself a budget for the week and stick to it. Taking out cash rather than debit cards on nights out can help (but take care not to lose it!)
You are in a new town, new environment and you barely know how to navigate through campus. For this first week, you find yourself stopping strangers and asking for directions to the admission office or lecture hall or mess. Ask a friend who knows the place to show you around so that you can avoid getting lost in critical moments.
Procrastination can lead to missed or late assignments, cramming, stress and poor eating. But it’s also a bad habit to build for freshers who are preparing to go out in the workforce.
Perhaps the best experience during fresher’s week is the overwhelming sense of liberty – no more parents telling you to wash your dishes, you can go to out as many times as you want… it’s a profound moment in a young person’s life. However, a life of absolutely no restriction can be difficult and you’ll soon come down to earth with a bump.
Perhaps the main concern for every fresher is whether or not they’re going to make new friends – the answer is, of course, you will, but we all fall into the trap of thinking nobody will talk to us and when somebody actually does you’ll probably end up clinging onto them for dear life. The reality is that many of the people you come into contact with in your first few days probably aren’t your soulmates, but it’s easy to understand why so many freshers end up initially clinging onto them.
As a freshman at CU there is a chance that you do not know that all university related information is on the website. Hence, you end up missing some exciting freshers events and orientation unless, randomly, you find out while talking to a stranger.
I often see that students are not communicating with faculty and not using office hours. Office hours and professor support are the most under utilized resources on campus. Developing a relationship with the faculty member also allows for greater success in the class overall. The faculty member then knows who the student is, knows he/she is engaged in the class and knows the student has invested in his/her own success.
You will be handed a syllabus with six different textbooks, so you spend 900 pounds on books, and at the end of the semester, you’ve hardly opened most of them. It happens more than you think. Wait until you get your actual reading assignments to find out whether it makes sense to buy all the books, or to just hit up the library to read those 15 pages and save yourself a boatload of cash.
There’s nothing worse than hitting back-to-back classes on a totally empty stomach. Not only will it give you energy to make it through your classes, but it will prevent you from binging on junk food when you come home starving afterwards. Not a morning person? For mornings you’re running late, keep your dorm stocked with granola bars, so you’ll never have to worry about a growling stomach during an exam.
If you and your roomie click – awesome, but there’s no need to force a friendship just because you share a room. In fact, living together and hanging out all the time can put a lot of pressure on a friendship, so you may end up being grateful that you and your roomie aren’t in the same circle of besties.
It is more common than you think to forget to log out of library computers. Someone will print their 75-page presentation on your printing account.
The freedom of being away from home is super exciting and it’s easy to forget to check in, especially that first semester. But don’t forget to call your parents (and your siblings or grands sometimes too!) Homesickness can easily creep up on you, and they’ll definitely be missing you. And even if it doesn’t seem like it now, you’ll appreciate a few unsolicited pointers about not mixing your whites and colors and remembering to eat your veggies.
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