Transitioning from school to University

This article was written by Business & Entrepreneurship BSc(Hons) student Esme.

Moving from school to university can seem like a really daunting change, so in this blog post I will share my experience on the transition, as well as give some tips and advice to help you, if you are feeling nervous or apprehensive about the move to university.

There are two main sides to the transition from school to university, the academic transition and the social transition. The academic transition may seem like the biggest difference between school and university. At university, you are naturally more self-guided than school and you are expected to be more independent when researching and conducting work. This doesn’t mean that you don’t get constant support from your lecturers, you are just given the freedom to explore and research around your subject. It does however, mean that you need to be a little more disciplined with work, as university has a less rigid structure than school. Personally, this freedom has been a great opportunity for me to really delve into and explore my subject area and I have gained so many useful insights and ideas that have elevated my academic work. I also believe that university is less pressured than school and A-levels as you don’t have a set time in the day where your work must be done. I love being able to attend my lectures, and depending on what I’m doing in the day, work my research around that. This enables you to spend time with friends or have a job on the side of university work. As for the teaching differences, I personally didn’t find it too different as I was used to listening and taking notes in class. However, I found that seminars are quite different as they revolve around learning through conversation.

The second side of the transition from school to university is the social transition. This can sometimes be the most daunting as many students are coming into a new environment where they may not know anyone. This can seem really scary and overwhelming, but there are so many ways to overcome this and make friends. I believe that you have so much more freedom and opportunities at university and my advice would be to say yes to as many of these opportunities as you can, especially in Freshers' Week. But also remember to know when to have your own downtime to relax. Falmouth University has so many societies to join and meet likeminded people with the same interests as you and this also means that you can make friends outside of your course and accommodation.