I made it through my second year of uni with a very high 2:1, and boy am I grateful. It means I'm one step closer to graduating with a first class honours, and makes me eligible to apply for a place at the best journalism training course in the UK. If you're a first year about to jump ship to the 'damn, my degree actually counts now' flotilla, don't panic. Here's some things I wish I knew before the start of the year - advice that will hopefully make your year go as smoothly as possible.
The essays that you could leave until two weeks before the deadline and earn a 1st, will be worth a 2:2 in your second year.
Lecturers change their tune once you've waved goodbye to your fresher year. They want immaculate spelling and grammar, and tend to pick your argument apart to no end. But it's still totally possible to achieve good essay marks. Just start reading and writing your essays about a month before the deadline, read lots, and try your hardest to re-draft at least once.
Don't get sucked into inter-subject politics.
Whichever degree you study, be mindful that they are all hard and require the same amount of effort and hard graft. There's nothing more demoralising than a friend casually passing comment about the futility of your essay based degree over their science degree. If you can rise about these politics, and focus on your own work, these arguments will become irrelevant and you will be a lot happier.
Societies can slip to the wayside, and that's okay.
You'll find that your commitment to your favourite society might waiver, or disappear altogether. No one will mind if you miss a few weeks because of deadlines or the need for a night in. You do you.
Early mornings are your friend.
I don't mean a 7am wake up call and a 8am study session. That's too much for anyone to handle. Getting up in the afternoon wastes so much time, and puts me in a foul mood. I found that I was much more productive when I started to study at 11am and finished at 5pm.
Fruit not Haribo.
I've permanently damaged my digestion due to my insatiable love of Minion Tangfastics. Reach for the bananas kids, reach for the bananas.
Get to know the people in your seminars.
They're actually pretty nice people, if you break the awkward seminar silence.
Enjoy your experience.
If second year has taught me anything, its that time really does go fast. In and amongst your studying, make time to see old friends, talk with your parents, and experience new things when you can. I only have one year left, and though I'm already excited to see where graduate life takes me, I'll always look back on uni and laugh fondly.
Beth x
