University

[TrialsIsHard]

Hi guys,

Before you get into reading the sh*t I'm about to write you should probably understand this is a bitch about how my university experience has been so far, and you'll probably want to slap me by the end.

I'm currently coming to the end of my first year at Swansea University studying Physics, this wasn't the original plan but after being lazy at A-Level this is what had to happen. I always wanted to study physics however, and have an interest in the physical parts of the course- not so much the lectures on maths, maths and maths. Although that being said, I do have an average ability at maths I just don't enjoy it. My course is hard, there's no two ways about it and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't thinking about changing to something less life-dominating but the thought of an extra year an £9000 deters me.

I'm not big into 'going out, getting smashed and pulling bitches' as my simple housemates are, as they seem to remind me 3 times a week when they go clubbing. I do enjoy a night out with friends but standing in a circle in a crowd of people listening to drum and bass/trap/dubstep is probably the least enjoyable thing I can imagine. I think my experience here depends a huge amount on the people I'm spending time with and is probably the source of my despair, but I do feel like my experience here is not the 'best 3 years of my life' as everything I read online seems to echo. And I'm yet to meet anyone that I can see myself in contact with after the next 2 years are over.

The highlight of my days seem to be getting into the gym and then settling in for a night in front of my laptop.

I know many of you currently attend or have attended university, so any stories/experiences would be really helpful. Any sort of response would be appreciated actually as I've kept this to myself for about a year, probably time I did something about it.

Thanks

[dann2707]

Hey man,

I think first year is difficult as you are completely new to the experience of living away and you are literally thrown into the deep end with people you don't know and the chances of you getting along with all of them is slim. It's hard not to relate this back to my first year experience as I really didn't enjoy it. I was put in halls on a floor of 15 other guys which was ace at first but in the end was f**king hell as everyone went into their own little groups, alphamales trying to get one up over people etc, it was like a psychological experiment or something haha.

In the end I decided to move uni's and stay at home and commute so I could really focus on nailing the work. Which I did (As jardo knows lol). It meant I could have a decent sleeping routine, couldn't stay awake until 4am in the morning watching youtube vids or get distracted. I kinda regret not getting the "full uni experience" though but I still went out shit loads with my course mates.

What are you plans for second year in terms of living? If you can get a house with people who you like, maybe course friends you'll find your experience much better. I don't think people quite understand how your living conditions affect your happiness when at Uni.

[bikeperson45]

I'm not big into 'going out, getting smashed and pulling bitches' as my simple housemates are, as they seem to remind me 3 times a week when they go clubbing. I do enjoy a night out with friends but standing in a circle in a crowd of people listening to drum and bass/trap/dubstep is probably the least enjoyable thing I can imagine. I think my experience here depends a huge amount on the people I'm spending time with and is probably the source of my despair, but I do feel like my experience here is not the 'best 3 years of my life' as everything I read online seems to echo. And I'm yet to meet anyone that I can see myself in contact with after the next 2 years are over.

The highlight of my days seem to be getting into the gym and then settling in for a night in front of my laptop.

I feel like a lot of people don't get that this style of social life isn't a necessity for university. You don't have to do any of those things you don't like. I'd say find the stuff you do want to do, try and find a club (which is possibly the best thing about uni's because those societies aren't that common anywhere else) and build your social life around those things instead of attempting superficial drunken pussy slaying.

And I wouldn't put too much weight on the best three years of your life thing. I didn't want to go to uni and I'll admit I have a much more limited social life because of it so you do have that going for you, but the idea that people seem to try and live up to what they believe and hope to be the highlight of their lives is depressing. If you like physics and want to work in physics and are prepared to suck up the maths aspects you don't like then definitely do the work and make sure you get that degree and when you're not working just do the fun stuff you want to do instead of trying to fit in with expectations. Sounds like your problem just comes down to trying to find the right people you want to hang around with.

[BJ.]

At the end of the day just do what makes you happy.

If you don't enjoy something why do it?

[ManxTrialSpaz]

The best thing about university is that there's loads of people around, you just need to be brave enough to find them. Join a club(s) next year and you will quickly find some people to hang out with!

Hey man,

I think first year is difficult as you are completely new to the experience of living away and you are literally thrown into the deep end with people you don't know and the chances of you getting along with all of them is slim. It's hard not to relate this back to my first year experience as I really didn't enjoy it. I was put in halls on a floor of 15 other guys which was ace at first but in the end was f**king hell as everyone went into their own little groups, alphamales trying to get one up over people etc, it was like a psychological experiment or something haha.

In the end I decided to move uni's and stay at home and commute so I could really focus on nailing the work. Which I did (As jardo knows lol). It meant I could have a decent sleeping routine, couldn't stay awake until 4am in the morning watching youtube vids or get distracted. I kinda regret not getting the "full uni experience" though but I still went out shit loads with my course mates.

What are you plans for second year in terms of living? If you can get a house with people who you like, maybe course friends you'll find your experience much better. I don't think people quite understand how your living conditions affect your happiness when at Uni.

You definitely can't be talking about Redders here.

[dann2707]

The best thing about university is that there's loads of people around, you just need to be brave enough to find them. Join a club(s) next year and you will quickly find some people to hang out with!

You definitely can't be talking about Redders here.

Deffo not haha. You seen the vid of me and him fighting?

f**k, that was 5 years ago :/

[Mark W]

At the end of the day just do what makes you happy.

If you don't enjoy something why do it?

Because it can potentially lead on to bigger and better things. It could just be a blip due to him suddenly being in totally different circumstances to what he's used to, so bitching out as soon as you're not totally buzzing about everything wouldn't be too sensible. If you're into physics and that kind of thing getting some kind of higher education qualification is one of the only ways you're going to progress in that field so it's worth weathering the early storms to see what happens.

I'd echo what everyone else has said though - if you dial your living situation in shit will be much better. My first year of uni wasn't too bad accommodation wise: I was in halls that were a 5min ride from South Bank, and although 5 of the 7 people I lived with were some properly cunty French girls there was an English guy there who was sound as f**k and I'm still friends with now. Having an ally meant that even when they were doing all the bullshit passive aggressive note writing, being French as f**k and having twatty boyfriends coming around trying to look like we should be jealous they were nailing some absolute hounds, it was all fine because we could just take the piss out of them with each other. Consequently although my uni course wasn't amazing my first year flew by. In my second year I got f**ked around by an estate agent and ended up living in a sketchier-than-f**k house, in a room that didn't have a working light for 8 months. We had mice, under-10's breaking in, gang shootings outside, etc. - I didn't know any of the people I lived with and the house was brutal so it meant that I couldn't deal with the course as well and almost bitched out midway through. Third year though I moved in with my flatmate from the first year and a mutual friend of ours and had a f**king awesome time. It didn't involve going out and getting lashed all the time (because drinking in a flat is better anyway for the most part), but we just did loads of fun shit. The third year of my course guzzled dicks and I didn't enjoy much of it, but the happier home life meant that it was bearable.

So yeah, long and short of it is if you can ride out the weirdness of the first year, find somewhere else to live for your second year and just bear in mind that it'll pass by pretty quickly you should be fine. With regards to your course, it seems like the "f**k this, GTFO" attitude kicks in for a lot of people towards the end of the first year or early in the second year, but if you keep cool with things you can get past it and finish it. If you've got real, legitimate issues with it then fair enough, but all of my friends doing a wide range of courses were seriously considering dropping out/switching courses at one point but persevered and were happy with the end result of it.

[TrialsIsHard]

All really helpful stuff, thanks for taking the time to trawl through and reply.

I've signed a contract on the house for next year with my current housemates + two more people, which at the time sounded like a decent idea. But I would be able to find someone to take my place, it's a nice house in a popular student part of Swansea at a reasonable rate.

I do want to join some societies, such as the go karting society and maybe a social sport just for meeting people but this will have to be next year.

I think my best option now if to knuckle down on my course and really focus on getting these exams done properly, I'll spend as much time as I can working independently in the library/anywhere my housemates aren't blasting grime/trap (these are genres of music for those fortunate enough to have never come across it) for all hours of the day.

If I do well in them I'll look into switching universities or seeing which options open up to me. Personally I'd really like to be at Cardiff, as this is where one of my really close friends is and also a few clubs that I really enjoy going to. But I appreciate it's a much better university and chances are they would tell me to f*ck off!

[manuel]

If you don't like your housemates much or course mates, you need to go out and find people you do like and can hang out with/ live with. That's pretty much the whole point.

If you are capable the course will take care of itself. There will always be boring/hard/shit bits on any course, you just have to get through them as it sounds like in general it's more good than bad? First years on broad maths based courses generally a bit dull as its later on the fun specialisations come in.

Get out, find people, have fun. It's not that it's the best 3 years evarz, but just a great opportunity to to go out try things and meet tons of people that you probably won't get again in the same way.

[MadManMike]

Pretty much what everyone else has said:

1) Don't feel pressured into doing what is considered the norm: clubs, constantly getting pissed / laid and all the other Uni cliches. Personally I'd love to go back and do all that, but there's no reason why you should feel you have to do it.

2) I say stick with the course. As already said, the first year seems to be the trickiest, a lot of people I know said the same thing. Is it worth 9k and a lot of hassle to change? Will you feel the same after the first year of the new course?

3) The main problem is that you're studying in Wales and not Bristol

[TrialsIsHard]

A little bump for those who have helped/read this topic and want to know what's happened.

I worked really hard over exam time, and managed to average 70.2% over the 5 modules I took in summer and got 67.5% overall. I made a UCAS application and applied to 5 universities and received two offers, one from Cardiff (requiring 55%) and one from Sussex (requiring 60%). I went to Sussex's campus and really liked it, can see myself studying there and have around 10 friends who live in Brighton. Obviously I have accepted Sussex's offer, which made sense on paper too with double as many people getting first class degrees than Cardiff who I originally thought I wanted to go to. Although I didn't get a chance to look around Cardiff I couldn't have gone there knowing that the chances of me getting a 2:1 or above are so much lower.

Some housing problems at the moment, having signed for a house in Swansea for a year but hopefully that will work out and I'll find a fresher to take my spot (the landlord is yet to confirm this is ok..).

But ultimately I'm happy- I guess. It seems that doing poorly in my A levels is finally going to stop hanging over me and I'll be at the 9th best physics university in the country. If you happen to believe The Guardian.

Thanks to anyone who helped, I considered everything that was written in this thread and it did help me sort myself out.