Yay! You slayed your matric year and your results are so juicy that your university of your choice couldn’t help but grant you final acceptance. CONGRATULATIONS!
Now while you’re busy packing and getting ready to leave for varsity in a few days or weeks, I want to share some advice with you.
As you may or may not know, I just completed my first degree in BCom Law and I’m getting ready to study towards my LLB for the next two years. I was just thinking to myself hey, lemme share some advice I wish I received before I started with my first year as a BCom Law student.
Initially this post was going to be for law students only but I later found that it applies to all first year students irrespective of what they’re studying.
For some people first year can be a breeze and just really amazing and for others it could be completely overwhelming. I was part of the former. First year for me was the best out of the three years of my degree. Not only in terms of academics but socially as well. I met great people who later became friends and family. But like I mentioned before, that’s not everybody’s testimony.
Let me be real, varsity and high school are two completely different ideas on opposite sides of the spectrum. In high school you have policemen which we call teachers and perfects, they’re constantly watching your every move and making sure you’re staying on the straight and narrow from your homework all the way to your uniform. In varsity there is no such. Honestly, no has time for you. Sounds harsh but that’s the reality. No lecturer is going to care whether or not you come to class or attend your tutorials or even read your cases (that’s if you’re law student but I had one incident in my first year where a lecturer walked out on us because we didn’t read the case in prep for the lecture. Funniest thing ever. It happened like early in the week and we didn’t see him for the rest of the week because he was mad we didn’t read the case. He was on some, “Who read the case? You guys didn’t read the case? Okay see you next week.” LOL that time we saw him about four times a week so he basically cancelled the other three lectures because of this one incident. Til this day we still believe he cancelled because he had other stuff to do and was just using our not reading the case as an excuse. Sips tea. But anyway I digress.)
I cannot stress the importance of knowing who you are. It may sound cliché but if you don’t know who you are, university will quickly take it upon itself to define you. Remember: you are not your marks (whether good or bad) on a test paper. Marks are a result of what you do and not who you are; you are human BEING not a human DOING. In addition to that, know what you came to varsity for. You may be thinking ‘well that’s kinda obvious. I came to study.” Here’s the thing, when it comes to knowing what you came to varsity for, you need to stand by that conviction and purpose because if you don’t, the various temptations that come with campus life will soon trip you over. Don’t underestimate the power of getting distracted because there is no one looking over your shoulder to make sure that you’re doing what you’re supposed to be doing therefore it can be very easy to get off track. I have seen a lot of people completely lose the plot. One thing that helps one stay on track is the people they choose to surround themselves with. I was fortunate enough to meet some amazing and purpose driven people in my first year. That motivated me to stay focused on the books and be disciplined in my academics. You might want to seriously take your time in choosing your squad in university. Take a good couple of weeks if not months just to make sure they are quality friends who won’t distract you from what you came to do. I have witnessed people mix with the wrong crowd in university and it would cost them a whole lot. Not just financially but academically and relationships with loved ones and trust me it is not worth it.
Now for some advice to thrive academically. If you do not understand the work of a specific module, I would highly recommend that you consult with your lecturer or tutor. That’s what their consultation times are there for – to help you with anything you may not understand. I personally enjoy consulting my lecturers and tutors (but more especially my lecturers) because they not only explain in such way that you understand but they also go the extra mile of giving you insight on how a question would be asked in an exam and how you should go about answering it. I highly recommend consultation with lecturers and tutors especially when it is exam time. If you are one of the shy ones and you think you won’t able to conjure up the courage to consult with your lecturer, then the alternative would be to ask your peers who seem to grasp the content of the work. Better yet, form or join a study group so that you can all help each other (PS: two heads are always better than one). I personally did not last long in a study group because it just was not for me. The people were nice people on a personal level but for some reason when we all came together to do some work, others wouldn’t show up on time or wouldn’t show up at all. When we were all there together it would be a thing of personalities clashing for no apparent reason, so I decided to leave. So on that note, make sure you, again, have quality people in your study group. You want the energy in your study group to be a peaceful one where everyone feels welcome and not made to feel small because they don’t understand something you find to be ‘so basic.’
Let’s talk about finances. Whew. I need to take a breather for this one because wow. If you come from a super rich family then you obviously don’t have anything to worry about. I’m assuming you’ll have a good chunk of money, probably even more than the average person but even then spend it wisely. For the rest, it’s a whole different ball game. Can we all just huddle together and talk about how real inflation is? Listen, nothing will make you feel like an adult like buying your own groceries (unless you are in a res that has catering, you have nothing to worry about. Well kinda). You quickly realize how important money is when you pick up that tray of meat that costs more than R100 and already you sweating because you still need to get toiletries and cosmetics and you can already foresee yourself leaving some things behind. Sigh. The point I am trying to drive home is, a lot of students don’t get a lot of money from home and it becomes a huge problem because you find that the person can’t concentrate because they don’t have food and so on and so forth. The best advice I can give at this point is this: when you get your money from home or your bursary, make sure you FIRST buy all your necessities (e.g groceries, toiletries and cosmetics) and only after you’ve bought those necessities can you even think about going out with your friends. I have heard people spending 80% of their allowance on groove and end up not having enough for food and other things. Don’t make that mistake. Live within your means and don’t compare or feel pressured to flash cash. Remember, not everyone has the same background and that’s okay. The problem comes when you want to flash cash just because you saw lil Johnny flashing cash forgetting that lil Johnny comes from a really wealthy family. Peer pressure when it comes to money in varsity is so REAL. People want to stunt and show off their swag and whatever else and they buy these things with money they don’t have to impress people they don’t like and people who don’t even care about them. Avoid this trap. Don’t be going to sportscene to lay-bye shoes you don’t need just because you saw so and so doing wearing those shoes in your Economics tutorial. Again, this goes back to knowing who you are. Your status does not determine who you are. Status only speaks to what you have not who you are. You are a human BEING not a human having.
Lastly, if for whatever reason you feel like you cannot cope with the workload or any other area of your life, please make use of the psychologists on your campus. They are there to help you. Don’t be ashamed to approach them and seek help. They understand that hey this is a huge transition for you and taking it all in can be overwhelming so they’ll do the best they can to assist you.
One more thing, if you are a law student still looking for funding, check out the webber wentzel scholarship (only thing is you have to be doing the last two years of your LLB.). It closes the end of January 2019. Here's the link that lays down all the requirements: http://www.webberwentzel.com/wwb/content/en/ww/ww-scholarships
For the Webber Wentzel Scholarship form: http://www.webberwentzel.com/wwb/action/media/downloadFile?media_fileid=10260
All hope is not lost because there is another bursary that can sort you out if you are still in need of funding. I'll attach the advertisement down below.
That’s all from me, all the best with your first year and I hope that you will do really well and make some solid good friendships that you will keep for a lifetime.
Much love,
The Aspiring Advocate.
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