5 ways to survive university (mentally)

This post was written by Juha, a Project Access mentor and a third-year student at Cambridge.

When I was applying to university, I was oftentimes anxious to find out how it will actually be like compared to high school.

So how is it? Drastically different or more or less the same?

After having done two years of university studies I can say that it’s a bit of both. For me, my college years have been noticeably more challenging intellectually compared to my time in high school and have required a higher degree of discipline and commitment.

However, the basics of surviving and thriving in such an environment are more or less the same as in high school; remember to eat healthily and sleep enough.

You probably think that I sound just like your mother.

Nevertheless, it is important to go through these things as quite often new uni students might transport certain (and definitely unhelpful) mindsets and coping techniques to their uni life.     

Here are my top 5 tips for making the most of your time at uni and guaranteeing your wellbeing over the long term during your studies.

1. Time management

At university, time management becomes paramount for success and stress minimisation. I somehow managed to survive high school without a calendar (probs because I didn’t do IB lol) but at uni, that was not an option anymore.

The key difference between high school and uni is that at high school one more or less has a finite amount of work. (Speaking from my own experience).

You could take a seat at home, do your work, and be done.

At uni, the workload is practically infinite in a sense that one can always read more or do another problem sheet, with this cycle of work continuing forever.

To be able to make a fair judgement about when to stop and what content to prioritize, one needs to compartmentalize the studied material- and yes, pencil one’s study goals into a calendar.

This will prevent you from becoming overwhelmed when facing a mountain of material which would require many lifetimes to go over.

In this way, being organised with your time will save you a ton of stress and make your studying more effective.

It will also allow you to have that one thing that I’ve heard is quite nice and stuff…

A life.

And speaking of having a life… 

2. Get an extracurricular or two

Coming out of high school, I was Pikachu-level shocked when I realised that there are things in life which are more important than studying.

Getting a job is one of those things.

Just kidding!

You will have an entire lifetime full of opportunities to work hard and find heavy toil, be it in an academic or a professional context.

What I am talking about now is life outside of work/academia. According to rumours it apparently exists.

I am not an expert on the matter, but I can say with confidence that getting one is made much easier by the existence of a ton of societies and clubs at British and American universities.

There’s a society for everything, from investment banking to quidditch and tiddlywinks (whatever that is). A ton of sports clubs can be found on uni campuses as well.

The best thing about these societies is that they are a great way to meet new and cool people and balance your university workload with nice and refreshing activities.

Pro tip for picking up extracurriculars: Research the list of university societies and choose one or two which you want to join at the beginning of the year and build your academic schedule around those activities.

Otherwise, it’s easy to build an excessively study-centric schedule and end up feeling that there’s just no time for anything else.  

3. Take time off

At a time when work is a substitute for religion for many people, it is easy to end up seeing rest from a purely instrumental point of view.

The rationale usually goes someway like this: one has to rest because otherwise the central mission of life, i.e. work, will become simply unbearable.

Admittedly that is also the point I am making here. Without proper rest studying definitely WILL become unbearable.  

However, in order to enjoy your time at uni to the fullest, it is good to remember that rest is nice, pleasurable and valuable in and of itself.

Thus, remember to give yourself some of that slack and watch Netflix wearing PJ’s.

4. Don’t compare yourself to others

Many of you will probably arrive at university after graduating at or near the top of your high school class.

Unfortunately, at uni one is bound to be just a small fish in a large sea.

It is easy to get overwhelmed by the presence of brilliant individuals who have founded NGOs or participated in Math Olympiads. You will most likely not be the smartest person in the room.

In this situation, one might easily start comparing oneself to others in unhealthy ways. One may ask oneself: ‘Why didn’t I found a company when I was sixteen?’ or ‘Why didn’t I get that banking internship?’

In these situations, previously healthy standards of achievement might become warped and counterproductive.

To avoid this outcome, remember this: it is much healthier to compare yourself to your previous self instead of to others. This will make it easier for you to see how much you’ve learned and developed during your time at uni- a thing to be genuinely happy about.

Uni is a unique opportunity to learn from cool people. It is a great privilege to simultaneously associate with so many enthusiastic and smart individuals- something that one might not encounter in the future.

5. Keep your goals sane

A high-achieving student might come to university with big goals. These goals might include graduating with a first/4.0 or getting a cool job.

Having these big long-term goals is fine and admirable.

However, do not make these goals a priority in your everyday life. Having a giant goal weighing on you throughout your uni career will just make you more stressed.

It is much easier and more manageable to focus on small stuff such as just getting through the week, meeting a deadline or sending an internship application.

Over the long term, meeting these small short-term goals will slowly contribute towards you reaching those big and overarching end results that you were aiming for in the first place. 

Juha, like all our mentors, is dedicated to helping you get to your dream university. Because he has been through the process himself, he can give you personal insights that will help you get through the application process.

It’s free.