As uni starts back again nation wide, there is a new cohort of first years joining the mixture of self proclaimed day drinkers. Now as this is my third year attending university, I thought it might be a good chance to give some first year students, mainly you lot fresh out of high school, some tips and tricks to start off the year on the right foot.  

Prepare yourself to be alone at some point or another. You are not going to instantly make friends, and even if you do know other people in your degree or classes, you are still going to be sitting alone at some point. Whilst you may be thinking, "Oh God I'm going to look like such a loser sitting by myself," this is not the case. In fact there are going to be a lot of people that are going to be sitting alone around campus. Trust me, sometimes you just need to sit and study in peace, or maybe you may want to read, and this is the norm at uni. Us day drinkers are not going to look at you like a loser, no one cares if you are alone. 

Check online for cheaper textbooks and free PDFs before purchasing new ones. This tip is a life saver. Sometimes your university may have swap groups on Facebook, or you maybe able to find cheaper prices on new textbooks, or sometimes even downloadable PDFs. I have found multiple PDFs for Forensics Textbooks and Biostatistics, so even unusual weird textbooks can be found. Book Depository has hundreds, if not thousands of textbooks available for cheaper prices than that of your campus store.

If you can get a free percentage of your grade for just showing up, SHOW UP! This free percentage can be anywhere from 0.5% - 5% and it can mean the difference between getting a credit and a distinction. I know lectures get annoying and boring especially when the professor is reading directly from the lecture slides and you may just want to stay in bed and sleep and watch it later online, but if you are going to get a free percentage towards you grade for just attending, then make an effort to be in that lecture theatre on time to get that free grade, it's 100% worth it. 

Day drinking is 100% acceptable. This is not so much a tip, but a FYI. I do not recommend drinking throughout the day especially if your degree is either field of science or engineering when you have to be in a lab with dangerous chemicals and machinery, you will actually be removed from the lab if you have been drinking, but university students are highly proficient in the art of day drinking and still being able to function, well technically function better throughout the day because of their drinking. 

Try hard in all classes. This may sound like the dumbest advice you have ever been given, but it is the fatal flaw programmed into university students; they do not try as hard as they did in high school. I, myself am guilty of this, but you have to make mistakes to learn right? By saying try I hard I mean, make an effort to study for exams and tests, make an effort to be in classes, and do not give up when it gets to hard, you will only be letting yourself and your ever growing HECS down, and it is 1000 times better to only do a topic once than have to repeat or take a second exam to pass. 

Get involved. You will only gain what you put in, so get involved in social activities. If you struggle with meeting new people, join a club that peeks your interest. That club will be specifically tailored to your own personal interests, therefore the members already have something in common with you. Pubcrawls are a great way to meet people in a very relaxed environment and everyone knows it is easier to talk after a few drinks. 

Have fun! University will be some of the best years of your life if you enjoy it, so do not always be so serious with it. Take time to meet people, be apart of organised social clubs, attend events and jump of the free stuff handed out by the student union. Make the most of the small amount of time you have left before you graduate. Trust me, it will be worth it.