Starting Uni Next Week? Your Last-Minute Tips

A week out, the list in your head is probably longer than the list on paper. Most of it does not matter. A small amount of it does, and it is easier to do now than in the middle of freshers’ week with a new phone number and no idea where the shop is.

This is the short version.

Sort the admin that will cost you later

None of this is exciting. All of it is easier before you leave.

• Check your enrolment and student finance. Make sure your enrolment is complete and your finance is approved, and know when your first payment is due. If anything is stuck, chase it this week while someone is answering emails.
• Know your accommodation details. Address, arrival window, how you collect keys, and what you need to bring to prove who you are.
• Sort your bank and your phone. Make sure you can access your money away from home and that you have a charger you will not lose.
• Register with a GP near where you will live. It takes ten minutes and saves a bad afternoon in week three.
• Take copies of the documents that matter. Photograph your passport or ID, your offer letter and anything with a reference number on it.

Read what your course sent you

Your department has probably emailed a welcome pack, a reading list or a kit list. Open it now.

Look for three things: the date and time of your first session, any equipment listed as essential, and any pre-course task. If there is a task, do the smallest honest version of it. Nobody expects a masterpiece before term starts, but arriving having done the thing you were asked to do sets a quiet tone.

If there is a kit list, buy only what is marked essential. Wait on the rest until you have met your tutors and seen what the studios, labs or rehearsal rooms provide. Our packing list for creative degrees covers what is actually worth carrying and the five things everyone forgets.

Pack less than you think

Rooms are small. You will buy things when you arrive and wonder where to put them.

• Pack for a week, plus one outfit you feel good in. You can wash things.
• Bring one thing that makes the room feel like yours: a throw, a framed photo, a lamp.
• Bring the basics for a shared kitchen, and nothing more. The rules of that room are worth knowing in advance, and this guide covers them.
• Leave behind anything you would be upset to lose.

Do one useful thing for your work

If you make things, keep the habit alive this week without making it a task. Carry a sketchbook, a notes app or a recorder. Collect a few things that interest you: images, sounds, a sentence overheard on a train. You do not need a plan. You need to arrive with your attention switched on.

The summer before art school guide goes further on this, if you want more than a week’s worth.

Say your goodbyes properly

This is the part people skip, and then wish they had not. Spend an evening with the people you will miss. Tell your family something specific you are grateful for. Agree roughly how often you will talk, and be relaxed about it. A rule like “every Sunday” often turns into guilt by week four. “Whenever one of us has news” tends to last.

What to stop worrying about

• Making friends instantly. Nobody has. Most friendships start in the second and third week, not the first night.
• Having the right clothes. Nobody is looking at yours as closely as you think.
• Knowing your career plan. You are about to find out what the course is. That comes first.
• Being behind. Everyone feels like the one who has not read, practised or prepared enough.

The night before

Charge your phone. Put your keys, documents and a bottle of water where you will see them. Eat something proper, and go to bed at a normal time. You will be tired on day one regardless, and a good night’s sleep helps more than another round of checking.

When you are a few weeks in, So, you’ve started uni, what now? picks up from here.