1st year of uni- important?

Hi all,
I am currently studying for my IB diploma and hopefully after will get to go to university! I've been looking at the course I like and if I manage to get a 36 in my diploma (which looks achievable right now) I can apply for advanced entry to year two/four
My mother however is convinced that's maybe not a great idea as I'll miss out on making friends and such during my first year. What do you guys think? Is first year THAT important for making friends or could I manage jumping in at year two?

Reply 1

shawn_o1

Nope, makes no difference. tbf you shouldn't be distracted by a social life while at uni, because at uni you're studying for a degree. So you only need to know how to speak up if you're stuck.

Reply 2

+ polarity -

Start how you mean to go on :smile:

Reply 3

poiuytrewq54321

In terms of making friends, yes it will affect you since most of the people on the course will have already developed their friendship groups. Plus you'll miss a big part of uni life such as freshers fair, going out, meeting new people etc etc. Although saying that, you could join societies which will give you a good opportunity to meet new people.

On the studying side of things, first year doesn't count but whatever you learn in the year will be assumed knowledge for your second and third years so it's good to understand what you are being taught.

Reply 4

somemightsay888

The first year is very important, can't sugar coat it. It'll be hard to make friends because people will have groups and it'll be hard to break into a group. But it isn't impossible

Reply 5

mirrk97

Okay Thank you everyone :smile:

I have a while still to consider what I'll do but thank you for all the ideas about societies etc! Also a very good point about assumed knowledge I didn't even consider that!

Reply 6

Roving Fish

Original post by + polarity -

Start how you mean to go on :smile:

But also get most of the going out bull**** out of your system before the second year when grades count.

My advice for the first year is to find out how to get high grades on your course. Learn to reference and get into a habit of planning as you go. :smile:

Reply 7

DeceitfulDove

First year is important. First year was the opportunity for me to trial and error how I do assignments best. The social side of things isn't important to me but for the majority that would be a high concern, I think many would be tentative about jumping into second year.

Also, yes, first year modules are like the foundation for second and third. Two of my current modules would be more difficult had I not studied first year modules.

Good luck :h:

Reply 8

tillytots

Don't miss out on your first year. It gives you a good base for everything in terms of what they expect essay wise, how to reference, how your university works. It doesn't count for a reason because it gives you a solid foundation so you can handle the jump.

I know the majority of people say you are at university to study blah blah which is obviously true but at the same time I don't see why you'd want to miss out on having fun either? First year is a blast, it's where you get to meet a lot of people and it's a great way of adjusting to not living at home. If you go straight into second year you'll either have to go into halls with rowdy first years at a time where you need knuckle down, or move into a house share with a solid group and be the outsider. Social life is important, all work no play is very dull.

Reply 9

Bill_Gates

First year is really good practice for university environment, assessments, research etc.

I would not risk it. Do first year!

Reply 10

JC.

Original post by Bill_Gates

First year is really good practice for university environment, assessments, research etc.

I would not risk it. Do first year!

Agreed.
It may not count towards anything, but if you're a percentage point off the next degree classification and you are called to a meeting you may be able to use good first year results to have the results rounded up - could be the difference between a 2;1 or a 1st? :wink:

Reply 11

RobertsClan

I'm in a slightly different situation as I'm a mature student but on our access course we were taught a lot about referencing, plagiarism etc. We were penalised on every assignment if we hadn't used enough references and cited correctly. Although sometimes going over things I already know with students coming with more traditional qualifications who have done very little of that kind of work it's useful to learn how different lectures want things. Dorm have different styles to each other and it's helpful to find all that out without being under the pressure of knowing that the marks you get make up your final degree.

In my mind this year is about practising to make sure in the next two years I've done everything I can to get the best possible grades at the end of it all.

Good luck whatever you decide to do

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 12

SlowlorisIncognito

Original post by mirrk97

I agree with most of the other posters that social issues won't be the main problem, although I do think they could become a problem for some people- particularly if you're not the sort of person willing to put yourself out there and make most of the effort to start with. You will make friends, but you may end up in a situation of not really having any close friends on your course.

On my course, there were a few people who came to the uni in second year through a few different routes. Because they'd missed first year, they really had to hit the ground running in terms of assignments and just knowing how the university works. A lot of people have 1 or 2 (or more) bad assignments in first year because they haven't quite figured out how to tackle the assignments. It would be much worse to have this learning curve in second year, when the results will count towards your final degree classification.