What was the biggest shock to you when you got to uni?

You go to uni and you find out how thick you are actually are

I dislike hedonism. However, I enjoy the fact that the Fresher girls particularly if they are far away from home are nice and vulnerable.

The biggest was how little I actually had lessons for, you look at your timetable and it says you'rein 8 hours a week or what-have-you, and you think "whoa wtf is this true?"

Not often someone outs themselves as a rapist so publicly!

In terms of a social life, I was shocked how you can get so close to people in a matter of weeks and how they can become such a big part of your life, how it's possible to go out on a Wednesday night and turn up to a Thursday 9am (most people are still drunk), and how you can meet someone totally randomly and make great friends with them.

I found that too, and how intense your friendships can be. In many cases you're going to class with people you live with, eating with them, socialising with them, all your conversations are with them, (you may well be sleeping with them!), and doing that everyday. It can make friendships very intense and very emotional, and romantic relationships and fallings out much more dramatic. Added to that that you're all ever so young!

Another thing I remembered is how I went home on Reading Week in the first term and it was *horrible* because I was used to being newly-independent and was suddenly being treated, as I saw it, like a child again with my parents. Not that I'm saying don't visit your parents! Buy bear in mind that you'll be changing in ways they won't see, and it will take them a while to adjust, just as it will have done when you first started becoming ore independent as a teenager.

Really? My timetable was over 20 hours every year. One day alone I had 6 hours worth of lectures which is 75% of your timetable.

In terms of work, the biggest shock for me was that lectures go really fast and the content is actually quite confusing and theoretical. That and how many hours reading is needed to go into essays that don't even count towards anything! I was also shocked that 60% is considered really good for a first year essay, where I'd have considered that a failure at A-Level.

In terms of a social life, I was shocked how you can get so close to people in a matter of weeks and how they can become such a big part of your life, how it's possible to go out on a Wednesday night and turn up to a Thursday 9am (most people are still drunk), and how you can meet someone totally randomly and make great friends with them.

Biggest shock; complete lack of quantitative feedback on essays: I have collections in 3 weeks and I have no idea how I've been performing even though I have weekly tutorials. It's almost as if tutors at Oxford expect you to read their fricking minds. Also, the sheer amount of work; I wrote 12 essays in 8 weeks, totalling more than 30,000 words, ugh! I was basically attacked for having a social life outside of non stop work. Tutors at Oxbridge are more often than not Oxbridge educated and they've been sucked into a bubble and never leave... They can't understand why you'd want to do anything other than work.

Hey! You're studying history, right? Messaged you during the application process. How're you finding it?

Good for you, you are so superior

Work work work I've just finished taking notes for an article at half past midnight and I have more to do tomorrow, plus reading for next term and revision for collections in two weeks. We definitely work harder than other unis and the effects are noticeable.

I'm doing my AS' at the moment but I am keen to find out more about uni life. What was the biggest shock to you once you got there? Was there anything that you didn't expect? Did you get stuck using anything(e.g the shower). Also is Uni as exciting as we make it seem?

Thanks