what are some things you wish you knew before starting 2nd year at uni?

I mean I was warned about the explosion in workload but I don't think anything could have prepared me for having classes from 9 am to 5 pm without a single break in between on Mondays in second year. It was absolutely savage and made Sunday evenings horrible.

that sounds rough haha, im assuming that isnt the case now? also did u have a part time job whilst studying?

Well I'm no longer at uni so thankfully it isn't the case now haha! Nope, I did an intense STEM course which was 5 days a week, every week. Even reading weeks were non-existent for us, we usually had to go in at least 3-4 days a week on those. There would have been no time to have a part time job and I didn't need one either as I've always been quite well off financially.

My mate did a chem eng course like that. 4 years of Mon-Fri 9-5. Brutal.

especially a stem subject?

All 4 years like that?? Unbelievable he survived.

Hey
Great question!
I just finished my second year studying computer science and the one thing I wish I knew before is that it would be nothing like the first year. The first year was like a light breeze with 1-2 courseworks per module per term and then final exams. Second year came like a thunder storm with double the number of modules and each having a coursework submission every 2-3 weeks. You have to mentally be prepared to take this challenge and keep up with your personal, social, financial and academic life and balance them all together.
Another thing you have to be prepared about is that this is most likely to affect your social life slightly as in your first year you get used to hanging out with your friends more because the academic pressure is less. In second year to have to devote almost double the amount of time to studies which in turn leaves you with less social time. Specially if you are in a friend group with different majors. Your business-studying friends will have more time and will be hanging out more frequently while you might be stuck doing some coursework.
So scheduling your time is very important starting second year!!

Also I please try to attend your lectures or at least be up to date with them and DO NOT leave it all for last minute. I did and it left me under a lot of work pressure and things to catch up on with very little time before my final exams.

Hope this helps all the students starting out their new chapter!!
Vyomika(Lancaster University Student Ambassador)