Almost two months ago, there was the nail-biting stress of waiting for Year 12 marks to come out. A month later, there was a long night of restless sleep before offers for University. You made it! And now it’s nearly time to get started.

You might be scared, or excited, or kind of blasé about the whole thing. Or all of the above. Starting Uni tends to be seen as a bit of a big deal by friends and family…and if you’re the first of your family to make that step, it can be all that much more difficult.

The first bit of advice we can offer is, don’t sweat it. Whatever is stressing you out, we can promise you that a number of your new-found friends will be worrying too. Whether it’s making friends, paying the bills, keeping up with homework or managing your work–study-social-sleep life, there will be thousands of others across the country in the same proverbial boat. You will make friends – everybody’s looking for them in those first few weeks. You’ll manage to scrape together enough money to pay the bills but if you get worried, don’t be afraid to reach out to the University support or kindly family members. You’ll have to choose if you want to get adequate sleep or be the life of the party – there are few who can juggle both.

Smile lots. People are attracted (not that way!) to others who seem happy. Even if you’re feeling a little scared or lost, try to smile. You’ll find you feel a bit better on the inside when you do. Talk to new people. Sit in lectures or tutorials with people you haven’t met yet. If you’re really keen, organise some study groups. That way, you’ll make friends who respect you for being so organised. Relax. You’ve made it this far – you’ll ace this part of the journey.

Be stingy. That doesn’t mean you give up social occasions for the sake of your wallet but it might mean you get water instead of soft drink with your meal. It might mean you and your new friends do the rounds of meal-deal lunches around campus, or you very quickly learn that packing your own lunch will save you a fortune. You’ll discover that caffeine habits can require bank loans to fund and may soon discover chewing on roasted coffee beans or buying caffeinated lollies to be just as effective at keeping you awake. And you’ll avoid the 8:55am queues at the coffee shops. Share or swap clothes with friends when you get bored, or learn to love op-shops. And when you do buy new stuff from the shops, make sure you’ll wear it lots.

Don’t work too much. It’s pretty easy to get caught up in the boss’s wishes for you to be working full-time and you’ll probably love the boost to your bank account. Remember that your focus is study first and then everything else. If you’re working heaps and trying to study as well, you’ll probably end up spending more on eating out because you can’t be bothered cooking. Try to find a happy medium where you have time for your highest priorities as well as enough money for a few little luxuries.

Study smart rather than study hard. There’s a lot to learn in Uni but don’t let this stop you from exploring all the intellectual avenues you enjoy. Know what you have to know and learn it. Find out what interests you about each subject so that you can construct a more exciting way to study. You’ll slowly learn how you study best. Keep up with the work – it’s generally pretty manageable but if you leave it all until the week before exams, you’ll be hard-pressed to learn it.

Sometimes it’ll be tough. We’re not going to kid you on this one. Sometimes you’ll miss the safety and comfort of high school, even if you hated it while you were there. If you’ve moved out of home, you’ll sometimes miss someone else doing the laundry and having meals occasionally cooked for you. When you’re fighting with your housemates about who’s turn it is to do the dishes, you’ll find yourself remembering the blissful days when someone else did them for you. Money gets tight, emotions run high and this is all new. Old as the cliche may be, you’ll need to learn to roll with the punches. Take a deep breath. It’ll all be okay.

Make time for happiness. It can be really easy to get caught up in the world of ticking the boxes – going to the events, going to work, getting your assignments done, paying the bills… But the things you’ve always loved will continue to be important. Go to the gym or for a run, keep playing the guitar or singing karaoke-style with your closest mates. Make time for your friends. You’ll thank yourself for it.

Good luck. It’s a super exciting time of life. This is a year for making memories. Remember, everything in moderation. Let us know how it goes!

Here are some resources to help you out along the way:

Starting University from ReachOut.com
Practical Tips from Career FAQs
A beginner’s guide from UNSW