What I wish I knew before coming to the University of Northampton.

Lessons at University

Now that I’ve settled into university life, I’ve had the chance to reflect on some of the key lessons I’ve picked up along the way. From academic challenges to personal growth, each experience has taught me something valuable about navigating a new chapter.

Time management

Time management is vital when it comes to studying. At the University of Northampton, you get approximately, 12 contact hours (this is subject to change with each course) per week, so learning how to structure your time early saves a lot of stress.

Creating a daily or weekly checklist of what I wanted to get done each day was a massive help. I didn’t start doing this until halfway through the academic year, however, since I started, I have never felt so productive.

Personal Academic Tutors

When beginning my academic studies, it was imperative for me to understand the phrase “failure is a part of growth”. This phrase helped allow myself the leniency with my grades and feedback. As part of your studies, you are assigned a Personal Academic Tutor, who are available to support you with both academic and personal issues. Utilising tutorial time with my PAT, has allowed me to go over each piece of feedback to understand what my current strengths are and what I needed to do to improve my grades. Since doing this, I have maintained high grades and built strong rapport with my PAT.

Support

Whilst attending an Open Day, ask about the support on offer as there are so many services to help you during your studies, so don’t be afraid to use them as they’re here to make your time at University easier.

Our support teams include Residential Life Team, Accommodation, Finance alongside wellbeing options. All support is tailored to individual circumstances.

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Faith Cowley

Faith is a first-year Working with Children, Young People and Families student. She loves reading and writing, and writes her own books alongside her studies.