Is your first year a time for frivolity or focus?

Frivolity

Some people will argue that the most important facet of your CV will be your degree. They will say you have to knuckle down in first year to lay the foundations of your 2:1, so that you can graduate into the career you want, with the grades that employers require. Some people will argue that. I am not one of them.

I’d argue, rather, that the most important part of your CV post-graduation will be your life experience and the things you have other than your degree to set you apart. These days, everyone who’ll be competing with you for jobs, graduated with a 2:1.

Your first year of university is the perfect time to get the life experience that’ll set you ahead: whether that’s joining every society under the sun, getting fit for the first time in your life or “learning people skills” on various drunken benders, your first year of university offers you a unique opportunity: to be around people your own age, with the most resources you’ve ever encountered, without having responsibilities to tie you down.

the most important part of your CV post-graduation will be your life experience and the things you have other than your degree to set you apart.

Trek to Everest base camp first and focus on academia later?

For humanities students in particular, this is, at best, a foundational year. It makes more sense to get the examples to give in interviews than to slave for hours in the libraries. You can collect these examples almost anywhere on campus. Demonstrate patience by remaining level-headed in the face of a fight breaking out in an SU queue. Demonstrate your communication skills by writing weekly articles for the student paper. Demonstrate commitment by taking part in a charity expedition to Everest Base Camp. During your first year, campus and the surrounding area is a goldmine for these stories: you have the time, and lack of responsibilities, to reach out and take them.

I should state that I’m not advising you skip all your lectures – you do still have to pass after all, I’m merely stating: these foundations will be much harder to lay when your degree starts counting – if you don’t at least try in first year, you may settle too quickly into the quiet academic life, which results into coming out of university with only a piece of paper. A piece of paper, and only a piece of paper, seems a great waste of three years.

Focus

It is possible to do virtually no work in first year. Don’t. The first assignments you are set may seem pretty straightforward, but that’s the point. Unlike in sixth form, you will not be told everything you need to know, the emphasis is on you. So whilst the work won’t be too difficult, learning your way around the university and its resources will only help you when second year rolls around. Get to know the geography of the place, especially your own department.

Get to know the library. It is your friend. Get to know where you’re most comfortable working, where you can officially and unofficially get away with eating out of Tupperware, where you can watch iPlayer/the football without distracting anyone else, where the best plug points are to work (and to be seen with your swanky new Mac, if that’s your sort of thing), and if you have any time left after that, where to actually find the books from your course.

Sure, for most courses, first year doesn’t count towards your final score. But the skills you learn will stand you in good stead.

“The library is your friend”

By this point you’re probably thinking, ‘God, he sounds boring.’ I’m not. Well, maybe a little bit. What I’m not saying, though, is to work every hour God sends and never talk to anyone. When I say first year is for learning the student life, that also means getting very, very drunk, making a scene at Pop! Kelseys (do try Eliminator, it’s quite something), joining societies that interest you, making really good friends, and getting a bit freaky-naughty. But you might as well do a bit of learning while you’re here.

Warwick is one of the (roughly) five best universities in the country. But university is for building on that potential so you can go out and make a difference in the world, and have a fulfilling life (or trouser loads of money in the City). And to do that you need to get a good degree. Sure, for most courses, first year doesn’t count towards your final score. But the skills you learn will stand you in good stead. So by all means, have a great time in first year – you won’t realise quite how great it was until you go home, and it certainly goes very quickly. But do try and do a bit of work. In the words of the prophet Ice Cube, check yourself before you wreck yourself.

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What’s your position on the first year debate? Tweet us @boarcomment with your thoughts!

Header image courtesy of flickr.com/English106
Body images courtesy of Flickr.com/ Mandala Travel & Warwick Media Library