Prepping for second year

The second year in many ways can be the best year of Uni, you know how to look after yourself a bit better after the first year, and you aren’t stressed about deadlines like in the third year. There are, however, some things you can prep for that will make the second year even better!

Learn to manage deadlines

First year is your settling-in year so now that you’ve gotten used to living away from your parents, it may be helpful to start figuring out your work-life balance. Your grades in the second year may affect your final overall grade! Now, this may sound scary, but this is a really good opportunity to learn how to manage deadlines. One way you can do this is by knowing how to like to work. Are you a night owl or a morning person? I found it useful to write out lists of what I needed to do and work through this during the daytime so I could have evenings for socialising with friends or relaxing.

Prep for your dissertation

Not all, but a lot of students have to write their literature review for their dissertation in the second year. If you aren’t aware, a literature review is an evaluation of the literature you have chosen to include in your dissertation. So, thinking about your general dissertation topic earlier in the year is really good prep. It doesn’t have to be set in stone but gathering sources that you think might be interesting to write about will save some time and stress later on. 

Make your home cosy

Most people move into a house in the second year as posed to halls, you may, like me, decide on the same house for the third year. As this can be a less chaotic environment it can be nice to get settled and decorate accordingly. With deadlines becoming tighter, creating a safe space for yourself may help you to relax and unwind. I did this by putting up some posters/art that I had collected and reusing the fairy lights I had when I was in my first year. Using things that I already had, made the room more familiar to me and therefore more calming. 

Look for internships and work experience

A lot of people use the summer between the second and third year as a chance to gain some work experience. If you can get this, it will help you out when you finish uni so by keeping an eye out during the second year you up your chances. 

While second-year ramps up the pressure and it can be quite intimidating to get started we hope with this little list, you can get some preparation done and feel more at ease about starting the next chapter of your Uni journey this September.