Your First Year of Varsity: A Survival Guide for College and University

By Shelagh Foster and Lehlohonolo Mofokeng

About to start varsity? Just started college? Then this book is for you!

Beginning academic life after high school is exciting – a fresh start that will set foundations for the rest of your life. You’ll discover new ideas, meet new people and try new things. You’ll also have to become an independent adult, and that can be scary. Shelagh Foster and Lehlohonolo Mofokeng will lead you through all the rules, demands, behaviours, skills and culture shifts that will turn you from a schoolkid into a viable player in higher education.

Learn how to:

·         Write clearly and study smartly

·         Have safe relationships

·         Balance your responsibilities, your health and your social life

·         Manage your time, your money and all those academic demands

·         Not get kicked out!

Let Shelagh and Lehlohonolo help you understand this new world, and how to adapt, grow – and graduate. Ignorance is not bliss. Being prepared is.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bookstorm
• Release date: May 16, 2016
• ISBN: 9781928257226

Shelagh Foster

Shelagh Foster has more than 25 years’ experience in the communications industry as editor, writer and writing training strategist. She holds an Associateship in Speech and Drama (Teachers) with Trinity College London. She spends much of her time offering workplace preparedness skills to jobseekers and new employees, and is the author of Your First Year of Work.

Book preview

study.

You are now on your own and every decision that you make in this period will have a mark on your life.

You have probably heard many stories about higher education – some good and some not so good. Being a student comes with huge responsibilities – much more than when you were a learner. What’s important, however, is to keep your expectations realistic and your mind open.

Do any of these common expectations match your own?

• It’s going to be much harder than school.

• It will be a hostile environment.

• I won’t cope with the work.

• It’s going to be one big party.

• I’ll be lonely, and miss my family and friends.

• I’ll be my own boss.

• I’ll be able to drink without getting into trouble.

• I’ll be able to have sex without getting into trouble.

• I won’t have to attend lectures if I don’t want to.

• If I fail a test or miss an assignment, they’ll throw me out.

• I’ll find it difficult to fit in because of my otherwise different personality or social background.

All of these common expectations are both true and untrue, depending on who you are, what your circumstance might be and how well you accept your responsibilities. So let’s take a look at the responsibilities that are common to both varsity and college.

Firstly, there is a huge difference between a school and a varsity or college: