Opinion and Analysis
26th Sep 2012
Gina Goes Pop: How To Be A First Year
I’m not a student any more. That’s the first time I’ve actually written that down, and its left me a bit choked up. But it’s true. The late nights, the pre-exam cramming, the last minute essays – it’s all behind me now.
But if you, dear reader, are embarking on the journey that is studying English at an undergraduate level, you’re going to need some advice. Take it from someone that’s been there.
Don’t buy all your books as soon as your loan comes in
As you’d expect from an English degree, there’s a lot of reading to do. There are some books you will have to buy, and these are usually the ones that will prove to be irreplaceable. I wouldn’t have got my degree without The Norton Anthology of English Literature. They’re expensive, but worth it.
When it comes to the other books, though, don’t just throw wads of cash around in an excited, bookish frenzy. If you want to buy, do some hunting around – usually you can find older students selling their books at half the price.
Charity shops in university cities are a goldmine for cheap course material, and the university library will keep a small number of course books there for limited loan period. You don’t need to spend hundreds to get through your degree.
Do get in to good habits from the beginning
It’s really easy for me to sit here and tell you this, and it’s even easier for you to sit there and think you will. Trying to find a balance between being studious and making friends is really bloody difficult. Most people don’t ever find that balance and simply scrape through the first year.
Setting aside time to do the reading, and spending a little extra time on your essays will make you entire degree go by so much easier. Don’t be smug when you spend an hour on an essay and get a 2:1.
I spent the beginning of my degree doing this and feeling like a master of the written word. When that stops working in the third year, it’s like a bucket of freezing cold water falling on you.
Good habits from the beginning will make your whole academic career a hell of a lot easier.
Don’t judge a book by its cover
Or a person by their favourite author. In your first week you will spend the time being forced to make awkward introductions to your class mates by talking about your favourite poem, novel, author, etc.
There will be someone there who likes someone you hate. Don’t make the same mistakes I did by assuming that they must have a character default. Variety is the spice of life, and you never know, they might just become your best friend in a year.
Also, when the inevitable “what was the last book you read?” question comes up; be honest. The Complete Works of a Dead White Guy sounds like a lie, and it probably is. If it was Fifty Shades, just admit it with a knowing ironic chuckle.
Do enjoy the easy lessons while they las
I went in to my degree with extremely high expectations of lofty discussions and obscure authors. When first year turned out to be about as challenging as reciting your ABCs, I was gutted. Then third year arrived…
Embrace the last period of your life that will go relatively smoothly. Before you know it you’re being asked to come up with 10,000 words on a subject you’ve never fully understood.
I still don’t completely understand what I wrote in my dissertation and I don’t think I ever will. However, I can come up with, ahem, ‘alternative’ metaphors thanks to a compulsory creative writing class, and that’s all thanks to the ease of first year. Oh god, it was wonderful.
Don’t be afraid to speak up in class
That goes for disagreeing with the tutors as well. All universities are internally moderated (unlike the external marking of GCSEs and A Levels) so you’re being taught the tutors opinions. Friendly debate is the best thing about seminars, so don’t be afraid to get involved.
Many people don’t speak up because they’re worried about sounding stupid. If you think that then you are stupid. You got on to the course, you know what you’re talking about, so just say it.
The worst thing that can happen is everyone in the room disagrees with you. Then you start writing for the internet and everyone in the world disagrees with you. It’s brilliant.
Do spend some time acting like the pretentious English student in the films
You know what I’m talking about. Cracking witty remarks about Shakespearian plays, sipping red wine, making observations about the falling of the autumn leaves…you can get away with acting like this for like a week. Some of us do it for a living now we’ve left university. It’s bloody fabulous, dahling.
Don’t expect a physical representation of how much you’re paying
Do you remember the open day tour being guided around a combination of intimidating, ultra modern buildings alongside stunningly preserved grade II stone houses? University looked pretty stunning from that angle, didn’t it?
Well don’t get used to it. As an English student, all you need in class is a book and a mouth (and sometimes you don’t even need the book).
This means you’ll be herded in to the building hidden at the back of the campus. The one with the flickering lights and cobwebs, sitting on chairs with three legs, with loads of posters from the 80s peeling off the walls. Usually the one with the “DO NOT ENTER” sign hanging off the door.
Do enjoy it
If you don’t enjoy your degree, you will do terribly. The only thing that got me through the sleepless nights and endless caffeine highs was the very fact that I adore literature.
Studying at university is a hugely independent way to learn. You have to have the desire to learn beyond the basics in order to push yourself to do well. If it’s not the thing you live and breathe for then it’s going to be a very painful three years.
Also, try and get some career plan in your head, at least so you have a response to “…and what are you going to do with that?” Everyone assumes you want to be a teacher. It’s a real pain in the ovaries.
Well that’s it. That’s my advice to anyone starting out as an English student. As I’m no longer a student, I have to start grumbling “bloody students” if we’re ever on the bus together. We’ll talk again when you’re a pessimistic, poverty stricken graduate entering the job market. It’s a great party, with a hangover to match.
What advice would you give to freshers starting an English degree? If you’re just starting your course, what are you most excited for?
Gina Kershaw
Image via Lethaargic
Take a teapot. Never read a primary text without a pencil in your hand. (Get all your primary text’s second hand from Amazon.) Whenever a thrill of recognition goes down your spine, mark the margin by that paragraph. Don’t read any critics. Re-read the stuff that moved you and explain why. Say what you think and not what someone else thinks. Smoke some dope. Find someone else who’s into literature and ideas. Don’t restrict yourself to what you think you can be/do. Whatever you aspire to in your wildest dreams, you can probably manage it if you start believing and working on it NOW.
The choicest piece of advice I could ever give is something you pointed out – the fact that university is a research facility. Independent learning is like learning a foreign language in a sense – it’s impossible for the first five months and then you meld into it without realising where the change happened.
It’s also important to know that research is the name of the game for tutors. I went through my first two years not fully ‘getting’ that the teachers were researchers, too. They have their own workloads, and if you want to make an appointment with them, you must do it off their own back, as they have very little time to chase individual students.
I loved this. I wish I’d read something similar before I’d started Uni. I did creative writing, but I wish someone had told me to write what I wanted to write rather than what I thought was appropriate (i.e. what I thought each tutor might like). I usually got it completely wrong anyway, and I never liked what I wrote (I can’t even look at any of it now without cringing). While I got okayish marks, I probably could have done better, and learned a bit more about my own style. Ah, if only I knew then what I know now etc.
After a few weeks you will realise that nothing will happen to you if you don’t do the required reading before class. Do it anyway, because the class will make SO MUCH more sense.
Explore the library. No one will explain to you how to / why you need to use the journals, etc until probably your third year, but that doesn’t mean they’re not bloody useful before that.
Make the effort to befriend people with similar interests to you, even if that means going to events by yourself to mingle. Naturally, you will spend a lot of time bonding with the people you live with, but if the only thing you have in common is a flat number, you’re pretty likely to lose touch by the time you’re 25.
Make the most of societies but don’t let them take over your life. I left it until my third year to get involved with societies because I had so much going on.
Also, when choosing societies, try to pick something different do your degree. Don’t pick book club. Prospective employers want to see you’re interested in lots of things. Plus it’s nice to have a mixture of things going on so you have hobbies and meet more people!