Freshers and Settling In, Graduate Ambassadors
by Blog Editor

First Impressions of University

‘I’m bricking it, but this place seems like good fun’

I wrote this sentence in my first week of university. I was 18 and only just starting my university experience. Thinking about my experience, it’s funny to look back on this sentence and realise my first inkling of university life was spot on.

My three years at Worcester have been an amazing experience, and as corny as it sounds, going to university has had a huge impact on who I am now.

But let’s rewind to my first few weeks of university life. I definitely learnt a lot about university and how to adult in those tentative weeks. I also had lots of first impressions in those few weeks. First impressions are a weird phenomenon, we are all of their importance and making a good first impression. But, what is not always explained is how these impressions can change or be disregarded entirely.

So, I thought I’d make a little list of my first impressions of university life and how they changed.

  1. All everyone does is drink . There’s no point denying that alcohol and drinking is a part of university life. Although this perception exists, I never felt any sort of pressure to drink excessively and found that once ‘Freshers’ Week’ passed, the drinking calmed down a lot.
  2. I love my flatmates, I definitely want to live with them next year!  Woah, there Anna, slow down! The first few months of university are all about getting to know loads of people and decisions about who to live with after first year shouldn’t be made too fast. I did love my flatmates, but also realised I wanted to live with other people in 2nd and 3rd
  3. Oh gosh, this first assignment is so hard! Looking back on my time at university, I remember thinking my first assignment was the hardest thing I’d ever done and would never get through three years of assignments. This impression was, oh, so wrong! I spent first year working out exactly how I worked best, with lecturers providing advice and encouragement that lasted long past 1st
  4. I love my society! This impression lasted throughout university. My society became a source of laughter, friendship and encouragement during my time as a student. I was able to try new things and test my limits whilst surrounded by friends.

I could easily keep writing about my first impressions, but we’d all be here for days. The important thing to remember is that first impressions aren’t the be all and end all of university. Just go ahead and enjoy your experience of university life, you’ll miss it when it’s over!