August can be an exciting but slightly daunting time if you are preparing to start university. There are new places to navigate, people to meet, things to buy and probably quite a few unknowns. If you are about to start an engineering or STEM degree, you may also be wondering whether you are actually ready for it.
Students arrive at university from very different starting points. Some have years of experience coding, building or designing things. Others may have chosen their degree because they enjoyed maths or science at school, were encouraged by a teacher, or simply found the subject interesting and wanted to know more. Some already have a particular career in mind, while others have very little idea where their degree might eventually take them.
None of this determines what kind of student, or engineer or scientist, you will eventually become. University is a starting point, not a test of how much you already know.
Don't Compare Your Starting Point
During the first few weeks, it is very easy to notice the people who seem to know more than you do. Someone will confidently answer questions in lectures, someone will already know the software you are being introduced to, and someone will have experience you have never had the opportunity to gain.
What is much harder to see are all the things you bring that other people do not. Everyone arrives with different experiences and different strengths, and these become more apparent as the course progresses. The person who seems far ahead in one subject may find another difficult, while you may discover strengths in areas you have never studied before.
Your starting point matters much less than what you do from there. Give yourself time to settle in before deciding how you compare with everyone around you.
Learn How to Learn at University
One of the biggest changes from school to university is not necessarily the difficulty of the material, but the way you are expected to learn it. There is much more independence, and nobody will be checking every week that you have done everything you intended to do.
A lecture may introduce a concept without giving you enough time to fully understand it there and then. That does not mean the lecture has gone badly or that you are falling behind. Often the real understanding comes afterwards, when you go back through your notes, work through an example, attempt tutorial questions and discover which parts you still need help with.
This is particularly important in engineering and other STEM subjects. Watching someone else solve a problem can make it look surprisingly straightforward. Sitting down with a blank page and trying to solve it yourself is a very different experience. That struggle is useful. It is often where the learning actually happens.
Use tutorials, laboratories and problem classes properly. Attempt the work, ask questions when you need to and make use of the people who are there to help you. Learning how to find information, work independently and recognise when you need support will be just as valuable as much of the technical content you learn.
Make the Most of University Life
Your degree is important, but university offers much more than the material covered in your modules. Societies, student projects, competitions, guest lectures, placements and professional institutions can introduce you to people and opportunities that you would never encounter in a classroom.
You do not need to sign up for everything during Freshers' Week. Choose things that genuinely interest you, including things that have nothing to do with STEM. University is a chance to explore new interests as well as develop existing ones, and having something in your life that is completely separate from your studies can be particularly valuable when the course becomes busy.
The people you meet are an important part of this too. Talk to the people sitting beside you, go for the coffee after class and make time for friendships. The people on your course may become your study partners and support network, and some may remain friends or professional colleagues long after university.
There are also skills you will develop through university life that cannot easily be taught in a lecture. Working with different people, managing your own time, communicating your ideas, dealing with things going wrong and becoming more independent are all part of preparing for professional life.
Give Yourself Time to Work Out Where You Are Going
It can feel as though choosing a degree means you should already know what you want to do with it. In reality, the subject you think will interest you most before starting university may not be the one you eventually enjoy.
You will encounter areas of STEM you have never studied before and perhaps careers you did not know existed. A project, placement, lecturer, society or conversation may introduce you to something completely unexpected. You might also discover that an area you thought you would love is simply not for you.
Allow your plans to change as you learn more about both your subject and yourself. You do not need to map out an entire career during your first semester. One of the benefits of university is having the opportunity to explore before deciding where you want to focus.
A Final Thought
Starting university is a big change, and there will inevitably be a period of adjustment. Give yourself time to understand how university works, find a way of studying that works for you, meet people and take advantage of some of the opportunities around you.
You do not need to have the next few years planned before you arrive. There will be plenty of time to work out where you are going once you get started.