Five things to expect

1. Meeting new people

At university, you will be introduced to a lot of new people, some of whom may end up being your friends for life! You can expect to meet people in your classes, your student accommodation and in the variety of teams, clubs, and societies at USW.

Depending on your interests, you can attend events where you’ll meet like minded-people, and you can even apply to be in accommodation that is in line with your preferences, including Welsh speaking halls or no alcohol halls.

2. More Independent Learning

University is different from your school or college in several ways, one of which is that you’ll have more freedom to study the subjects and topics that interest you.

You’ll undertake more independent study and research and have fewer timetabled classes than you do in school. Generally, you’ll be expected to devote 200 hours of total study to each 20-credit module you take.

3. Having full control over your finances

Having control over your finances is exciting for a lot of students, but please try not to blow your student loan all at once! Your student loan must last the term and will need to be spent on essentials such as food, textbooks, and bills as well as socialising and travel costs.

The University has a Student Money Advice Team that provides advice and information to help you with managing your money. You can also see our cost-of-living pages for more support.

4. Meeting deadlines and managing time

You may not have had experience with being completely in charge of your own schedule. Academically, independent study means making your own decisions about how you study, what and where you study and managing your time is a key element of success.

While this may sound daunting, there are many strategies you can adopt to effectively manage your time around studying, socialising, and working. These include planning and prioritising your workload, creating a schedule, and setting goals.

5. New styles of teaching

You will be introduced to a variety of new teaching styles such as lectures, workshops, and seminars throughout your time at university.

Not sure what these are? Not to worry, we can help with that!

• Lectures: A lecture provides an overview of the main ideas about a subject, and the lecturer will raise questions for you to consider. You will normally be listening and taking notes, however there may be occasions when the lecturer will ask you to discuss an idea with others sat near you or will take questions at the end of the lecture.
• Seminars, workshops, and tutorials: Whilst a lecture may be delivered to many students, seminars/workshops and tutorials are a different experience. They are a meeting of smaller groups and are more like the classes you have had at school. You will be expected to have prepared in advance on a particular topic and to take an active part in the session.
• UniLife/Blackboard: UniLife is USW's student portal, which brings together various student websites and services. Through it, you can access ‘Blackboard.’ For each of your modules, Blackboard provides learning materials and things like assessment briefs and reading lists and is one of the means lecturers will use to communicate with you.