College & Uni support thread.

[Lilo]

As it's the beginning of the new academic year I thought I would start a college & university chat/support thread considering how popular the other one was over the years.

Starting a college course/going off to University can be a really positive step but obviously when you suffer with mental health problems it can sometimes interfere with your student experience and it helps to have support even if it's sometimes online.

So feel free to post here about anything you're worried about course/uni wise and also if you have any tips for others on keeping sane while studying!

[Cacoethes]

Hello!
Great idea for a thread!

Im starting an access to nursing course next week.
Although I need to contact student finance because they are silly so I'm really hoping that won't interfere with my start date even though it wasn't my fault.....

[Lilo]

I know there are quite a few regular posters starting/continuing college and university so I'm hoping it'll become a helpful thread. Or we'll all just post here as a way of procrastinating!

Good luck with starting your course. Are you looking forward to it?
Do you know how many days you'll be in college yet?

I'm sure if you explain to your tutor that you're waiting on student finance they'll understand and won't just not let you start the course.

I've been given some tasks to complete over the Summer but as I only applied to the course 4 weeks ago I was told to not worry too much about getting them all done. So that was a big relief.

[Cacoethes]

Im really looking forward to it!
I can't wait to start!
Hopefully they'll understand about SFE!

What course are you doing?

[Lilo]

I also can't wait to start and be busy again but I know when I'm surrounded by essays and deadlines that I may not be as enthusiastic lol.

All the tutors/college staff I've met have been really helpful so far so I'm sure they'll understand that SFE constantly screw up.

I'll be doing the Access to Counselling & Psychology course.

[Cacoethes]

Yeah me too!! Lol!

Everyone seems really helpful and nice at my college too so hoping they'll understand!

Awesome!

[Eska]

Cat I know that feeling, and it is a bit rubbish. You're still nearly there though.

[yoyogirl]

I'm in my final year at Open University and I am completing my BSc in Health and Social Care (Mental Health and Wellbeing) and I am hoping to achieve a 2:2 in my degree.

[Cacoethes]

You've done sooo well Catbug!
I can understand why you'd be upset but October isnt too far away :)

[HopeRises]

Ahh good luck to everyone starting their courses soon. I'm moving back to uni in a few weeks to start my second year. I'm really anxious but equally looking forward to going back but my mh has declined over the summer so bit nervous about how that is going to affect my studies.

[Cacoethes]

Hi HopeRises!

Do you have any support in place for when you get there?
I don't know how it is at university but I think they have support services about?

[Cacoethes]

Really well done for going to all your classes!! That's brilliant.

That sounds really cool.
Id love to wear a lab coat for legit reasons! :p

[Lilo]

I had my induction today and although the whole thing took nearly 5 hours I had a good day. There are only 8 people doing my actual course but 25 of us in my tutor group and everyone seems really friendly aswell which is good.

My timetable is actually better than I thought as my earliest start is 9:30am and I finish at 12pm and 2pm which is good.

How's everything else finding College/Uni inductions?

[Cacoethes]

My induction days are next week.
Start at 9:15am and end at 3pm.
Im gonna have to get up early as it takes roughly an hour to get there by bus!

[Lilo]

Hope you had a good first day Beckie.

My first proper day is tomorrow and I've come down with a bad cold which is very bad timing. Luckily I'm only in 9:30 until 12:30 so I can come home and rest a bit afterwards. I'm not looking forward to how early I'll have to wake up though!

[Cacoethes]

I did thanks!
I am very tired though.
Several people pointed out how much of an intense course it is so I'm a bit worried!!
It's a long day for me and I did have a bit of trouble concentrating at the end.

Oh no! Bad luck!
At least it's a pretty short day

[Lilo]

Glad it went well, hopefully after a few weeks your body will get used to the routine so it won't be so tiring.

Yeah it was mentioned quite a few times on my induction day that the course is very intense. We were told that we'd should get a course diary/journal & a big wall planner so we could write down all our assignment deadlines. And also to put reminders on our phones. Do you think having something like that would help you feel less worried?

I looked over my timetable as some of my modules don't start until December/February which is why I have 2 short days in college up until then which is good.
I will be starting 4 modules within the first week though which feels quite intense!

[Cacoethes]

Thanks.
Yeah I'm hoping I'll get used to it!

Those are really good ideas.
I'll definitely have to get planning!

4 modules does seem a lot!
How are you feeling about it all?

[Lilo]

I know when I plan for things I am then able to feel a lot more in control about them and less stressed. So I'm hoping if I plan my studying/assignments then I won't get too stressed out over how much work I've got to do.

I'm not feeling too stressed out just yet as I know the first modules we do will be mostly level 2 modules so easier than the Spring/Summer modules. I've also been told my by tutor that we'll have 2/3 weeks to complete our assignments which hopefully means I won't be rushing things last minute!

[Cacoethes]

That is a good plan!
Im going to try and do the same i think!

It's good you aren't too stressed out about it.
Like you said, planning things will make it lots easier