A mishmash of things learned at university

Here are some random lists of things that I now know, from my time doing engineering at university. It’s a real mishmash between the degree and general life, and it’s written in a slightly brutal way 🙂 Hopefully some of it will be useful for prospective students – but it’s list that I’m making as much for myself as anyone else, to come back to.

• On MS Teams group projects, turn your camera on and try and persuade everyone else to do the same – yes, it’s fine, you all look ugly. But you can work together better if you can see each other.
• Write the abstract in present tense – except when talking about specific results, in which case use past tense. Always include results in the abstract.
• An executive summary is a glorified abstract – just longer.
• Don’t underestimate how long it takes to write that dissertation.
• Don’t waste your life re-writing out colourful lecture notes. Just annotate the slides – they’re more interesting to look at than your rainbow-coloured bullet points, anyway.
• Flash cards are a waste of your life. Don’t do them ever again.
• If you don’t get it, no one else does, either. They’re just too scared to say it.
• Ask the lecturer when you get stuck – they (usually) love to talk about their subject.
  • If they don’t help – and every other student is also stuck, complain to the School.
• MS Word’s referencing thing is directly sent from heaven to do all your references for you.
• Don’t reference YouTube videos. It’s criminal.
• Your housemates doing any arts subjects will appear to have loads of free time, and complain when they have a single essay due. Consider buying a blood pressure monitor to keep yourself safe.
• Don’t forget to water your plants. Killing a cactus can also kill your self esteem about any illusion you had about being a responsible adult.
• Get involved in more than just your degree – it’s good for a life outside engineering, and it’s a bonus if it can be added to that CV.
• Learn not to freak out when being presented with something new and visually horrendous in a module (yes, expanded Navier-Stokes equation, I’m looking at you). You can learn it – and you will.
• Make use of the wellbeing services! They’re brilliant, professional and free.
• Learn how to learn, efficiently. No sitting there, mulling about. Proper cramming sessions, and then a break away from the desk.
• OneNote is the best note-taking software.
• Don’t structure module section notes by week – you won’t remember what week you did what.
• Write a page and a half of paragraphs to put in your covering letter. Then lift out the relevant paragraphs for each role you apply for.
• Keep that CV up to date.
• Apply for placements starting from July the previous year, all the way through to February. Keep checking Gradcracker, RateMyPlacement, and the websites of companies you are interested in.
• Don’t get disheartened when (not if) you get rejected from placements. You only need one to accept you
• If you think you’re not going to get accepted onto any placement, that’s okay. You’re not a failure. It’s just really, really hard.
• But do make use of the Warwick Careers advice service.
• Don’t agonise over the perfect wording when writing for an assignment or a report. Get the thought down, then tweak the sentence.
• For that dissertation, everyone’s first draft is a bit rubbish, including yours. But, no matter, time to tweak it.
• Structure the dissertation before you write it.
• If you leave a tradescantia on your desk with no water for four weeks, it will probably survive.
• Dedicate one person in your household to be the insect-catcher. Their job is to humanely remove all of the wasps, spiders, and random bugs that appear.
• Canley is the most convenient place to live off-campus (okay I might be biased).
• Don’t rent out a room that has a boiler in it.
• Rent a house with all bills included.
• Let everyone borrow your stuff. Then you can borrow theirs, too.
• If you have a social media addiction, try to get rid of it in first year, while you still have time to waste.
• Sunlight is good for your skin.
• Chocolate is bad for your skin.
• Get comfortable with getting the bus and train, if you weren’t before university.
• Enjoy sticking your tongue out at annoying people behind the cover of your face mask.

Photo by T.J. Breshears on Unsplash