5 Ways To Make Your Final Semester The Best One Yet

While you attempt to overcome the stresses of being in the last semester of your undergrad, it can be easy to neglect yourself.

These 5 tips will remind you of some important things to remember among the anxieties of nearing the end and entering the real world. Here goes.

• Make time for you and your friends

This is SO important. There is always that feeling that you get when asked out for drinks or to the cinema, that guilty feeling of ‘I’m in my final year, I really should be doing uni work’ but it cannot be stressed enough how important it is to have a break and be social.

It’s all about time management. Nobody can work around the clock and you don’t have to if you organise your time wisely. GET A DIARY and set aside blocks for each module and for your dissertation but also social time. Then you can say yes to those spontaneous drinks and it will feel great to be out of the house, returning to your studies the following day with a fresh brain.

It also helps to discuss any worries in a social and warm environment surrounded by the people you love who are also potentially having the same issues. Try it.

• Explore

Most universities are in a town or a city and little do many students realise, the countryside is not that far away. GET OUT AND EXPLORE. Take advantage of the reduced contact hours in final year and take a day away from your laptop and books. England has a lot to offer and a day out in the countryside does wonders for your brain.

As much as you may love the busy city life, escaping to the country in the open refreshes your mindset, making you more relaxed on your return to your studies and future plans. Or if this doesn’t suit your preferences then visit another city for a change of scenery.

If you find yourself at a dead end, take yourself for a walk in the open, not necessarily a long walk just a bit of time away to clear you mind. Trust me: it helps.

• Avoid unnecessary stress

Easier said than done but here are a few tips on top of time management which has already been mentioned. Remind yourself of deadlines, assignment briefs and requirements frequently because there is nothing worse than coming to hand in your final assignment of your undergraduate study and finding that the deadline wasn’t the 9^th but the 6^th and your grade is instantly capped. A simple mistake but also easily avoided.

Make use of your tutors. They are what you are paying for and are more than willing to help if you seek them. It’s mad how much a fifteen-minute tutorial can totally change your feelings about a stressful assignment – use this resource.

Be kind to your body – get sleep and eat properly. It’s important to ensure that the time you spending studying and job hunting is as productive as it can be resulting in getting lots done.

Finally, don’t panic about the future, keep it on the back burner but focus primarily on your degree. It is so easy to become extremely worked up about the scary world of work but this will impact on the productivity of your studies and plans. You need that degree to achieve your goal, so focus on that for now. As cheesy as it sounds it will all work out, do not fear.

• Be open minded for your future

You can do whatever you wish and there is no rush to get into your dream job. If you get rejections, do not be disheartened because the right job for you is out there and you can get it but do not let this stress you out to the point that you forget to make the most of your time left at university.

You have hardly any ties and freedom to explore the world and all it has to offer. Be open about decisions and be willing to try everything and let this mindset allow you to enjoy every aspect of your time left.

• Enjoy yourself and appreciate every moment

This is the most important step to remember out of all of them. Everybody will tell you this and at times of great stress it may not seem it but this really is one of the best times of your life.

You meet friends that will last a lifetime and you’ve created memories with them so make sure you take lots of pictures. You have little responsibility and your whole life ahead of you and as scary as it can seem it is really exciting. Even the days spent lazing around, chilling in pub gardens, walking into town, it’s all adding to the bank of memories that come with university life.

If ever you feel down, make a scrap book or look back at pictures you’ve taken to remind yourself that these past three years have been the best of your life.

Harriet Mills is a final-year English Literature and Creative Writing Student in York. Based at her hometown near Cambridge, she is an aspiring writer with her main interests being features and travel writing. For more of her story check out her personal blog. 

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