Written by Pip Toohey
So you’ve just finished your HSC exams, and you already have an offer to Charles Sturt?
First of all – CONGRATULATIONS!!!! Those exams were pretty much the goal for your schooling for the last 13-ish years. That is absolutely huge! And adding on a university offer totally sweetens the deal. But what to do for the 3 months between finishing school and starting university?
Those couple of months is probably the most relaxed you’ll be for a while, especially if you found school stressful, put them to good use!
Try not to spend the whole time stressing about uni and working tons, the money will come back, and uni will start sooner than you know, I know that’s easier said than done.
I chose to work as much as I possibly could for a few weeks – babysitting, working my main job for NSW Health and offering to help around the house doing little jobs for my parents and their mates, while still getting plenty of fun in where I could, seeing my mates heaps.
Then the real fun started! I hopped on a plane with my family to Vietnam, then to Europe with my best friends ever and it was truly the best experience of my life. Now, not everyone needs to get themselves jet-setting for two months, and it was certainly not cheap or easy to organise, but do something new and exciting – don’t stick around at home the whole break, it is fun and its certainly familiar, and it feels like uni will be enough of an adventure for next year, but I guarantee that you’ll reap the rewards!
Go camping somewhere near or far, try some new pubs, stay in an Airbnb close to home, see family that’s far away (make it a road trip or fly – up to you!). Make some memories – you’ll thank yourself later.
Keep uni in the back of your mind, Charles Sturt will send you emails telling you how to prepare! If you’re first year, you likely won’t even need to select and organise your subjects, but you will find out more later on.
If you are moving for your course, start building your supplies up, a fun towel, maybe some new bed linen, trawl the op shops for kitchen equipment etc. Start a laundry basket, bag, or pile and make it your “uni stash”.
If you’re not moving away, redecorate your room, maybe a new desk or some fun stationary, finishing school is a big leap, and I was definitely ready to change some things up!
When it gets closer to uni starting, check your subject information and your course info, see if you will need a lab coat or uniforms, any textbooks that you can look for on Facebook marketplace and the like. Most of the time, you will be told if you need to buy these in the first weeks of uni but if you know someone in the course that has already started, it can’t hurt to ask them what you should be doing and if you need any equipment!
The main mission for your time is to relax, prepare yourself for uni, get excited and have fun!!!!
It’ll all pan out ok!
Charlie blog is a SSAF funded initiative.
