Everyone tells you first year does not count. The grades do not contribute to your degree at most universities, so the advice is to enjoy yourself. That is not the full picture. The habits you build in first year – sleep, money, academic discipline, social balance – are the ones you carry through second and third year. The people you meet in freshers can be your friends for the rest of your life. The decisions you make about your second-year house in January of first year shape a whole year of your life. First year matters. Just not in the way people say.
Halls – The Central First Year Experience
About 70% of first-year students at UoM, MMU, and Salford live in university halls. Halls solve a lot of problems – you know exactly where you live, bills are included, maintenance is someone else’s problem. The downside is the lottery of who you live with.
Making flat dynamics work
- Week one: Leave your door open when you’re in. Cook in the kitchen even when you don’t have to. Go to the flat welcome events. These small things determine whether you build a flat friendship or spend a year in parallel.
- Rota the cleaning: Have the conversation in week one before someone gets resentful. A basic shared kitchen rota prevents 80% of flat conflict.
- Don’t steal food: Label your food. Buy your own milk. The smallest-seeming thefts cause the biggest flat arguments.
- Quiet hours: Agree a rough protocol. 11pm-9am quiet during the week is reasonable. If you need noise later, go to someone else’s flat or outside.
The Academic Reality
University is not school. The transition catches a lot of first-years out.
- Contact hours are lower: You might have 10-15 timetabled hours a week. The expectation is you do another 20-30 hours of independent study. The students who treat university as a 40-hour week thrive. The ones who treat it as 10 timetabled hours plus parties struggle by term two.
- Reading is real: Humanities and social science courses expect you to read 200-400 pages a week for some modules. Start the reading on day one. You cannot catch up later.
- Essays are different: First-year essays are where you learn to structure an argument, reference properly, and develop your own view. Getting feedback on a first-year essay and actually reading it is more valuable than the grade.
- Exams are different: University exams test understanding, not memorisation. Past papers are the best preparation. Most universities make them available online.
Use the support services
My Learning Essentials (UoM), Study Skills (MMU), and equivalent Salford services offer free workshops on academic writing, time management, revision, and dissertations. They are free, genuinely useful, and most students never attend. Go to one per term minimum.
Making Friends Properly
The social anxiety of first year is real. A few things that help:
- Friendship takes weeks, not days: The flat mates you click with in week one may drift away by Christmas. The course mates you barely knew in October become close friends by March. Don’t lock in your social group in the first two weeks and write off everyone else.
- Societies are the real social engine: Friends from your flat are lottery. Friends from your course have a narrow common base. Friends from a society you chose are the ones you actually share interests with. Join two.
- Sports teams socials are intense: Even if you’re not the most serious athlete, joining a sports team – even intramural – gives you a ready-made weekly social event. The socials are often more important than the matches.
- You’re not alone if you’re struggling: By mid-October, 30-40% of first years are privately worried they haven’t made real friends yet. The people who do fine in term two are often the ones who were worried in week four.
Money in First Year
First year is when most students encounter the reality that the loan does not cover everything.
- See our full cost of living breakdown for the realistic numbers.
- Use the budget calculator to see where your money goes.
- Don’t start part-time work in freshers week. Settle into the academic rhythm first. Look for part-time work from October half-term onwards.
- The worst money decision in first year is an expensive city centre studio. You pay £200-300/month more than a Fallowfield shared house for less social connection. Do not do this unless you have serious reasons.
The Second-Year House Decision
Manchester student housing viewings for second-year accommodation start in November and December of first year. Some landlords start in October. This is absurdly early but it is how the market works. Do not sign anything in October or early November. Wait.
- Talk seriously about who you want to live with: Your fun-to-party-with friends from halls may not be your ideal housemates. Who shares your sleep schedule? Your cleanliness standards? Your music volume preferences?
- Aim for 4-6 housemates: Cheapest per head, big enough for flexibility, small enough to manage.
- View properties in daylight: You see damp, mould, and poor maintenance in daylight that’s hidden at night.
- Talk to the outgoing tenants: Ask how responsive the landlord is. This is the most important question.
- Check your area fit: Use the area matcher quiz or read our area guide.
Mental Health in First Year
First year is one of the two highest-risk periods for student mental health (the other being final year). Moving away from home, loss of existing support networks, academic pressure, and the adjustment to new social dynamics all compound.
- Register with a GP in week one.
- Know where your university wellbeing service is. You don’t need to use it – just know.
- The freshers slump around weeks 4-6 is extremely common. It usually passes.
- If you’re persistently unhappy for more than three weeks, reach out. See our mental health guide.
The Things That Matter Most in First Year
- Go to your lectures. Not all of them – everyone misses some – but most of them. Lecture-skippers in first year become lecture-skippers in second and third year.
- Keep one lifeline activity. A sports team, a society, a regular coffee with your best friend from home. One thing that gives you structure even when everything else is chaos.
- Learn to cook five meals properly. You will eat them for three years. It’s worth an afternoon of effort now.
- Build a rough budget. Know roughly what you spend in a week. Adjust when things go wrong.
- Make friends outside your flat. Halls friends are geography. Course and society friends are chosen.
- Sleep seven hours most nights. Not every night. Most.
- Don’t sign a second-year house lease in October.