December 12, 2018, by Lucy

Signs You’re in Your Final Year of University

  1. The library has become your second home that you might as well start paying your share of the bills.
  2. Talking about the library, your routine is planned to the minutest detail. You have an outfit, a meal plan and even a seat reserved for you in the library. You’re that person now.
  3. You’ve learned to hide the internal panic you experience every time someone asks you what you’re going to do afternoon.
  4. Job hunting is the bane of your life: there’s too many options, too much stress and too much emphasis on actual adulting tasks.
  5. Besides… do you even know what you want to do in the adult world.
  6. The thought of actually getting a job makes the prospect of getting a postgraduate degree more appealing. Another dissertation vs getting a professional job? Hmm, let me count my bets.
  7. University is no longer a fashion show. Nowadays it’s completely acceptable to go to morning lectures with messy hair and trainers. Who cares what you look like, it’s staying up with the workload that’s important these days.
  8. 3000-word essays don’t overwhelm you now. Compared to the gigantic task that is the dissertation, bashing out an essay is easy.
  9. That being said, these are your famous last words.
  10. Likewise, referencing is still a struggle. Is it Harvard, APA or MHRA? Who knows anymore?
  11. You’ve become best pals with the staff in your school’s department. It’s taken you two years to finally make use of the resources your school has to offer. Whether this be through the utilisation of office hours, or the drop-in sessions held throughout the year, you’re really getting to know the staff who are there to help you out.
  12. Your bank account has taken a hit in the name of ‘self-care’. From takeaways to shopping sprees, it’s all in the name of coping with the stress of academia.
  13. You talk to strangers about your dissertation in the name of small talk. You know they don’t really care, but it saves on any potential awkward silences.
  14. You still call your parents at every minor inconvenience. Three years away from home and you still haven’t hacked living the life of an independent twenty something.
  15. Budgeting is still a chore. No number of spreadsheets will ever save your back.
  16. You’re torn between aiming for 90% in all of your assignments and making the most of your final year in terms of its social occasion.
  17. You still have moments where you don’t know if university life is even really for you. When you have 6 deadlines and 4 exams, dropping out sometimes appears to be the easier option. However, this is always short-lived in terms of the long term benefits.
  18. Graduation can’t come quick enough. The day you wake and have no essays to complete will be the best day of your life.
  19. But, at the same time, you never want your university experience to end.
Posted in Lucy