From: Irfan (Peer Guide)

Irfan is a Peer Guide, a Manchester Met student here to provide advice and guidance during your time at university.

In his voice note, Irfan shares why it's okay to make mistakes and how to avoid putting too much pressure on yourself.

Transcript

Hi, I'm Irfan and I study Computer Science.

If you're starting in September, first of all, congrats! You're going to have a great time.

My advice? Don't put too much pressure on yourself to have everything figured out straight away. Like, uni is a big change and it's okay to feel a bit lost at first. Everyone's learning, even the second and third years.

You don't need to have your whole life planned out in the first week. Like, I was so focused on trying to do uni right that I forgot it's okay just to just enjoy the process.

Okay, so one of the funniest things that happened when I first started uni was during Welcome Week. I was trying to be all confident, independent, right? So I walked into what I thought was my first lecture. Sat down, got my laptop out and started taking notes.

Just about 15 minutes in, I realized they were talking about 18th century literature, and I was like, I was there like, what is this? This, is this a crossover module or something? And yeah, turns out I was in the wrong building entirely, so I just awkwardly packed up and left mid-sentence. I still laugh about it now.

Don't be afraid to mess up. It's all a part of learning.