Reflecting on your university experience can help your child think about what they want to get from their education. Your experiences can help them understand the exciting opportunities that higher education has to offer and reassure your child if they’re nervous about the leap from common room to campus.
Let’s get the conversation started. Here are two areas you can chat through:
How university prepared you for adulthood
University can give students the gift of personal growth. From self-care to connecting with peers, experiences at university can build independence, confidence and character. Whether it was doing the washing up, cleaning the flat and cooking for friends, or simply being in your own company, consider how university helped you develop essential life skills. Think about your lasting friendships and any social group activities that inspired you. How can these valuable interactions positively impact your child’s personal growth in the long term?
Sharing all types of experiences can be valuable, so don’t hold back. For example, think about any extracurricular activities that helped you become a self-starter, motivated and hard-working, such as learning a new language or practising a sport. And what about budgeting? Being in charge of their finances for the first time can teach your child about the value of money in the real world. Give them advice on managing their finances, from maintenance loan funds to earnings from part-time work.
How university shaped your academic and career progress
Asking your child what they would like to gain from their academic experience is a good starting point for a conversation. They may be considering a master’s or want to graduate with a decent mark. Talk about how you approached any challenges you may have faced during your studies and the skills you learned along the way.
What changed year on year, and how did you grow? Perhaps it took you a few weeks to get on top of your reading list, which initially felt overwhelming. Maybe your first-year exams didn’t go well, but by the final year, you had learned to improve your note-taking during lectures and put extra study time in the library.
Keeping up with your studies can be demanding, so explain how you managed academic pressure in the run-up to exams and coursework deadlines. Offer any useful revision and essay-writing tips that worked for you. Talk about your favourite course or lecturer and how you became inspired.
What about sandwich courses? These degrees include a work or study placement, many overseas, sandwiched between years two and four – and come with their own unique challenges and opportunities. If you did study or work abroad for a year, there may have been highs and lows. So, what advice would you give your child doing the same?
Finally, university can help your child prepare for the world of work and their future career. What valuable insights can you offer? You may have gone to a careers fair that interested you in a particular sector, worked on an exciting project with industry professionals or learned how to write an effective CV and cover letter.
These are just some possible ideas for helping your child make the most of university life.