It’s good to advise jambites on the right way to go about their academics but leaving the freshers to cope on their own won’t go down well. Everything you are experiencing today, someone has gone through it. From the few experiences I’ve gathered, I’ve decided to share this article.
14 mistakes every fresher makes in Nigeria.
There are some silly mistakes Nigerian freshers make. You need to know how to behave as a fresher in the University. Mistakes every fresher makes? Ummm! No! My bad, I meant to say mistakes most freshers make.
Top 14 mistakes every fresher makes(at least 75%)
Now its time to dive into the gist.
Are you ready?
What's in this guide?
Top 14 mistakes Freshers Make in Nigeria
1. Attending every single freshers event/ I must be popular by force
Of course this mistake is so common to freshers especially the younger ones , see don’t get me wrong, we are all familiar with the um, do I call it a phrase? “have fun when you are young”, but you know, sometimes good sleep might be better. See I get it you want to be popular, you are an artiste you want people to feel you but do you know “most people who get popular during their first year in the tertiary institution regret it years after” Why don’t you take a chill pill, wait till you are in the 2nd year with a stable GPA .
Most of the people who get popular early in school end up with really bad results and some may be advised to withdraw. Sad truth is, most people who get popular from 100 level may be forgotten when you are in final year. Take things slowly Freshers night is one occasion most freshers die to attend but you know what? Cultist get new recruits that day. Do you want to be one?
Yet aside from leaving you broke for the rest of the term and with a serious case of the memory relapse, dragging yourself to every party going will not only take the fun out of the events you do want to go to, but is also just plain unnecessary.
Read: 5 Golden Ways to Boost Academic Performance
2. Forgetting The Necessities
Packing the entire things you need for the whole semesters could be a very tiring experience, so it is inevitable that you might forget some things.
Yet they are some things you must take along like your credentials and other important details.
Read: What to take to university checklist
3. Signing up for every single organization
I sing, I should be in a music group in school , “I want to join mano’war or kegites! o chill they have a book club at the university you should totally check it out, but while university is all about trying something new, you therefore shouldn’t sign up for everything going.
Think about the fantastic options that interest you, then pick a select few you think you’d actually be committed to attending. There’s a much greater chance you’ll actually see them through. Take it easy.
Read: How To Remember 90% Of Everything You Learn
4. Thinking you have to hang out with the first person you meet, forever
😂 😂 😂 Let me laugh a little! Are you kidding me? Do you know how many years youre gon’ spend in school?
At times the first person you meet ends up being your best pal but not everytime.
I dont know you probably must heard everyone telling you that you’ll meet your friends for life at university.
Don’t let this fool you cos it isn’t always the case , many freshers find themselves in a wild panic after apparently having not discovered these special people just a few days in. First of all, take a chill pill, relax man!
Please don’t believe there’s a need to stay attached to the first friendly person you meet forever more.
Though many great friendships are made in the first few weeks, many, many more are made throughout the year and there will be plenty of opportunities to meet your future soul-mates.
Read: How To Improve Your Study Life And Start Enjoying Reading Once Again
5. Bringing Useless things .(You will tell me the car that will carry everything)
See you don’t have to pack everything in your house . You can pack so much load and still not end up not packing everything you need.
You will definitely need to read Things to take to school as a fresher in Nigeria
Not only will it occupy space in your locker or wardrobe, there’s also a chance that it would make you forget something very important.
To put things straight- If you’re an English student, you might not need a math set. Trust us.
Read: What to take to university checklist
6. Hiding in your room
Hiding in your room? Lol . Trust me when I say i know what it means to be an “omo get inside” When you first move into your new accommodation, and there are lots of strange people moving about and maybe, hollering. Yeah I get that feeling, you feel kinda shy!
See the truth is, you’re going to need to make friends and live with this people for years. Making friends is also the ideal time to bond over bunk, room leadership and the general cleanliness of your room.
Just try to be a bit social.
Read: 10 Secrets Of Successful Students And How To Apply Them
7. Upsetting Your Room-mates
This is very important for students who will be staying on campus, many universities ensure freshers stay on campus see there is going to be a point in time. Maybe your loud-speaker booming so loud or your praying very aloud, it’s all too easy to forget there are humans living all around you.
We all know what boisterous Nigerian music sounds like, and often you’ll be the one facing it whilst reading late at night trying to finish an assignment.
So don’t make the mistake of upsetting the room mates, it will come back to bite you! That’s life!
Read: How to handle problem housemates
8. Procrastination
Ill do it later, yeah maybe tomorrow but you’ve forgotten tomorrow never comes! why is it that the minute even the most diligent students get to university, all sense of planning goes out the window? Spoiler alert that’s how I got the tagline for my blog! UNDERgraduates doing GraGra before changing it to Aiders.
The moment students gain admission i.e become undergraduates they start to do gra gra.
They start procrastinating since they believe they are above correction.
In school you are very free, but how well you use that freedom will tell us how mature you are.
So why is it that the minute even the most diligent students get to university, all sense of planning goes out the window?
Contrary to popular belief, the best time to finish that essay is not 3am the morning it’s due. Somewhat unsurprisingly we can reveal that a little forward planning can help improve your grades and decrease your stress levels.
It will also give you an amazing sense of satisfaction as you head off to bed while your course-mates are still battling with their assignments
Read: 7 Ways Students Can Overcome Procrastination
9. Sleeping through your lectures
If you don’t like to sleep raise your hands up let me flog you. See we all love sleep, but the harsh reality is that you came to the higher institution to learn, not snore or doze in class, so make it worth you time (and money!).
What makes people sleep during lectures is simple, chatting all through the night or watching movies (I’m guilty of this) or browsing through the night(I’m the boss in this kind of thing 😂)
A perfect morning is sequel to a perfect learning experience.
Read: Ways To Take Better Lecture Notes In Nigeria
10. Never Calling home
“Pfft see when I get to school I wont be calling my parents anymore!” Seriously ? Dont worry the reality will hit you soon.
I said the same thing to myself when I was leaving home… But you know what? FAMILY remains Family..
I know you probably might have started your new exciting life at university now, but that doesn’t mean you should forget the people who’re important to you back home. This is a terrible mistake freshers and even stalites make.
It’s more than likely that everyone at home is missing you and would really appreciate updates on how you’re doing as well as some reassurance that you haven’t forgotten about them! You probably don’t know members of your family back home are bragging about you everywhere they go, especially If you are in a well respected university.
Read: 12 Bad Habits of Nigerian University Students
11. Never budgeting
Distinguished ladies and handsome gentlemen!, this is the biggest mistake every fresher makes trust me! If you are a student and you’ve never made this mistake you can use the comment box . See we know that University life is likely to be one of the best time of your life, but that doesn’t mean that all the rules should go out of the window!
Umm…you think you have more money in your account , that fateful day you’re gon’ get to the ATM point and its gon’ tell you “out of service” or “temporarily unable to dispense cash”
Fail to budget in the university and you could find yourself financially ruined for the whole semester, which is the complete opposite of best-times. Except you want to go from house to house to eat! Mhen! that shit brings down your self worth/esteem especially if you are a guy!.
Set yourself a budget for each week and stick to it.
Plan your life please!! Your future kids depend on the decisions you make now
Read Our Ultimate guide on: Creating a budget
12. Not backing up your work
You will hear this regularly from lecturers, friends and foes alike that backing up your work in the university is really really important.
As we’ve already mentioned, students have a bad habit of leaving things until the very last minute and if something unexpectedly happens at the wrong moment can turn a stressful situation into a truly horrendous one.
It’s worth noting too that there tends to be zero flexibility on university deadlines so man up, invest in a flashdrive and sign-up to some free online storage sites like Dropbox and Skydrive.
Read: 8 Powerful Ways To Understand Difficult Courses
13. Leaving your referencing until the end
It’s probably a fact that referencing is everyone’s least favourite part of writing a term paper or essay, but trust us on this one – write your reference list as you go along.
if you have a fairly recent version of Microsoft Word to write your essays on, learn how to use the automatic referencing system – the added bonus with this is that it will save you an insane amount of time by putting together your bibliography for you!
Read: 12 Signs Your Village People Don’t Want You To School
14. Worrying About Next Year’s Accommodation
Most universities in Nigeria prioritize accommodation for first year, do not be scared though! You won’t be homeless next year.
The first step is to carefully decide who you want to live with (for at least one whole year). It’s easy to make friends in your first semester but for your future sanity, take some time to work out who your long-term friends could be. Be very choosy about that.
When the big accommodation hunt starts (somewhere around the end of the session to the beginning of the new session), stay calm and don’t rush into doing anything rash. You could pair with a friend in an alternative accommodation arrangements or vie for hostel accommodation.
Read: 7 things students must know before renting and Student rent viewing checklist
