Not true – it is about living a new life, finding your own independence and learning to take responsibility for yourself (and sometimes others, in student societies, in your living situation, and in leadership positions as a student representative).

Good – be excited! It can be an amazing experience.

The answer to this depends on your own previous experience, of course, but for many it will be very different. Bigger, more exciting, and a chance to learn more about yourself.

The more you think about this, the better placed you will be to demonstrate the skills you need for succeeding in the workplace afterwards.

Many students are not sure what they want to do – that is OK, but try not to let this disappear from your mind completely.

That will help you develop the skills you need for future employment to some extent, but should not interfere with your studies. Many institutions put a 20-hour per week maximum on employment, and overseas students will have a limit according to their UK visa (which will likely be no more than 20 hours a week).

In fact, most of your learning should take place in the time given to ‘independent learning’ – discussing ideas with others, reading around the subject and so on. Lectures provide only the basics, but there is not enough time in these for all the material to be covered.

That is good. The best way to do this is to get interested in the subjects you are studying, and do some thinking and reading around them.

This is true in some universities but is less true in others. Group work, presentations, written assignments and very practical research assignments are also used.

That is a personal choice (and may be based around financial factors of course), although you may be isolating yourself a little from the social aspects of study and university life.

This is a big part of what universities do – and the proportion will vary from university to university – but it is not everything. Research, consultancy and contributing to the local/regional economy in some way are other activities that universities undertake.

The earlier you start to think about your career, the better. This does not mean that you must necessarily make a decision immediately, but it does mean that you must start to think about the kinds of things you want to do, and the kinds of skills you will need to develop.

That is good. They can provide encouragement and support.

Absolutely correct: it will. It is your degree and the results should be yours. Students who put in less effort usually do less well.

This can be a challenge for some, but if you have worked out how much money you have to spend, and have some priorities around what you need to spend it on, then that is good.

Good: most universities will have online materials for your modules and courses, so being familiar with that – and how to use the internet well for wider searches for information – will help you. If you are not familiar with this, then the university will give you some guidance.

This is not correct. As you will see, many of the skills you develop during your university career will help you beyond your time at university.

Fun is an important part of being at university, but if that is your sole aim, then you will quickly realise that you will be wasting some of the most important years of your life.

This is important. They – and the administrative members of staff around your department – are there to help you, so use them.

This would be a fantastic situation, but is not usually the case for all lecturers. Lecturers sometimes have important activities elsewhere (including overseas), so be sure to make an appointment in advance if necessary.

Many universities will be sympathetic to the need to gain income by working, but few will rarely permit you to miss class because you are doing so, so make sure your university knows what your situation is, and also make sure that you know what the rules are.

If you have domestic duties, then adding the role of ‘being a student’ to these will make life very busy, so ensure that you have as much support around you as possible.

There will be some significant overlap between employers and similar jobs in similar organisations will likely require similar skills, but it does depend on how similar those organisations/jobs are. Working in the marketing department would probably require a different set of skills from someone working in accounting, for example.