Everything you really shouldn’t leave until the end of third year

You’re gonna need more than your sociology degree to survive in this cruel world


As a student entering my third year, the existential crises have started to come thick and fast this summer. The stress of applying for internships, the start of worrying about what you’re going to do for the rest of your life and the realisation that youth doesn’t last forever.

Cheery, I know. With that in mind, here are a few things that every uni student should do before they make it to third year. Hopefully this will relieve some of those worries so you can properly enjoy your final year before going into the big bad world (aside from the horrifying dissertation of course).

 

Dust off that suit you last wore at prom and get yourself an internship

Get a couple of internships under your belt before you leave university. Having an internship fall through is a horrendous feeling (trust me, it’s all I’ve whined about for the past month) when you realise your whole summer is now in limbo. Get yourself a few options and start looking early so you know you’re secure. They look great on a CV, provide good experience of a particular workplace and help you discover what you want to do after uni.

 

It is Careers’ job to get you a job…I think…

Use York’s careers services. Even if you just sign up to the email, keep abreast of anything you think may interest you, as the best way to get over the nerves of the wider world of work is to get these taster experiences. While having unread emails are a leading cause of anxiety for, well, me, time at University passes faster than you think and it never hurts to get a foot in the door. Any anxieties about taking that step can be assuaged by York’s careers team, who you can follow on Twitter here.

 

Get a LinkedIn, realistically, your fire memes on Facebook are not going to get you anywhere

Write up your CV to a good standard and set yourself up on LinkedIn. There’s plenty of advice out there on how to make your CV as good as possible, and careers again can help you with that. While LinkedIn is simple enough to use it’s the filling it with jobs that’s the tricky bit! Both will offer you a further understanding of what employers look for, boost your own employability and provide your personal profile with structure. Plus everyone knows if you have a LinkedIn at 18 you’re basically already a millionaire. 

 

Imagine where you could afford to go if it wasn’t for all those VKs…

It’s not all about careers though; it’s arguably more important to enjoy yourself. Obviously many people have already ‘found themselves’ on their gap yahs, but don’t waste your limited holidays hanging around your hometown desperately waiting to get back to York and neck a few VKs. Go and see the world before the stress of having to be an adult kicks in. You might even realise that there is more to life than Wednesday Salvos.

 

Join a society – there’s even one dedicated to Louis Theroux

Whatever you’re interested in, it’s important to find like-minded people at uni to help you settle in, and a big part of doing that is joining a society or sports team. Even if you’re inexperienced at whatever you want to give a go, there’s no better place to try something new than at university. For example, signing up to YuSnow gave me the opportunity to go on the ski trip and provided me with one of the best weeks of my life. I’ve also heard Tab writers are really fucking cool too, so why not join us?!

I’m sure most readers will give this a glance, take none of it in and go back to doing Buzzfeed quizzes for a couple of hours. But take it from me, get a couple of these experiences under your belt and you won’t regret it.

After all, by the time the end of uni comes around this will seem all too real: