Easing your Anxieties about Starting at UVic

by · March 20, 2023

In the weeks and months leading up to my first year at UVic, I was super anxious about logistics. How do I know where I’m going? What do I do if I don’t like what I’m studying? Am I going to embarrass myself if I get lost? While I was excited in general about university, my nervousness about many aspects of student life would have benefitted from some reassurance.

Four years later, I wish that I could’ve told my pre-first-year self that I had nothing to worry about. It’s not so bad! So, if you’re coming to UVic in the next few months and you’re worried about what to expect, I hope this post can ease some of your anxieties.

The UVic campus is easy to navigate

Plain and simple, UVic is much easier to navigate than I originally thought. In fact, it’s probably one of the easiest campuses in BC for finding your way around.

UVic is small, you can walk across it in 10-15 minutes, and the campus is one big circle, with some buildings surrounding the circle. Also, maps of UVic are posted all over campus, and buildings always have signs outside of them identifying what they are. Download a picture of the UVic map on your phone for the first few days, but in no time, you’ll be finding your way around like a pro.

UVic maps all over campus

Building signs

It’s easier to find your classes than you may think

Related to the last fact, finding your classes is also quite simple. So you’ve used the UVic map to find your building — but how do you know where to go once you’re inside?

Luckily, in front of pretty much any main door of any building, there are signs with building directories, letting you know which floor and wing a certain room number is in. You’ll also see lots of arrows with room numbers posted on the walls to help you along the way.

To this day, I still sometimes have to go to a new building for the first time and rely on some of these signs. It’s very easy, and in your first week, you’re going to see so many students doing the exact same thing as you!

Building directories and maps

You’re not locked in to courses

Let’s say you get a couple classes into a course that sounded amazing on paper, but once you’re there in-person, you don’t think it’s your cup of tea — can you drop it? Absolutely!

The drop-date for a 100% refund on your course fees is always a couple weeks into the semester, and the 50% refund drop-date is a couple weeks out from there as well. Make sure you check the UVic course calendar for these dates, and go to Manage Registration in your Online tools to properly drop the course.

You are not alone

By Andrew Neel on Unsplash

It’s a common misconception that once you leave high school and enter university the supports you had, such as counselors and career advisors, disappear. In fact, the support at university increases, and UVic has so many services to help you through your student life and the transition to university.

For example, as in the last section, if you weren’t sure whether dropping a course was the right option for you or you wanted to make sure you were dropping it within the deadline, you could speak to an academic advisor!

Here are some other amazing UVic supports:

I hope this post helped ease some of your anxieties about starting at UVic — welcome to an amazing campus!

By Kobu Agency on Unsplash

 

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