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SmoothStart Student Stories

Sage's Story

I am 19 and undertaking a Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of International Studies (Double Degree). I attended a small country school with about 500 students.

Coming to Uni I was concerned about not knowing anyone or how the system works. I didn't have any siblings who had been to uni so didn't know how the assessment system worked or lectures or tutes or anything like that.  I didn't know my way around and my knowledge of Adelaide was pretty limited so moving to the city and becoming independent both at uni and at home was a challenge and overwhelming.

SmoothStart was great.  It created a positive atmosphere for me at uni right from the start. The people were awesome and our mentors gave us a campus tour and speakers talked to us about life at uni and other things like taking exams and organising our time.  It was just great to meet others in the same situation as me and know that there were people there who could help me out and I could talk to if I needed. It just prepared me for what was to come.

I love uni now. I've made some great friends and everyone is on the same level.  There's none of that prejudice that there was at high school.  While adjusting to assessment standards and processes was hard, I love it now.  I'm totally into what I'm studying which helps and I just enjoy the whole social atmosphere of uni.  The friends and memories you make at uni are going to be with you for life.

I want to be a peer mentor so that I can give something back.  I can help out others who are faced with what I was faced with.  It's a chance to make more friends and make the transition to uni less overwhelming for others.  I just can’t wait to be involved with the atmosphere that SmoothStart produced.

Ben's Story

I am 18 years old and went to a small city high school with around 650 students. I am now studying a Bachelor of Science (Biomedical Science).

My concerns about uni were that it would be difficult to find friends and meet people and I would struggle a bit to find my way around because uni is much bigger than my high school was. I also was a bit concerned about how the teaching style differed at uni because there are lectures, tutorials and practicals and it is generally a lot more impersonal.

SmoothStart was great because it helped me meet a few people and make some new friends. It also helped because we were shown around the uni and after that it was very easy to find all my lecture theatres and places I had to go. Having a Peer Mentor for first semester was really good because I could ask her questions about how uni works and get her advice.

I found SmoothStart a really useful programme and I think it is a great idea. I want to be a Peer Mentor so I can help and support other students who might be in a similar situation to the one I was in to find their feet at uni.

The best thing about uni now is the freedom and independence you get. You are in control of your studies at uni and can decide when you would like to do your work, rather than being told when to do it. The other great thing is the courses I do at uni are really interesting and covered in so much more depth than at school.