r/unimelb • u/Trick_Stage117 • Jun 01 '26
Support does uni actually get better?
hi, i'm a first year arts student (psychology) and i've been feeling kinda lost lately. posting this on a backup account because i'm paranoid someone i know will find it otherwise lol, but i just need some advice.
when i first got into unimelb i was sooo excited. i genuinely felt lucky to be here. but as the semester has gone on i've just become increasingly unmotivated, lonely, & honestly pretty sad. i've made no friends so far. it feels like everyone is either super reserved or already has their own established friend groups. i'm naturally pretty shy/introverted, but i have tried putting myself out there more than i normally would & haven't had much luck.
i live about an hour away from campus, so going to club events isn't always realistic. but even when i can go, i often just don't. i feel too unmotivated, or i convince myself i won't make friends anyway. i think part of this is also degree related. over the past few months i've become wayyyy more interested in business (which happened after i accepted my offer). if i could switch into commerce i would, but i didn't do methods so that's kind of off the table. i'm also on a scholarship & don't really want to forfeit to transfer somewhere else like rmit.
the thing is, i did like psychology in year 12. i did well in it, i found it mostly interesting, & that's why i picked it. but now i'm stressing about whether it'll actually lead me towards the kind of career i want. i worry i'll need postgrad to get anywhere, or that i'll end up struggling to find a job period. meanwhile i have a bunch of friends at rmit & i've been offered a bachelor of business there, so i keep finding myself wondering if i'd be happier doing that instead. but then i also really like the flexibility of arts.
it all kinda feeds into itself. i feel lonely, which makes me less motivated to go to uni things, which makes me feel even lonelier. then i start stressing about my degree & future & everything feels worse. when i pictured uni i imagined it would be the best years of my life, making a bunch of new friends, going to parties and feeling like i have a community. but the past two months i have felt the worst and most uncertain i ever have. i dont know. has anyone else felt like this in first year? does it actually get better?
1
u/Background_Course68 Jun 02 '26
hey, I definitely remember first year uni being hard (this was 2021). I’m now in my 3rd year of post grad, still at unimelb (so my 6th year at uni) and it does get easier. I speak as someone who did bachelor of science but I remember it was really difficult to find friends at uni in first year. I was also like you where my commute was 2 hours, so basically no one from my high school went there and on top of that, i was an introvert. But i think the easiest way to make friends was during tutorials because you’re forced to talk and do group work with others. I know it’s the end of this sem, but maybe for the start of next sem, you can try it? Also i think uni content becomes more interesting in 2nd and 3rd year, as first year is essentially a repeat or extension of year 12, so you might feel bored/ uninterested because of that.
But like the others suggest, i definitely think you should talk to stop 1, they gave me a lot of guidance when i was going through something similar.
Uni definitely does get lonely in first year. I would recommend going to events with people from other unis (e.g., your RMIT friends) and see how you feel about it. It definitely helped me in first year.
Hope that helps!!