Your first year
Find out what to expect in your first year at a University hall and get tips to help you make it a successful year to remember.
Starting university can be daunting. This page takes you step-by-step through the year to help you understand what to expect, how you might feel and what you can do to help yourself along the way.
Getting ready
Prepare for living in a hall and your first year of study.
- Complete your Student Life modules.
- Set your personal wellbeing goals.
- Prepare your first aid and wellness kits.
- Ensure your vaccinations are up to date.
- Make a plan to stay connected with your whānau.
- Make a weekly budget to help manage your money.
- Check your emails for arrival, Tau Mai, and O-week information.
- Join your hall’s social media pages.
- Check out the accommodation portal.
- If you’re in a University catered hall, download the Time2Eat app.
- Read about the process for moving in.
Read on to see what your first year might be like.
First few weeks of Trimester 1—settling in and making friends
What to expect:
- Tau Mai and orientation week events in your hall and on campus
- new-found freedom and independence
- new people to meet
- new challenges and experiences
- a new routine and environment to adjust to
- concerns about new courses.
Tips
- Make a timetable with time to study, socialise, and exercise.
- Get involved in events, activities, and clubs.
- Keep in contact with whānau.
- Check your budget regularly.
- Talk to hall staff if you have questions or need support.
Suggestions for whānau
- Keep in regular contact with your family member.
- Encourage them to talk to hall staff if they are experiencing challenges.
Six weeks in
What you might experience:
- feeling the pressure of study with a high workload, and assignments due
- course doubts—can I do this?
- struggling with the new environment
- handling new relationships, your living situation, homesickness, and money issues
- feeling isolated or distant
- feeling run down or getting ‘freshers’ flu’.
Tips
- Remember, you can do this and there’s lots of support and advice available.
- Get learning support from tutors, student learning advisers, and workshops.
- Get wellbeing support—talk to hall staff, book an appointment with an Accommodation Wellbeing Adviser, talk to Manawa Ora—Student Wellbeing, Mauri Ora—Student Health and Counselling, or meet with a Student Finance Adviser.
- Be kind to yourself and prioritise your health—eat good food and get fresh air and daily exercise.
Suggestions for whānau
- Send a care package.
- Connect with your family member and encourage them to talk to staff if they need support.
Mid-trimester break
What you might experience:
- two weeks with no lectures and tutorials
- some students choose to head home to connect with family and whānau.
Tips
- Take a break, reflect on where you’re at, catch up on anything you need to, and get sorted for the second half of the trimester.
- Study and work on assignments to come back prepared.
- Review your wellbeing goals and make any changes.
- Restock your wellness kit and book your flu vaccination.
- Review your budget.
- Talk to whānau, hall staff, and Student Finance Advisers if you need support.
Getting back into your routine after the break
What you might experience:
- excitement to reconnect with hall friends
- starting to feel more at home in the hall, on campus, and in Wellington
- it’s starting to get darker and colder.
Tips
- Keep getting support and advice for your wellbeing and study, if needed.
- Balance study, work, socialising, sleep, eating, and exercise.
- Check your budget regularly.
End of Trimester 1—assessment and exams
What you might experience:
- self-doubt as you hit ‘crunch time’ (assessments and exams)
- stress, pressure, and worry
- possible health worries
- homesickness.
Tips
- Take care of yourself—eat, sleep, and exercise.
- Talk to hall staff, your Accommodation Wellbeing Adviser, plus learning and wellbeing support services.
Mid-year break
What you might experience:
- you’ve finished your first trimester of university—celebrate and reflect
- students might choose to go home to catch up with friends and family
- exam and assessment results will come out.
Tips
- Get mentally ready for next trimester.
- Check in on your health and wellbeing.
- Review wellbeing goals and make any changes.
- Revisit the Student Life modules.
- Restock your first aid and wellness kits.
Start of Trimester 2—returning and reorientation week
What you might experience:
- a new routine and timetable
- changes to friend groups, new students moving into the hall, and meeting new people in classes
- orientation week events in your hall and on campus.
Tips
- Update your timetable to balance study, socialising, exercise, and sleep.
- Get involved in events, activities, and clubs in the hall and on campus.
- Keep in contact with whānau.
- Check your budget regularly.
- Talk to hall staff if you have questions or need support.
Suggestions for whānau
- Keep in regular contact with your family member.
- Encourage them to talk to hall staff if they are experiencing challenges.
Mid-trimester break
What you might experience:
- two weeks with no lectures and tutorials
- some students choose to head home to connect with family and whānau.
Tips
- Take a break, reflect on where you’re at, catch up on anything you need to, and get sorted for the second half of the trimester.
- Study and work on assignments to come back prepared.
- Review your wellbeing goals and make any changes.
- Restock your first aid and wellness kits.
- Review your budget.
- Talk to whānau, hall staff, or a Student Finance Adviser if you need support.
- Start thinking about next year:
- Check out the University accommodation options or consider private flatting.
- Applications are open for 2026 accommodation—attend the independent-living halls open day.
- Look into applying for scholarships for summer and next year.
- If you head home during the break, take some of your possessions with you to make moving out in a few months easier.
End of Trimester 2—assessment and exams
What you can expect:
- moving out of the hall.
Tips
- Take care of yourself—eat, sleep, and exercise.
- Talk to hall staff, your Accommodation Wellbeing Adviser, plus learning and wellbeing support services.
- Take part in study week events in the hall.
- Connect with whānau.
Suggestions for whānau
- Send a care package.
- Connect with your family member and encourage them to talk to hall staff if they need support.
End of your first year
What you might experience:
- you’ve finished your first year of university—celebrate and reflect
- exam and assessment results will come out
- you might feel sadness as you move out of the hall and say farewells
- some students might choose to study over the summer (Trimester 3).