If you want to do well at university, you will need to take university as part of your own life.

I want to say this as clearly as possible, as I want to make it clear for my children who will be attending university in a few years. <br><br>When you are at university, you work. In high school, you put in work during school but then you get to go home and take time off. In university, you are going home, but the work is still there and requires you to work. If you want to do well, you will put in work. Be it in group projects, contacts with your professors, and actually doing the school work (yes I know you can sometimes get away with it in high school, I did it). <br><br>I had tried to push this through to my children who are currently in high school. It is better to experience the work of university when you are still living at home so you know what to expect. Nobody is going to babysit you, you have to take care of yourself. It is easier to learn those skills while you are still the dependant than when you are the adult. <br><br>Just want to mention it as well, you will not have time to have a job. I have been a student and a professor, and from either side it is not terribly hard. But that does not mean it is easy. Believe it or not you will be busier working at a university then most jobs. You will have to limit the amount of time you are working outside of your university work. Yes, you may need the money, but you will get out of university what you put in. If you are working an 8 hour day and then trying to do university work, you will not enjoy life and will get exhausted.