Starting University or College: Managing the Transition
A handout for students beginning university or college, covering the common stresses of the transition, loneliness in the first term, anxiety about performance and belonging, and practical, evidence-informed ways to settle in. CBT and ACT informed.
About this resource
The move to post-secondary education is a major transition that combines several stressors at once: leaving home or changing daily structure, losing an established social network, new academic demands with less external scaffolding, financial pressure, and often the first extended period of self-management. Arnett's (2000) account of emerging adulthood describes this period as one of exploration and instability, and survey research on student populations (for example, Hunt and Eisenberg, 2010) consistently finds high rates of anxiety, depression and loneliness, with many students not seeking help.
Students commonly arrive in therapy in the first term or after the first set of grades, believing that everyone else has adjusted, that their struggle is evidence they do not belong, or that feeling lonely means they have failed socially. This handout normalises the transition, corrects these beliefs, and offers practical guidance in four areas: structure and self-care, building connection deliberately rather than waiting for it, approaching rather than avoiding academic anxiety, and knowing when and where to seek help.
The professional version adds notes on the interaction between transition stress and pre-existing conditions, on students who are the first in their family to attend, on international students, and on liaison with campus counselling and accessibility services.
How to use it
- Use in the first sessions with a student client, or proactively with a late-adolescent client who is about to begin post-secondary study.
- Ask which of the stresses in the first section apply. Students often name only academic pressure and underreport loneliness unless asked directly.
- Identify the beliefs that are maintaining distress ('everyone else is fine', 'I don't belong here') and note them for later cognitive work.
- Use the connection section to plan one concrete, repeatable social step for the coming week, such as attending a club meeting twice.
- Use the reflection fields to build a simple weekly structure and a short list of campus supports the student will actually use.
- Monitor mood and functioning across the first term; the period after first grades is a common pinch point.
References
- Arnett, J. J. (2000). Emerging adulthood: A theory of development from the late teens through the twenties. American Psychologist, 55(5), 469-480.
- Hunt, J., & Eisenberg, D. (2010). Mental health problems and help-seeking behavior among college students. Journal of Adolescent Health, 46(1), 3-10.
- Harris, R. (2019). ACT Made Simple: An Easy-to-Read Primer on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (2nd ed.). New Harbinger.
