Years of high school have gone and you are in a new place. New faces are all you see. You have a lot of expectations and qualms.
Your freshman year can be a ‘cool ‘experience if you want to, or a difficult one when you choose to focus on the depressing aspects.

First, there’s a small room to share with someone or three other people you may not even like. You may wish to have friends for roommates, but see, the choice is not yours.
Think of it this way, If you had a friend for a roommate, chances are, that you will disagree on some thing which may put an end to your friendship, while if your roommate were a random stranger, you will seek to be at your best and if you disagreed at anyone time, you will not worry about your name being erased from their bridal entourage list.
Mukono is not as close to Kampala as other universities. It is indeed far away from your favorite church or shopping mall.
Julie Ankunda says that she cried all the way to Mukono as her father drove to UCU. For a girl who had been born and raised in the city centre, joining a university far away from the ‘normal’ was the hardest punishment she ever served.
The third year BSIT student felt her world curving in as modernization faded and primitivism became evident. She saw the end of the world.
If you, like Ankunda feel that way in your first week, take solitude walks on Campus and you will discover the magic the place comes with. There is a scenery that is believed to capture your thoughts and at a second glance, kisses away your pain.
Ankunda says, “I took long walks to monkey hill, and I realized how much beauty there was for me to embrace in this place.”
However, if this doesn’t seem to excite you, Kampala is sh.1500 away but that will last for as long as your pocket money is still available.
Sometimes it takes ‘communing’ with second year students to kill your fears as a freshman. Ask them about different Lecturers and direction to different places. For as long as they are of the human race, they will help.
 Remember, this is not like high school where bullying is fashionable. At university, no one ever knows which year you are, unless you walk in a big group and are always asking for the direction to your room.
Starting off with less rigid expectations of the place being boring or your freshman year being miserable, helps a lot.
“I had expected my first roommate to be a mean continuing student but I was proved wrong. Today, we are best friends,” says Nakanwagi, a second year student.
A university is a place where you get more than knowledge. You meet people from different backgrounds and learn how to live with different personalities. 
Donnot try to find out about people’s characters by checking their face book profiles, rather spend five minutes asking about their day or activity. You will learn so much about them than you actually asked.
The major reason that you are here is to study and excel. However, university is different from High school where you buried your head under the covers and with a flash light, read your notes with minimal destruction.
 If you asked any continuing student, you will learn that discussion groups and research are the answer to excellence.  Personal revision alone may be a path to the failure’s lounge.
It’s exciting to learn now that you are more independent than ever before. Free from your parents’ 24 hour watch or the school warden’s prying.
The gates at UCU are wide open and you are free to go anywhere. However, it’s also easy to destroy your life now. This is a point where your choices of friends or fellowships will either build you or break you.
This is the time you choose to walk out of UCU after your three or four years a developed and changed mind or a nuisance with a pass degree.
Make your choice now and from the rest of the community, we say; welcome to the Centre of Excellence in the heart of Africa.