My life as a student

Paloma Faith, Mark Watson, Jessica Ennis and other celebs reveal all about their student days

Paloma Faith
Singer

Northern School of Contemporary Dance; Central St Martins College of Art and Design

Performing arts; scenography

I'm from Hackney and my mum was adamant that I should leave London for a few years and learn to be independent, so I was really excited to get a place at the Northern School, especially because only 50 people were accepted out of 2,000 applicants, so we all felt really special.

It wasn't the normal student lifestyle. We attended classes all day, five days a week, and because it's all about your personal training, you can't have a day off. Then I worked as a dancer one night a week and in a pub three nights a week, so I spent most of my student life exhausted. As dancers we didn't have that booze thing – we'd be up at 7am to go on the cross-trainer before class. I don't think I could have partied as well; I would have had a nervous breakdown.

We all lived in shared flats. Like most people, I was also totally incapable of looking after myself in the first year. I remember waking up one day with conjunctivitis and just lying in my bed shouting "I'm blind! I'm blind!" Eventually my flatmates came in and took me to hospital, thankfully.

I wasn't too worried about making friends – I just made friends with the other weirdos. I'm quite sociable, but I've always been attracted to outsiders. Russella the drag queen was on my course and we are still friends.

But I didn't have an amazing time on my course, if I'm honest. Academically, it wasn't what I was expecting. I found it quite restrictive and narcissistic because you spent all day in rooms full of mirrors focusing on your imperfections – I was prodded and poked a lot, but I didn't have much time to cultivate my mind or my own creativity.

I wanted to stop and do something else, but I felt I needed to prove to everyone that I could do it. I'm stubborn as hell. Which seems ridiculous now, but actually it taught me what I was capable of.

When I graduated, I knew I had to have another chance at education. Doing an MA at St Martins was the best thing. It opened my mind to so many things. The course was full of people from different disciplines who were all interested in performance, so I worked with actors, architects, directors and designers from all over the world, which was massively inspiring. It opened a world of books, theatre and film, and I got to spend the whole year thinking about the human condition, and came out feeling I had something to say.

Looking back on it, I don't know if I should have switched from dance or not. If you are unhappy on your course there are so many other amazing things you could do. But on the other hand I don't believe in giving up, and I do feel my dance degree taught me things as a performer. I feel really confident on stage, and I know what shapes my body is making – and all that comes from dance training.

Top tip: You need to give things time. My mum used to say you need to go on five dates with someone because you can't tell if you like them after one, and that's true about university.

Paloma Faith's new album, "Do You Want the Truth or Something Beautiful?" is out now. She tours the UK in October and November.

Dr Christian Jessen
Doctor and presenter of Embarrassing Bodies

Medicine, Pass

I was fairly terrified on my first day. We had an introductory lecture, which was about how we were going to have to work really hard – no pressure there – and then the older medical students played lots of tricks, including telling us we were going to have to drink urine.

I lived in halls right under BT tower (in London) in my first year, which meant I never got lost. I was in the same block as a group of guys who were in a band. We used to get really annoyed because they were always in the corridor playing their guitars. If only I had known they were going to go on to be Coldplay!

I really enjoyed my course, but I was very naughty – I didn't really go to lectures. In fact, I used to go days without going to lectures, partly because I got far more out of reading a book. I also did lots of non-medic things – I was in the UCL orchestra, and in lots of plays.

I think studying medicine is extra scary. It's such a big commitment, and you know deep down it'll be hard to leave if it's not what you want to do. And actually, what you are learning is often quite harrowing – as soon as you arrive, you are given your first body to cut up, and you start learning about how to tell patients they are dying.

Top tip: This is going to sound slightly nerdy – but then I am a doctor. There's an awful lot of pressure to drink loads and have lots of sex, but learning to say "no'" is a really important part of freshers' week.

Can I Just Ask? by Dr Christian Jessen (Hay House, £12.99) will be published on 1 November.

Jessica Ennis
Heptathlete

Psychology, 2.2

I went to university in my home town so that I could continue my education without jeopardising my training. Athletics was my main priority, but I think my coach was anxious, knowing what students can be like! But my parents were really happy I had found a way to combine both.

Although I was staying in Sheffield, I still wanted to leave home. I decided that living in halls would be too much of a distraction, so I lived in a house with two friends from athletics. I think I probably had a very different freshers' week from most people – I didn't spend the whole week going out and getting drunk because I still had to get up to go training. But I had enjoyed myself quite a lot during sixth form, so in a way I felt I had already done that. And even though I wasn't going out every night it was really easy to meet people on my course, which was great.

I was probably a lot more organised and disciplined about my timetable than the average student, but the worst bit for me was doing presentations. I get nervous when I compete, but standing in front of a room of people to deliver a speech was much more daunting.

I really enjoyed psychology and in an ideal world it would have been nice to have had more time to concentrate on my studies as I definitely had to make sacrifices, missing lectures and deadlines to compete. But it was really nice to do something different and not be focused on sport the whole time. And when I had exams, I could break it up by going training.

Top tip: Get your hands on a map. Sheffield is my home city and I still got lost!

Jessica Ennis is world and European heptathlon champion and world indoor pentathlon champion

Katie Derham
Broadcaster

Economics, 2.2

The most significant thing about freshers' week at Magdalene College in 1988 was the first year women were admitted to Magdalene College – it was the last of the colleges to go mixed. I had gone up a week early to do an audition, but it meant that for the first five days I was the only girl there. I had a regular stream of people knocking on the door announcing that they had "come to see the Magdalene girl"!

I didn't know that economics would be so maths-based – I was shocked at how many lecturers talked in graphs instead of sentences. But I did really enjoy my degree. I found the self-discipline challenging (you don't go to lectures … and then realise at exam time that they might have been quite useful) and the vast reading lists, but I quickly learned to just read the things I needed.

I didn't meet all my closest friends immediately. I threw myself into probably far too much, hence the 2.2. I got involved in committees and the Light Entertainment Society, and did college singing and loads of sport. I didn't shine at anything, but I had a go at everything.

Top tip: Make sure your biscuit tin is full – when you do meet yvour new best friends or dream man you can say: "Come back to my room for coffee – I have biscuits!"

Katie Derham will be presenting live from the Proms for BBC2 and Radio3

Huw Williams
Lead singer, Melodica, Melody and Me

Philosophy and the history of philosophy of science, 2.1

I arrived at my halls quite late on the first day, so it was very manic, with everyone clearly very nervous and lots of people already chummy with each other. You have the same conversation over and over again, saying where you are from and what subject you are doing.

My brother's advice was "Go to whatever is happening and you'll meet other people who don't like it, too". So on my first night I went to a club night called I Love Sex. When I got there, I found I was the only one standing in the corner not enjoying it. It took me a good few months to find people I liked. With hindsight, if I'd joined societies, I'd have found like-minded people much quicker.

Music was a big part of my time. We started the band at school, but all went to different universities, so we got to perform in lots of different cities.

The best bits were the things you can't plan for. In my second year, I lived in a big house with a ceilidh band – we put on open mikes and I learned a lot about traditional folk music and Irish jigs. I started getting involved in campaigns, and I ran an allotment with a friend as part of Leeds Students Green Action.

Top tip: The advice my brother gave me was good – keep with it, and you will meet people you like.

Melodica, Melody and Me's debut single, 'Piece Me Back Together', is out now

Mark Watson
Comedian

Cambridge, 1998-2001, English, First

Virtually every impression I had in freshers' week was negative. I had no confidence whatsoever that I was going to be all right. I thought I would meet people like me at university, but the people I met weren't anything like me. It was only later that I realised the people like me were in their rooms brooding – no wonder I couldn't find them.

At the freshers' fair I signed up for loads of things (as I was writing my name I'd catch myself thinking "I won't want to do that"). I turned up to the German Society hoping to practise my German. It was awkward explaining in German that I wasn't actually German. After two pints and an hour of being spoken to by kind Germans, I left. Though I never had the courage to unsubscribe from the emails.

The other thing about freshers' week is the way it exposes your lack of personal competence. I turned up to my first supervision covered in blood, as if I had come direct from the battlefield. In fact, I had had a nosebleed on the way, I didn't have any tissues and had no idea where the nearest shop was. At the time I thought I was going to have to leave the city, but in fact it was something we ended up laughing about.

Eventually I made friends, got up the courage to audition for Footlights and started to enjoy my degree. But freshers' week was really odd – my advice is to disregard nearly everything that happens.

Top tip: A note on toasted sandwich-makers: leave that sandwich to cool before you eat it. And do clean the toaster or you'll have to buy a new one at the end of the year.

Mark will be on tour throughout the UK from October; www.markwatsonthecomedian.com

Jimmy Doherty
Farmer

Zoology, 2.1

I was obsessed with insects, so the degree was a real passion. The one incident that sticks in my mind was a really strict professor who hated anyone eating in his lectures. I was munching a pork pie when he came in. I panicked and stuffed the pie into the top of the projector. Two minutes later, the projector went on and there was this huge pork pie on the screen.

My family lived in Essex and I wanted to continue working in the wildlife park I had worked for since I was 13, so I lived half at home and half at UEA.

Top tip: Make a budget. When I did my PhD I lived with a French guy and we would always go to the market and cook from scratch. We baked our own bread and it saved us a fortune.

Jimmy will be hosting the festival Jimmy's Harvest at his farm on 11-12 September; www.harvestatjimmys.com

Bridget Phillipson
MP for Houghton and Sunderland South

History, 2.1

One of the first things I learned at Oxford was that if you missed dinner in Hall you were pretty much snookered – though you could always use the toaster in the common room. In the first month, I came back late one night and burnt my toast, setting off the smoke alarm and getting everyone out of bed.

I joined the Oxford Labour Club in the first week.I really enjoyed meeting people from a broad range of backgrounds – including from the Conservative Association. That really helped me to hone my arguments. There are definitely similarities between freshers' week and your first week as an MP – not least that everyone asks your name, your constituency and your majority. I should probably ask what A-levels everyone got!

Top tip: Get on and join things. I played women's rugby for two years – it wasn't a massive commitment, but it was good fun and I met people from other colleges.