Before you start
You're in, but term hasn't started yet. Most places leave this gap quiet — a few emails, then silence until you turn up on day one not quite knowing where to go. First Six fills it. The weeks before Week 1 are the best time to get your bearings, so your first day feels less like a first day and more like coming back somewhere you already know.
There's nothing due yet, and nothing you have to do. This page is just the handful of things worth a few minutes now, so the start of term is calmer when it comes.
Until your cohort's first week begins, First Six opens on a Before you start home instead of the weekly view: a countdown to your first day, a short list of head-start actions, and a preview of your Orientation week as it fills in. It switches over to the normal week-by-week experience on its own once term starts — you don't have to do anything.
Get a head start
None of these are homework. They're the things that make week one lighter if you do them early, and each one only appears if your institution has it switched on.
- Finish your profile
If you haven't already, tell First Six a little about you — your degree, your campus, your story. It's what lets your first weeks arrive shaped around you rather than generic.
- Find your people
See who's starting alongside you — same campus, same course, the groups worth knowing before you arrive. Turning up already recognising a few names takes a surprising amount of the edge off.
- Get the essentials and learn the campus
The links and guides you'll want from day one are already open, and the campus map lets you find your way around before you even get there.
If the first-day nerves are already showing up, that's ordinary — most people feel it and few say so. Wellbeing is a quiet place to land before term even starts, and if you've got a question you can ask it now; a real person is already here to answer.
Your first week is Orientation
Your first week on First Six is Orientation week — the same events, the same people to meet, laid out day by day. As your institution loads the schedule, it appears here so you can see what's on and plan the few things you don't want to miss before you arrive.
If it still looks thin, that's just timing: Orientation fills in closer to the date. Check back as it gets nearer and the events, the people, and what to do first will all be waiting.
Common questions
Do I have to do any of this before I start?
No. Nothing here is required and nothing is due. It's an invitation to arrive already feeling at home, not a checklist you can fall behind on.
When does it turn into the normal app?
Automatically, when your cohort's first week begins. The countdown becomes the live weekly view — same app, it just meets you where the term is.
Can I ask a question before term starts?
Yes. Help is open now, and you'll get a real reply from your institution's team. See asking anything.
Related
The fastest answer is usually one question away.