After the Leaving Cert revelations and revelries die down, and you think you've just about managed to wrangle your last free congratulatory pint, the serious business of getting ready for college begins.

In between the tedium of filling in forms, having frank financial discussions with your generous parents and the hassle of the accommodation hunt (which is far more vicious than the points race), it's going to be a very busy few weeks. But when all the commotion has died down and it's actually time to go to college, you could find yourself feeling a little deflated and more than a little anxious about what's to come.

As always, information is the key to dissipating your fears, so your first step is to attend your new college's orientation day. All colleges have an orientation day and it is generally held the week before the academic term starts. If you're not going to college in your home town, this may mean you have to travel to your new location for the day to attend, but it's definitely worth it from the point of view of getting to know the college.

"It's vitally important that you come to the freshers' orientation day," Dr Deirdre Flynn, director of the TCD student counselling service, says.

"Someone from all the services will be there to speak to you, such as sports, counselling, the chaplaincy and tutors. It's the best way to get your bearings."

The first few weeks of college can be very intimidating, says Flynn and it's natural to feel somewhat out of place.

"It must be very bewildering coming from the very structured environment of school to a very free and unknown environment where you have to start managing your own time.

"It's a very big transition. People have difficulty adjusting to college for a variety of factors that call on coping skills the student has not yet developed. Students can feel very uncomfortable when what they expect from college is at variance with their experience.

"Even a very competent student can find they don't understand what the lecturer is talking about and students who always understood everything in all their classes at school and never felt at sea are going to feel confused when the get to university."

For some, the biggest problem they face in going away to college is loneliness. Often it seems that everyone else has made friends before you and a lot of people spend their first term at college wishing they were back in school.

"For most, their first port of call is their peers and family," says Flynn.

"Families have an important support role. They need to facilitate the student's independence while still staying in contact with them. There are also the college support services such as your tutor, the students' union, a counselling service, a chaplaincy and a health service."

TCD and UCD also run Niteline, a confidential telephone helpline for students organised and run by student volunteers with the support of counsellors from both TCD and UCD.

Most problems dissipate gradually as people become more familiar with their new environment and the people around them. Coping with the very normal stresses will be made easier if you strike a good balance between study, social life and work, if you happen to have a part-time job.

"It's very important to participate in all college has to offer while keeping up with your college work," says Flynn.

For some, however, things are more difficult and they may find themselves wondering if they have made the right choice in their course, or in coming to college at all.

"If you find yourself in crisis don't just drop out," says Flynn. "Come and talk to us (the student support services) and we can help you discern what's going wrong and give you a plan to deal with it."

This could involve transferring internally to another course at your college or externally to another college.

You need to be sure you're thinking rationally if you intend to take this route. You may be feeling unhappy for reasons other than the course or the college, but they may be the easiest and most obvious things to blame.

"Some people transfer very fast in the first two weeks, but they need to look at the pros and cons of why they're moving and clarify whether the same issues are just going to reoccur elsewhere," O'Flynn advises.

However, she says, some students have just chosen the wrong course.

"If you're clear in your mind that this is the case, people won't push you into staying anywhere. What we will do is help you discern and clarify your reason for wanting to go and then make you aware of your options."

Flynn stresses that it's important not to make these decisions on your own.

"Students are often slow to seek help because they think they should be able to cope on their own. But managing issues by seeking help is the first step to independence and adulthood."