Freshers didn’t turn out the way you thought it would? All is not lost. This is how you can create your own university experience.
There’s a lot of buzz and excitement around campus when starting university. Everyone seems to be having a good time – going out, joining clubs, meeting new friends. It can seem like a scene plucked right out of a movie, the ideal most people associate with uni life. However, there is another side to Freshers, particularly for first years, which isn’t spoken about. Odds are you’ll have a lot of expectations for uni, with all the information you’re bombarded with by prospectuses, other students, posts and pictures online. But like most information communicated over social media, this may not be a realistic portrayal. University is not a one-size-fits-all experience.
Especially for Arts, Humanities and Social Science Students.
Meeting with the team behind The Edit and discussing Freshers, a common theme regarding university finally reared its head. With a lack of contact hours, big classes and most work being independent, there can feel like a lack of community on AHSS degrees, making it very easy to feel isolated. And none of us expected that. One of the characteristics of our school is that AHSS students are passionate about their subjects. So we all expected to meet people who were History heads, fired up about Film, that lived for Languages. We anticipated meeting our kind of people. Instead we were met with an overwhelming room of faces, for a few hours every week. As well as the generalised expectations we inherited about constant partying and the best years of our lives, our degree subjects came with a specialised set of expectations.
Our team agreed the worst thing about this experience was not knowing others were going through a similar situation. It isolates people. While this remains unspoken it remains unaddressed, allowing the false of ideal about uni life to thrive and student disillusionment and disappointment to continue. Siobhan O’Neill, Professor of Mental Health Sciences, identified a specific “pressure on students to be both socially and academically successful” (Belfast Telegraph). When we allow this ideal to embody success then this pressure can be overwhelming – defining a situation like Freshers’ Fair, or first semester or even the entire process of higher education.
There is a positive note to this article. Ironically, such isolation unites students struggling with the realities of university life as from it we can form a community. Here at The Edit, our focus for the year is the ability you have to ‘Create your own Career’. However, we can take this manifesto and apply it to university. If you feel this disillusionment or isolation, the important thing is firstly, speaking up about it; but secondly, doing something about it. You’ve chosen to be here, you pay to be here and so you should never feel like university is something that is just happening to you. You are able to create and change your university experience, both for yourself and others. Here’s how you can make it happen:
Clubs and Socs – Make the best use of them. They are an excellent way to not just meet new people but build the sense of community that might be lacking elsewhere in your uni experience. Joining might not be enough. Like our university ideal in general, you can’t expect Clubs and Socs to be perfect or fulfil your wishes. The only way to achieve this is by get involved and be active – show up and share ideas or put yourself forward for a role.
Placements/Work Experience/Volunteering – The typical experience you’re told you should do to make you more employable. Writing for an employability magazine, we can confirm it will. However, you’ll also gain experience while meeting new people with similar interests and create a sense of community outside your degree. University life is about more than a course and should be for your enjoyment as well as your employability.
Help is Here – Seek it out. The Student Guidance Centre does what it says on the tin. You don’t need to know what you’re looking for when you go in, a simple chat with someone might make that clear. Peer Mentors benefit from training for their role, but being a student means they understand your point of view. They want to help and there are a wealth of them, so don’t be afraid to reach out. Course Reps, again, signed up to work on your behalf, they are there to be bothered by you and have the ammunition to impact on your degree on your behalf. Remember, you’re trying to create the best possible experience for you, the role of these people is to do that for everyone.
Considering all this, university is something to be excited about. Allow yourself creative freedom in your degree and your university experience. Because once you smash the ideal, that’s what you’re left with. Maybe not a complete blank slate, but you can create and change your course to be the best it can be, once you see it for what it is. This will make you unique, confident and employable as well as a much happier student.
(NK)