Meeting Other Students & Having a Social Life

Meeting Other Students & Having a Social Life

Successful study, making friends and forming social networks often go hand-in-hand. Students that have a good social life and a solid on-campus network often find academic work easier to accomplish.

While uni is hard work, you're allowed to have fun; if you're not happy socially how can you do all the assignments you will be expected to complete?
If you're a school-leaver, you're coming to uni from an environment (high school) where you were thrown together with other people with whom you spent 15 or 20 hours per week. At uni you may only have class contact for an hour and then everyone will disappear. So it is really up to you to make connections with other people: it is worth the effort.
If you're a non-school leaver, you may not spend a great deal of time on campus. If you're juggling other commitments, it's easy to decide you don't have the 'free-time' required to make friends, and that you're just at uni to work.
However—meeting other students is not a luxury, it's a necessity.

Study Networking

Establishing a good social network is crucial to success at uni. Making friends not only contributes to your general well-being, it helps you become a more successful student. It's also vital to establish contacts with student colleagues and participate in formal or informal 'study groups'.
Apart from the enjoyable social aspects of meeting people, it's important to cultivate a group of people with whom you can:

• discuss the work covered in lectures, tutorials and pracs,
• discuss concepts and ideas in your courses,
• exchange advice and nut out problems,
• collaborate on study tasks,
• share references and research,
• borrow and exchange lecture notes, especially if you miss a class.

Student colleagues can also be an important source of support if you experience problems with your studies and need extra help, be it resources or reassurance.

Making Friends

Many lasting friendships are made at uni. The important word here is 'made'. It's a common misconception that making friends at uni will be easy. But establishing friendship networks can be difficult at first. Great friendships don't just happen - you need to look for opportunities to get to know other students.

Meeting People

In your classes

• The first few weeks are the best time to meet other people in your courses. Exchange phone numbers or email addresses with at least one student in each of your tutorials.
• You'll meet lots of other students in your seminars. Small groups like this give you a chance to get to know other students.
• Say hi and introduce yourself to the person sitting next to you in your lectures and tutorials.
• Greet people that you recognise from your classes when you see them around campus.

Outside classes

There are plenty of opportunities to meet people:

• The ARC is your student organisation at UNSW. ARC's mission is to help students make the most out of Uni life.
• Look into the many social and sporting clubs that operate on campus.
• You can meet a lot of people at O-week. Make sure you attend.
• Volunteer! In addition to helping out and learning new skills, volunteering allows you to meet new people. Check out the programs run by ARC.
• Get involved in Peer Mentoring. A great way to meet people.
• Not from Sydney? Be sure to check out the Rural Students website. Also check out the Out-of-Towner group run by the UNSW Counseling Service.
• Check out the activities and resources offered by ARC and join in.