One of the biggest social experiences you get to have during your time at university must be Freshers’ week. During the first week before teaching starts, you get to experience many different new things. This includes moving into halls, meeting the flatmates you’ll be living with for 9 months, going out and enjoying the night life with freshers’ events, and going to society taster events.
Societies are a huge part of university life for me, with quite a few of my days having some sort of society meeting happening after lectures. Choosing a society, volunteering group or association might be difficult to start off with, as you might feel a bit overwhelmed – the Guild of Students here support over 250 student-run societies (including one dedicated to hummus).
Luckily, I have a few tips for any of you who are feeling overwhelmed by going to societies, or even trying to choose!
- If you’re finding it difficult think of what societies to join – go to their taster days!
- Almost every society will have a free or low-cost taster day that doesn’t require you to be a member to have a go!
- There are a few exceptions though, I’d assume the skydiving society would have a pretty big cost attached, but that’s because it’s skydiving!
- Go to as many societies as you can!
- If you’re interested in a lot of different hobbies – or want to try something new, go to as many as you can!
- A lot of taster sessions overlap, but you can always contact societies via email or though any social media so you can see what works best for you
- Go to societies fair!
- Going to societies fair can be a real adventure, discovering societies that you would never knew exist.
- Give It a Go Fair, in the middle of the year, is also a great chance to find something new in the middle of term!
- It’s important to do your research and think about how much time, effort and money to commit to a society.
There’re huge advantages to being part of a society. One of the societies I’m a part of, CSS, the Computer Science Society, is a huge community full of people who are passionate about computing -highly recommended if you’re doing Comp Sci – all the bigger events of the year are held by them. The CSS ball sold out in under 2 hours this year! There are also many different hobby societies I’m a part of, including Computer & Videogames Society, where I’m on the committee (helping to run the society), Games Development Society, and Tabletop Society, just to name a few.
Societies are a big facet of university life, helping you find people who share the same interests and hobbies as you, a place to unwind after a long and stressful day, and a place where you can just enjoy the company around you.
Hopefully, this will help you a little in finding and choosing societies that you would want to join and be a part of.