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Do London students network across unis within the city?

Hi, this is my first post, eeek!

Starting uni in London in Sept and am wondering how I can network with people across different London unis - or if that is even a thing?! It's one of my reasons for choosing London as I don't want to be limited by one uni approach but I'm not sure how people go about it?

Reply 1

LucyJ81

Congrats for getting a place! My personal experience of cross-networking is fairly limited as there are so many people already to talk to at your own uni and I would expect most people find their experience to be vaguely similar. But I'm sure various societies organise joint events across London and you can always download apps like QuickDrink to help meet students from the other unis. I guess it depends what you're after in terms of networking...friends, dating, debating...etc

Reply 2

Nishixxx

Original post by LucyJ81

It would be good to just get other influences as I don't want to get institutionalised by one place and want to build a decent network of people I know across the city so we can use each other as resources but not necessarily do that through big organised events. Ill try the app if that's useful as I'd rather just meet people one on one. Makes sense that most people stick to their own campus mostly but I was just hoping that in a city as big as London there would be other people looking for the same things as me! Thx

Reply 3

z33

Can't speak for London since I don't go to uni there but in Brighton yes there's a lot of mingling between Sussex and Brighton students, to the point where they would attend each others' events and everyone knows atleast one person from the other uni. In London I imagine it'll be quite difficult since the universities are quite spread out and the city is quite big. Most universities don't have campuses really, buildings are spread far apart etc.

For example Brunel and Hertfordshire are both London universities but Brunel is on the far West and Hertfordshire is right up North just outside London itself so the students would never cross path since it's an hour drive away. Now if you're talking central London unis, like UCL and Kings, that's a lot more possible because those universities are within walking distance of each other. Then again they have a weird rivalry going on and the students probably won't live in central London because it's too expensive and the tube network allows them to live out a few zones and commute in so you won't bump in to them at random. Like I said it's a big city and in such a 'touristy' place as central London, you're not going to get a 'cosy student town' vibe.

Reply 4

stephgate

There's also some intercollegiate halls like Garden Halls in Bloomsbury where different unis share the halls, so that might be a good idea for you :smile:

Reply 5

Nishixxx

Original post by stephgate

There's also some intercollegiate halls like Garden Halls in Bloomsbury where different unis share the halls, so that might be a good idea for you :smile:

Awesome! I saw some halls when I visited but not all so will see if they're available, thx

Reply 6

Nishixxx

Original post by z33

Thanks, yeh i don't particularly want the cosy student town vibe, more that I want a broader network than my coursemates and internal societies...e.g. other people you could bounce career ideas with who've had a different experience to my own. Sounds like it is possible, I'll be going to UCL so will be central :smile:

Reply 7

rockrunride

Agree with the above, and especially so if you participate in a sport. I went to a central London uni and met students from many others that way.

Reply 8

Stickman

Yeah societies or halls.

Halls - I didn't live in any but my friends used to live in halls with other London unis.

Societies - you normally get to play matches against other London unis and so you get to meet other people through there.

Reply 9

jelly1000

Original post by Nishixxx

In answer to your thread title some do and some don't. As an example take two of my friends who went to UCL. One lived in intercollegiate halls, so became good friends with a couple of people at other London unis. One friend lived at home and all her friends were from UCL.