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Gap Year Or Portsmouth?

Ok so. I'm currently planning on taking a gap year and going to either Brighton or UCA Farnham to study animation in 2025. However. A large-ish group of my friends at college are all going to Portsmouth Uni, and are planning to try and get accommodation together.
When I first started college, I lost my entire friend group from secondary because I was the only one who went to my college, and they all went elsewhere together. It's sort of caused me to cling onto the new friends I've made over the last 2 years, and I'm terrified that if I don't go to Portsmouth with them I'm going to lose them, which is an awful concept to me because I really care about all of them.

Do I continue with my plan to go to UoB or UCA next year, or do I try and apply now for UoP? If there's anyone on the Portsmouth uni animation course who can tell me what it's like, that would also be appreciated!!!

I know everyone always says "don't follow your friends" when it comes to uni, but I am terrified of doing this alone, and knowing I would be doing it with my friends would be a massive support and comfort for me, but also, this is possibly my entire future at stake, so no pressure on me at all if I choose the wrong uni /sar.

Reply 1

University of Huddersfield

Official Rep

Original post by koidotcom

Ok so. I'm currently planning on taking a gap year and going to either Brighton or UCA Farnham to study animation in 2025. However. A large-ish group of my friends at college are all going to Portsmouth Uni, and are planning to try and get accommodation together.
When I first started college, I lost my entire friend group from secondary because I was the only one who went to my college, and they all went elsewhere together. It's sort of caused me to cling onto the new friends I've made over the last 2 years, and I'm terrified that if I don't go to Portsmouth with them I'm going to lose them, which is an awful concept to me because I really care about all of them.
Do I continue with my plan to go to UoB or UCA next year, or do I try and apply now for UoP? If there's anyone on the Portsmouth uni animation course who can tell me what it's like, that would also be appreciated!!!
I know everyone always says "don't follow your friends" when it comes to uni, but I am terrified of doing this alone, and knowing I would be doing it with my friends would be a massive support and comfort for me, but also, this is possibly my entire future at stake, so no pressure on me at all if I choose the wrong uni /sar.

@koidotcom

I think you need to go to the best place for you and the course you want to do. You could go to Portsmouth, but I assume your friends are doing different courses to you, so even if you do end up going there, you might see less of them than you think, even if you end up living together.

Depending on your friends' attitude towards university, they may also be looking to meet new people and may want to spend time with people from their course or new housemates ( if it's not possible to live with your other friends), so you might find that you are hanging around with your friends but also the new people they have met. In other words, things are unlikely to be the same as it was or has been. Your friendship group may become wider and you may have less in common with some of the others or it might fracture into smaller groups.

Don't get me wrong, I do think it's important to hang on to good friends, but I don't think going to the same university is necessarily the way to do this. University is a time when people change and when they become more of the person they want to be going forward and so friendships can mirror this e.g. being friends with people who want to pursue a particular career or vocation.

Finally, it's okay to have different groups of friends for different seasons of life. As difficult and painful as it is friendships do come and go and sometimes the friends you need in one season are not the best suited for another, so it's important to remember that change is okay. Of course, it's good to try and stay in contact with good friends but it's also okay to make room for new friends who can become your good friends!

Hope that helps,

Oluwatosin – 3rd year student – University of Huddersfield