Uni group chats

Hello , starting uni in September, how do I make friends with ppl before starting uni ? How do I speak to them in the group chats or what do I message them outside of group chats ?

Reply 1

CardiffUni Rep 2

Official Rep

Hi there!

This is a great question, and something I was really worried about before I started going to university as well! I'd say that yes, groupchats are probably the way to go if you want to start making friends before uni! Sometimes your univerity might set up an offer holders groupchat, but sometimes they don't. Facebook groups are a great place to find groupchats, I recommend looking for groups titled "offer holders" or even "freshers", there are bound to be loads. These groups tend to be quite big so people sometimes make posts to make smaller groupchats elsewhere :smile:

After that, it's pretty straightforward, don't be afraid to just say hi and introduce yourself! Conversation usually flows after that :smile:

~ Fatiha, Cardiff University Student Rep

Reply 2

De Montfort University

Official Rep

Original post by redjelly21

Hello , starting uni in September, how do I make friends with ppl before starting uni ? How do I speak to them in the group chats or what do I message them outside of group chats ?

Hiya!

It's great to hear that you're starting university! I hope you're excited. Some universities offer official services to help students connect with each other. For example, at DMU, we have a group chat called "Connect with your DMU community" on The Ambassador Platform. Check if your university offers a similar service.

Unofficially, you can also join Facebook or WhatsApp groups where students often share information about their courses and accommodation. There may be even a Fresher page on TSR for your university, so it is worth having a look around.

Don't worry if you don't find anything or anyone before you start. I didn't either, and it didn't put me at any disadvantage and I still managed to make friends on my course and during Freshers Week.

-Maddie, Second year Health and Well-being in Society student at De Montfort University

Reply 3

PS Reviewer

Be warned - lots of unofficial facebook groups and WhatsApp/messenger groupchats aren’t run by universities or even students. They’re used by event organisers to use reps to promote freshers events (unofficial ones, tickets sold through fatsoma). The reps are pretty stupid and repetitive and just bang on about freshers events and ticket links and drinking all the time.
The key is to use these groups to find actual genuine freshers by asking people what they are going to study, where they will be living etc and then connecting with the real freshers on other platforms.

This is one benefit of TSR - the fake freshers can’t get a foothold here so when you do find someone from your university or course or hall they are likely to be real!

Reply 4

hallamstudents

Official Rep

Original post by redjelly21

Hello , starting uni in September, how do I make friends with ppl before starting uni ? How do I speak to them in the group chats or what do I message them outside of group chats ?

Hi there,

Joining some group chats is a good way of getting to know people before you move to uni so I would recommend finding some and joining them.

When I started uni, I found the group chats on Facebook and joined them from there. There will usually be a group for the university that you are going to and within this there will be other groups for things such as your accommodation. I recommend joining the accommodation group as this is a good way of meeting the people that you will be living with. Usually people post in here asking what flat people are staying in so you can find them which I liked as it meant that I knew a few people before I moved in.

You can also find people through other social media such as Snapchat and on here!

I would say though that there will be a lot of promoters in these group chats trying to sell tickets so be wary of this if you don’t want to buy any tickets for freshers events. Even if you do want to go out in freshers week you don’t have to buy these tickets so don’t buy anything you don’t want to.

I hope this helps,

Lucy - SHU student ambassador 🙂

Reply 5

University of Sunderland Student Ambassador

Official Rep

Original post by redjelly21

Hello , starting uni in September, how do I make friends with ppl before starting uni ? How do I speak to them in the group chats or what do I message them outside of group chats ?

There's often Facebook groups designed for freshers and specific accommodation chats of where you're staying. This can be a good way to make some connections before starting uni. If you search university of __ freshers 2024 something should come up. I'd advise posting and just introducing yourself and mention the course that you'll be studying.