Making friends at uni - MMU

So I am in foundation year for chem at MMU and I know absolutely no one like my friends are in the same uni but doing different courses. I had a seminar yesterday and a lecture today and no one seems to interact with each other unless they know each other. I feel rlly awkward walking out of the lecture theatre without friends. Is this how it is at the start of uni? How do I make friends?

Reply 1

lizocean

3

Original post by Anonymous

So I am in foundation year for chem at MMU and I know absolutely no one like my friends are in the same uni but doing different courses. I had a seminar yesterday and a lecture today and no one seems to interact with each other unless they know each other. I feel rlly awkward walking out of the lecture theatre without friends. Is this how it is at the start of uni? How do I make friends?

Try to join a society, a sport club or simply start conversations yourself with people you fine interesting, like that you will have choice on who to end up with more wisely and not going on by opportunity on whether others speak or not. Just start yourself youll see people around you getting out the shells as well. Hope this helps you

Reply 2

University of Bath

Official Rep

13

Original post by Anonymous

So I am in foundation year for chem at MMU and I know absolutely no one like my friends are in the same uni but doing different courses. I had a seminar yesterday and a lecture today and no one seems to interact with each other unless they know each other. I feel rlly awkward walking out of the lecture theatre without friends. Is this how it is at the start of uni? How do I make friends?

Hi there anon,

Please don't worry - making friends at uni isn't always easy and a lot of people's experience with this starts off a little slower, especially because you are getting used to so many new things at once. I cannot speak for MMU (@Manchester Met - Student Rep maybe you can help with the specifics :smile:

) - but how I made my friends at uni was through group work in my modules with the others in my tutor group, through my work as a student ambassador and by actively asking after lectures if anybody wants to grab a coffee or work on an assignment together. I would also say that most people don't meet their true friends until later in their course when everything has settled down. I didn't really meet my real friends until second and third year (and they weren't doing the same course as me!), so please don't worry. Just keep taking opportunities, and putting yourself out there and you will meet more people naturally :smile:

I really hope that helps - best of luck and please post any more questions on here!

Holly
University of Bath

Reply 3

Manchester Met - Student Rep

Official Rep

16

Original post by Anonymous

So I am in foundation year for chem at MMU and I know absolutely no one like my friends are in the same uni but doing different courses. I had a seminar yesterday and a lecture today and no one seems to interact with each other unless they know each other. I feel rlly awkward walking out of the lecture theatre without friends. Is this how it is at the start of uni? How do I make friends?

Hi there,
Manchester Met student here 🙂 chemistry is an amazing course well done for getting onto the course! I had such a similar experience in my 1st to 3rd week of first year. I remember going into a big room full of complete strangers and just awkwardly sitting with people for a few hours haha. I am here to tell you though it gets better. By finding the people in the class who live in same accom as me I started walking to lecture with them, so when I got there I had friends to sit with. It’s also lovely to have almost a ‘compulsory’ chat time whilst walking to lectures as it builds a relationship and gives you time to make more plans together during the week.
For example, I lived in Cambridge accom and found 4 others who lived there so we would walk to and from lectures together. From there we organised nights out and met up for coffees!
I would also say the people you interact with in those first few weeks might not be your friends for the whole course. I moved groups a lot til I found my people, this is totally normal. Don’t stress if you don’t find them straight away.
Most courses have a society. For example I’m in SLT and it has an SLT society, so from there I met more course folk which was just awesome!
Don’t give up! It’s only up from here!
Best wishes,
Emily

Reply 4

Anonymous #1

OP

Original post by Manchester Met - Student Rep

Hi there,
Manchester Met student here 🙂 chemistry is an amazing course well done for getting onto the course! I had such a similar experience in my 1st to 3rd week of first year. I remember going into a big room full of complete strangers and just awkwardly sitting with people for a few hours haha. I am here to tell you though it gets better. By finding the people in the class who live in same accom as me I started walking to lecture with them, so when I got there I had friends to sit with. It’s also lovely to have almost a ‘compulsory’ chat time whilst walking to lectures as it builds a relationship and gives you time to make more plans together during the week.
For example, I lived in Cambridge accom and found 4 others who lived there so we would walk to and from lectures together. From there we organised nights out and met up for coffees!
I would also say the people you interact with in those first few weeks might not be your friends for the whole course. I moved groups a lot til I found my people, this is totally normal. Don’t stress if you don’t find them straight away.
Most courses have a society. For example I’m in SLT and it has an SLT society, so from there I met more course folk which was just awesome!
Don’t give up! It’s only up from here!
Best wishes,
Emily

I have interacted with a few people in the course I am trying to put in effort to speak but I feel like majority of the people in my course are not my vibe. It’s like when I put the effort into communicate the energy is not reciprocated. I mean so far it has only been 3 days since I have been, 2 of those days were induction but I guess I will try waiting a few more weeks to see.

Reply 5

Manchester Met - Student Rep

Official Rep

16

Original post by Anonymous

I have interacted with a few people in the course I am trying to put in effort to speak but I feel like majority of the people in my course are not my vibe. It’s like when I put the effort into communicate the energy is not reciprocated. I mean so far it has only been 3 days since I have been, 2 of those days were induction but I guess I will try waiting a few more weeks to see.

Hi there,
Definitely do not not worry if it’s just a few days in! People take time to settle in and when people are nervous often they talk less! Everyone will probably just be feeling quite nervous and so more casual chatty convos might take more time to happen 🙂. I remember induction stressing me out as I was so focused on trying to learn things and remember it all I talked less than I normally would ( normally you can’t shut me up!). Sounds like you’re doing a fab job on making an effort with everyone. Keep it up, I am sure it will pay off! Just give it time!
Best wishes,
Emily

Reply 6

dermsy1310

1

Original post by Anonymous

So I am in foundation year for chem at MMU and I know absolutely no one like my friends are in the same uni but doing different courses. I had a seminar yesterday and a lecture today and no one seems to interact with each other unless they know each other. I feel rlly awkward walking out of the lecture theatre without friends. Is this how it is at the start of uni? How do I make friends?

fellow mmu student here!! if youre sturggling to make friends the best way to (especially early doors) is to sit next to people in lectures and get a conversation going! to be honest ive only made 2 friends at uni but i met them in my introductory lecture when they both came and sat next to me and started chatting! i promise people arent as mean/intimidating as they may seem but i know its scary, i was scared too but i promise youll be fine 🙂