How to choose what societies to join at university!

What is a society?

It’s a student-run group formed around a shared interest, hobby, identity, or goal, it’s by students for students! They’re like an after-school club for university students like you to meet like-minded people and make friends with those who share your interests.

What types of societies are there?

At Liverpool John Moores University, we have a wide variety of societies: academic, cultural, faith, creative, gaming, sports, and more!

There are over 130 existing societies that students can join!

Is society expensive to join?

Absolutely not! The financial burden of joining a society varies, the cost of joining a society depends on what it's based on with alot of social societies being free! Sports societies will most likely cost due to equipment and maintenance costs but they normally turn out cheaper than private groups outside of university, for example we have a Muay Thai society that only costs £45 for the whole year which is significantly cheaper than my local gym which is £10 for one session!

Where can I find societies?

On our JMSU website! You can find the societies by going onto “student group” page which you'll then find our societies and sport groups.

How many societies should I join?

Keep a limit as to how many you join, especially if they cost money to join. Manage your time and get an idea about what your future routine would be like with lectures, potential jobs, studying, self care, hobbies, etc. Joining too many societies would ultimately lead to leaving them, Alot of societies do meetups when freshers comes around where you can meet the people who run the society, existing members and other new students looking to join it just like you! Use theses opportunities to get a feel of what it is they offer and don't fully commit until you know.

Why should I join a society?

Society offer shared interests, but also a place to make new friends! This is helpful to be apart of especially if you don't make friends with future flatmates or you live from home.

Anthony
Student rep

Reply 1

Kingston Eve

Official Rep

Original post

by LJMUStudentReps

What is a society?
It’s a student-run group formed around a shared interest, hobby, identity, or goal, it’s by students for students! They’re like an after-school club for university students like you to meet like-minded people and make friends with those who share your interests.
What types of societies are there?
At Liverpool John Moores University, we have a wide variety of societies: academic, cultural, faith, creative, gaming, sports, and more!
There are over 130 existing societies that students can join!
Is society expensive to join?
Absolutely not! The financial burden of joining a society varies, the cost of joining a society depends on what it's based on with alot of social societies being free! Sports societies will most likely cost due to equipment and maintenance costs but they normally turn out cheaper than private groups outside of university, for example we have a Muay Thai society that only costs £45 for the whole year which is significantly cheaper than my local gym which is £10 for one session!
Where can I find societies?
On our JMSU website! You can find the societies by going onto “student group” page which you'll then find our societies and sport groups.
How many societies should I join?
Keep a limit as to how many you join, especially if they cost money to join. Manage your time and get an idea about what your future routine would be like with lectures, potential jobs, studying, self care, hobbies, etc. Joining too many societies would ultimately lead to leaving them, Alot of societies do meetups when freshers comes around where you can meet the people who run the society, existing members and other new students looking to join it just like you! Use theses opportunities to get a feel of what it is they offer and don't fully commit until you know.
Why should I join a society?
Society offer shared interests, but also a place to make new friends! This is helpful to be apart of especially if you don't make friends with future flatmates or you live from home.
Anthony
Student rep

Hey @LJMUStudentReps,

Great post!

It's definitely important to only join a few societies at once - which I know can be difficult when there's so many exciting options to choose from! I was a member of three societies in my first year at Kingston (Film, Video Games and Book Club) and quickly found that it was simply too much on top of my other social commitments. In second year, I narrowed it down to two societies instead and felt that it was much better for me in the sense that I could fully engage with both insteading of having to occasionally skip society meet-ups to fulfil other commitments.

I'd recommend anyone to join a society, as there's usually something for everyone and it's a great way to meet new people. If you want to try out lots of different societies, remember that you can join new ones every year - you don't have to stick to the same societies throughout the entirety of your undergrad. 😁

Hope this helps,
Eve (Kingston Rep).

Reply 2

University of Salford Student Rep

Official Rep

Hi,

I agree with @Kingston Eve, it can be really easy to join lots of societies first year and overwhelm yourself with social events, and I think this sometimes leads to people dropping societies altogether.

But at the same time as @LJMUStudentReps said societies are so cheap compared to starting new activities outside uni so if there is something you’ve never done before and just want to give it a go uni is the time to do it.

I know a med student who stayed in one society all 5 years. This was the activity they enjoyed most and where they had solid friends, but each semester they would choose another random one to join. It meant they did like 11 different sports and activities from ballroom dancing to MMA and Video Game Soc to knitting. They chose some because they had an interest previously and it was now cheap like skiing. But others it seemed like a total random choice. They had never knitted before, and I don’t think they have since leaving the society but they thought when else would they try it if not then.

Now as someone not doing medicine I would not have tried to fit 11 different societies into my time at Uni but, med school is a long time, and honestly the amount of friends they have across all different years, skillsets and hobbies is actually quite impressive.

Eleanor
University of Salford Rep

Reply 3

hallamstudents

Official Rep

Original post

by LJMUStudentReps

What is a society?
It’s a student-run group formed around a shared interest, hobby, identity, or goal, it’s by students for students! They’re like an after-school club for university students like you to meet like-minded people and make friends with those who share your interests.
What types of societies are there?
At Liverpool John Moores University, we have a wide variety of societies: academic, cultural, faith, creative, gaming, sports, and more!
There are over 130 existing societies that students can join!
Is society expensive to join?
Absolutely not! The financial burden of joining a society varies, the cost of joining a society depends on what it's based on with alot of social societies being free! Sports societies will most likely cost due to equipment and maintenance costs but they normally turn out cheaper than private groups outside of university, for example we have a Muay Thai society that only costs £45 for the whole year which is significantly cheaper than my local gym which is £10 for one session!
Where can I find societies?
On our JMSU website! You can find the societies by going onto “student group” page which you'll then find our societies and sport groups.
How many societies should I join?
Keep a limit as to how many you join, especially if they cost money to join. Manage your time and get an idea about what your future routine would be like with lectures, potential jobs, studying, self care, hobbies, etc. Joining too many societies would ultimately lead to leaving them, Alot of societies do meetups when freshers comes around where you can meet the people who run the society, existing members and other new students looking to join it just like you! Use theses opportunities to get a feel of what it is they offer and don't fully commit until you know.
Why should I join a society?
Society offer shared interests, but also a place to make new friends! This is helpful to be apart of especially if you don't make friends with future flatmates or you live from home.
Anthony
Student rep

Hi!

I also agree that joining societies is a great thing to do at uni and is a good way to meet people, do something you enjoy and get involved in different things at uni too!

Here are some of my tips to do with societies:

•

Go to the societies fair so that you can see all of the societies that are on offer and talk to the people who run and are part of the societies to see what they say.

•

Join the society for your course as this will often be free/inexpensive and it will be good to get to know the people on your course and will also be good to put on your CV.

•

If there is more than one society that you like the sound of then join them! You can join more than one but try not to join too many at once as it can get a bit overwhelming.