If you ask me what my favourite memory is from my first year at UCLan, I will hands down say the Freshers Fair during Welcome Week.
The reason for this is that I got the incredible opportunity to learn about various societies available for UCLan students to join. They had set up stalls with brochures, and some even had free snacks and goodie bags that they were giving to those who signed up.
Each society was unique in its own way and had something captivating about them. My friends and I visited each stall and were so intrigued that we ended up signing up for their Fresher's events. By the end of the day I had found a few societies that really drew me in their direction, so I signed up to become a member.
These included the UCLan Medical Society, EmPulse, and GP Society, which caught my eye with the events that they were planning to hold. They also had benefits such as revision sessions before exams, attending conferences at other universities, and so on.
UCLan has a wide variety of societies for one to choose from. There are societies that are catered to your specific course, sports, gymnastics or research. There are also some fun ones like the film society and board gaming society. There are over 70 societies to choose from or if you feel like there’s a society missing, it is easy to form a new one.
Societies bring together like-minded people to share a common interest. I'm studying Medicine at UCLan, so I ended up joining a few medical societies.
There are a number benefits to being a member in a society. The main one being discounted society merchandise, free entry to some of their events, and many more.
Being a member of a society means you have member priority for events with limited capacity. The main reason I joined societies was because I got to meet new people and gain knowledge as well, expanding my social circle. Getting involved with the extra-curricular activities, I have ended up meeting people with the same interests as me. Some of them even became my closest friends.
Being a new starter at UCLan, as well as starting as an international student, I found being a part of societies great for making friends. It also helped with getting to know my senior student colleagues, which proved very useful in getting tips on how to do well in my course.
A few friends of mine joined sports societies, became part of the UCLan sports team, and got to travel to new places to play matches with other universities. They also talk about how they got to meet many new people and learn how to become comfortable with being a part of a new team.
"You can even take on leadership roles and contribute to making the society better, which also looks very attractive on your CV. There are various roles you can take on in a society, such as President, Vice-Chair, Secretary, and Treasurer and so on."
Being a part of a society does not mean you can only be a member. You can even take on leadership roles and contribute to making the society better, which also looks very attractive on your CV. You can learn key skills such as how to be responsible as well as how to contribute to building the team. This is also an early learning ground to finding an effective work-life balance. There are various roles you can take on in a society, such as President, Vice-Chair, Secretary, and Treasurer and so on.
In my second year, I applied to become the Freshers Planner for UCLan Medical Society. This developed my organisation skills for remote events due to COVID. It was also a great opportunity for me to learn team working skills, how to manage my time alongside studies as well as connect with a wide range of people.
One of the most important things I learnt from being a part of various societies is that university is so much more than studying for your degree. Your time as a student is a valuable opportunity for you to try new things and get outside your comfort zone.
Feel free to join any society that stands out to you and make the most of it. At the same time make sure you learn to have a good work-life balance prioritizing your education first.
