Making friends at UCC

Niteb4

I heard a few people say its hard to make friends in UCC. But my question is, (which may sound stupid); are people from UCC kinda similar/cleekish/predictable, OR are they all completely different individuals???
The moderators surely can't ban me for this thread!!!

necromundia

Niteb4 wrote: »

I heard a few people say its hard to make friends in UCC. But my question is, (which may sound stupid); are people from UCC kinda similar/cleekish/predictable, OR are they all completely different individuals???
The moderators surely can't ban me for this thread!!!

One cannot label a person's personality based solely on the educational institution that they attend, I just graduated from UCC this year and I encountered many interesting people and people that I did not hit it off with, I say that it is just as hard to make friends in UCC as it is on the street.

shane9689

Niteb4 wrote: »

I heard a few people say its hard to make friends in UCC. But my question is, (which may sound stupid); are people from UCC kinda similar/cleekish/predictable, OR are they all completely different individuals???
The moderators surely can't ban me for this thread!!!

its just like any other college/university theres no reason for it to be different, its not like its exclusive or something. so your going to get all sorts of people there, including me! and i wouldnt consider myself an unfreindly predictable person... are you going to ucc?

Niteb4

shane9689 wrote: »

its just like any other college/university theres no reason for it to be different, its not like its exclusive or something. so your going to get all sorts of people there, including me! and i wouldnt consider myself an unfreindly predictable person... are you going to ucc?

Yes

titan18

Some are cliquish and will tend to hang around with the people they went to school with/people they're friends with outside of college and not bother with anyone else. Others won't care too much and will make friends with whoever. Others will be really shy, and won't make friends that easily.

I presume you're a 1st year, so my advice is to join any society/club you're interested in and get involved. Even if you're not that interested in them, go along anyway, they're a great way to make friends and can lead to some excellent nights out. A lot of societies will have film nights and socials afterwards so that you can meet people, and imo (I'm biased though) will give you the opportunity to meet people that you mightn't otherwise meet, can provide excellent training in a variety of areas and can be a pretty nice addition to your CV for after college.

shane9689

titan18 wrote: »

Some are cliquish and will tend to hang around with the people they went to school with/people they're friends with outside of college and not bother with anyone else. Others won't care too much and will make friends with whoever. Others will be really shy, and won't make friends that easily.

I presume you're a 1st year, so my advice is to join any society/club you're interested in and get involved. Even if you're not that interested in them, go along anyway, they're a great way to make friends and can lead to some excellent nights out. A lot of societies will have film nights and socials afterwards so that you can meet people, and imo (I'm biased though) will give you the opportunity to meet people that you mightn't otherwise meet, can provide excellent training in a variety of areas and can be a pretty nice addition to your CV for after college.

any advice for getting to know people in the first week or two though? before the societies start
because ill be going up there not knowing anyone, and i dont see how a night out on freshers week will change that since ill ahve no one to go out with haha

Niteb4

shane9689 wrote: »

any advice for getting to know people in the first week or two though? before the societies start
because ill be going up there not knowing anyone, and i dont see how a night out on freshers week will change that since ill ahve no one to go out with haha

You were giving me advice 2 seconds ago!!

CZ 453

shane9689 wrote: »

any advice for getting to know people in the first week or two though? before the societies start
because ill be going up there not knowing anyone, and i dont see how a night out on freshers week will change that since ill ahve no one to go out with haha

I found when i went to college first way back in the two thousand and three in CIT everyone spoke to everyone else within the class as the classes were small(30-40)....then when I went to UCC it was a bit different.Class sizes were much bigger so joining societies and clubs were the places I got to know most.You'll be fine anyway.There are a load in the same position.

Solair

UCC has an amazing array of very active clubs and societies.

Depending on the subjects you're studying, you may or may not have a steady class group.

Some courses, particularly more specialised ones or taught postgrad courses have fixed class groups so you will get to know your colleagues very well.

Others, like Commerce, Arts etc tend to have an array of courses and people taking different modules so you may not get to know as many people.

I always found clubs and socs were where you tended to make most of your friends.

Niteb4

shezer wrote: »

I found when i went to college first way back in the two thousand and three in CIT everyone spoke to everyone else within the class as the classes were small(30-40)....then when I went to UCC it was a bit different.Class sizes were much bigger so joining societies and clubs were the places I got to know most.You'll be fine anyway.There are a load in the same position.

There are less hot girls in CIT. I know that myself

titan18

shane9689 wrote: »

any advice for getting to know people in the first week or two though? before the societies start
because ill be going up there not knowing anyone, and i dont see how a night out on freshers week will change that since ill ahve no one to go out with haha

Societies will have started. I think we're going to be at Freshers Fest, on the Saturday, and societies day should be on the Wednesday of the first week. I know our first event (I'm in FilmSoc btw) is on in the 2nd week and I'd imagine most societies will be started up by then if you want to run for a 1st year Rep position in any society.

For your class/freshers week, if you're staying in student accommodation, you'll be able to make friends there or at least might be able to head out with people during the 1st week. In class, just from my own experience, I knew 9 others going into college that would be in my class, but I was only really good friends with one of them. On the first day, when we were waiting to go the 1st class, a girl just walked up to me and a few of the guys I knew and just went "Hi, I dont really know anyone here, so I can I sit with ye". She became one of my best friends in college, so I suggest going up to whoever is in your class on the first day and start talking to them.

Although, fwiw, this will be my 5th year in college and I've never went out clubbing on Freshers Week. It gets kinda messy

titan18

A good way to make some friends, or at least people to head out with, organise a boards meetup in the first week, or even at Freshers fest for those who'd be there, and ye'll all have a group to head out with in the first week if ye want

Solair

Societies and clubs are active year-round in a lot of cases. They don't necessarily 'start' on a particular day / date.

Just remember, UCC is a huge, diverse place with about 18,820 students (excluding people doing short courses so that number's actually higher). 12,791 of them are undergrads.

On top of that there are 2,747 full-time staff members!

It's one of the largest organisations in the country of any type in terms of people using it. So, you can pretty much find anything / any personality etc..

It's not something you can generalise about.

Good place to start:
http://web.ucc.ie/en/current/clubs-socs/

You'll also find that a lot of the clubs and socs connect to stuff that's happening in Cork City too, particularly anything arts/sports/media/music related. So, it's a good opportunity to actually get to know Cork too if you're going to be living there for a while.

I think you'll also find that Cork City's pretty friendly and vibrant. It has pretty good night life, bars, music scene etc etc.

You'll get to know people pretty fast.

Also remember UCC's an almost urban campus, that's part of the city unlike say UL or UCD.

BarnhallBull

Say hi to the guy or girl you happen to be stood next to at orientation, ask where they're from etc. Chances are they'll be more than happy to chat. If you enjoy chatting to this person, you may well have made a friend.

Your first week of lectures, sit next to different people and start a conversation with as many of them as possible, what's the worst that could happen?

In short, make the first move. If you wait for people to come and make friends with you then you'll probably miss out. Put yourself out there, leave your comfort zone, don't be shy and don't go in with any preconceptions about anyone. Have fun.

shane9689

thanks guys for the advice all of you.. yeah and i hear freshers week can be pretty messy, im not mad about clubbing but if it helps to get the know the place and people id do it

ReacherCreature

Go to Boards meetup. If you're afraid of meeting people from the internet, man up. I've met some brilliant friends from it.

In seminars/tutorials, talk to the person beside you, you've a better chance of meeting them again as opposed to in a lecture where there could be 300+ in it. That said, in lectures, people tend to sit in the same areas so you could get to know them that way too.

shane9689

ReacherCreature wrote: »

Go to Boards meetup. If you're afraid of meeting people from the internet, man up. I've met some brilliant friends from it.

In seminars/tutorials, talk to the person beside you, you've a better chance of meeting them again as opposed to in a lecture where there could be 300+ in it. That said, in lectures, people tend to sit in the same areas so you could get to know them that way too.

man up? i never said i was afraid of anything? i was just looking for abit of advice because i was just unsure of how i was going to meet people initially, thats all. ive already talked to 1 or 2 people in the same boat as me, i think ill be alright, ive gotten loads of responses here too which is cool
thanks for the advice

ReacherCreature

shane9689 wrote: »

man up? i never said i was afraid of anything? i was just looking for abit of advice because i was just unsure of how i was going to meet people initially, thats all. ive already talked to 1 or 2 people in the same boat as me, i think ill be alright, ive gotten loads of responses here too which is cool
thanks for the advice

Oh shane9689, I'm not talking about you at all! I mean in general for everything. Some people are nervous about meeting others from online, understandable but it's a great opportunity to get to know folks from both Boards/UCC. You will be grand!

rebel girl 15

shane9689 wrote: »

any advice for getting to know people in the first week or two though? before the societies start
because ill be going up there not knowing anyone, and i dont see how a night out on freshers week will change that since ill ahve no one to go out with haha

You should do a first year boardsie meet up - we did it in first year and it was great!

ReacherCreature

rebel girl 15 wrote: »

we did it in first year and it was great!

First year? There was multiple years of students involved...?

rebel girl 15

ReacherCreature wrote: »

First year? There was multiple years of students involved...?

But we started it when we were in first year - thats what I meant!

shane9689

rebel girl 15 wrote: »

But we started it when we were in first year - thats what I meant!

but who starts it?

Corkfeen

shane9689 wrote: »

rebel girl 15 wrote: »

But we started it when we were in first year - thats what I meant!

but who starts it?

Generally, everyone discusses what time suits the majority of posters to meet up. Preferably during the first week of college to avoid assignments getting in the way.

rebel girl 15

shane9689 wrote: »

but who starts it?

Basically, what happened when we did meetups was that someone posted on the forum about a meetup on a certain week, and if there was enough interest there, it would go ahead on whatever day and time most of the people were available to come

shane9689

rebel girl 15 wrote: »

Basically, what happened when we did meetups was that someone posted on the forum about a meetup on a certain week, and if there was enough interest there, it would go ahead on whatever day and time most of the people were available to come

what if no one thinks of posting one?

rebel girl 15

shane9689 wrote: »

what if no one thinks of posting one?

i was planning on posting one once people were back in college

shane9689

rebel girl 15 wrote: »

i was planning on posting one once people were back in college

one for the first years would be handy

rebel girl 15

shane9689 wrote: »

one for the first years would be handy

when we did it, any UCC boardsie who wanted could come - nice to meet students who are a bit older and have experience in college, can be great for advice!

shane9689

rebel girl 15 wrote: »

when we did it, any UCC boardsie who wanted could come - nice to meet students who are a bit older and have experience in college, can be great for advice!

sounds like a good idea, im in!

ReacherCreature

A lot of people never showed up which led to their cancellation and petering away. Wasn't worth organising. But when a few turns up, it's good fun.

shane9689

ive started a thread on the topic of meetups :Dif anyones interested

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056742496