Got the grades, and a place. How about some mates?
Charity YouthNet is offering support and advice to freshers on making friends at university, following results that saw up to 200,000 young people miss out on a place meaning those who planned to go with their friends could be starting alone.
Agony uncle and author, Matt Whyman, is one of a team of experts that provides emotional support to young people on YouthNet's online service for 16 to 25 year-olds, TheSite.org. He says: "Many young people can find going to university and making new friends very daunting, and this year, friends who planned to study together may have been split up making the process even more stressful.
"Our advice to freshers is to find out what support is available so they know where to turn if things get too much - that way, they can settle in to a problem-free and friend-filled university life."
To ease freshers' week nerves TheSite.org is presenting top tips on how to make friends and not alienate people:
- Eat in your communal area even if it's empty - you're more likely to meet your hall mates
- Knock on your neighbours' doors and offer them a drink as an ice-breaker - it doesn't have to be alcoholic, tea or coffee will do
- Don't stay in your room watching Friends, go to as many freshers' events as you can and make real friends
- Join clubs and societies where you'll meet people with similar interests to you
- Get over nerves and introduce yourself to others – they'll be relieved you took the first step
- Be yourself! Being loud might get you noticed but you'll be stuck with these people for years and it could be a hard act to keep up
- Ask open ended questions. This will allow the conversation to flow freely instead of being cut off by simple 'yes' or 'no' answers
- Swap phone numbers or emails addresses with people you meet and get in touch with them
- Don't pressurize yourself to make friends overnight. You may not stay close to people you meet initially and that's okay
- If you're finding it really tough, take a breather. You can speak to your university services or visit TheSite.org for help and advice.
TheSite.org, run by charity YouthNet, provides straight-talking, anonymous information and advice to 16 to 25 year-olds on subjects including work & study, drink & drugs, sex & relationships, health & wellbeing, home, law & money and travel & free time. Its bespoke question and answer service, askTheSite, provides young people with a confidential, personal answer to any question within three working days.
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Media Enquiries:
For further media information or to arrange interviews please contact Gabriella Jozwiak or Neha Patel at YouthNet on 020 7250 5716 or out-of-hours on 07766 660 755. Email media@youthnet.org
- Notes to Editors
Matt Whyman is an askTheSite advisor and national magazines agony uncle. A brief biography about Matt is available on TheSite.org: www.thesite.org/about_us/partners/askthesitepartners/mattwhyman - TheSite.org provides essential, straight-talking, anonymous advice to young people aged 16 to 25 about the issues affecting their lives
- During March 2010, 170,000 16 to 25 year-olds in the UK visited TheSite.org
- On average, TheSite.org answers 800 questions a month through a bespoke Q&A service (askTheSite). It includes an online community with 39,000 registered users plus a series of articles, blogs, podcasts and videos covering anything and everything relevant to 16 to 25 year-olds
- Launched in 1995, TheSite.org is now visited by around 600,000 unique users each month
YouthNet is the UK's first exclusively online charity and was founded by Martyn Lewis CBE in 1995. It helps young people aged 16 to 25 make choices today for a brighter tomorrow by providing them with impartial information and support about anything and everything. YouthNet does this through three online services; the guide to life for 16 to 25 year-olds TheSite.org, the UK's leading volunteering website Do-it and the first port of call for work, study and training advice Lifetracks.com.