Hey everyone, I'm Nathan.
Hi my name's Ray.
Hello, I'm James.
Hi my name is Ioana.
Nathan: And today I'm gonna be myth busting some student ideas about coming to uni
Ioana: So let's just get into it!
Ray: "You will meet all your friends during freshers."
Ioana: Umm... I tend to both agree and disagree.
Ray: All of my friends actually came from being my flatmates,
being on the same course as me, or from societies around university
as that is a great way to meet people who share the same interests as you
and will gain you a lot of friends.
Ioana: There's so many people you can meet during your course induction, there's also
whole social events and they're not only running during freshers week or during the beginning
of the academic year but they run during the eternity of the entire year.
Nathan: I actually transferred from a different university so I came into the
University of Derby at year two of my degree and I didn't experience Freshers week at all,
but fast forward about three years later, I've made some great friends so don't let Freshers week be
the standard on which you base your social life because things will get much easier from there.
James: The second myth is "Student accommodation is disgusting"
This is a misconception that's seen throughout the country really.
Ray: Honestly I was a little bit worried about moving to university halls for this
exact reason, but I ended up loving my little uni room, it became my
home away from home as it was super easy to personalise and as for shared
spaces, we did have a cleaning service that came every week to clean things up
and as long as you do your bit to keep things neat and tidy it will be far from disgusting.
Ioana: In case you were worried about accommodation - just don't be.
Let's just talk about social life and the next one would be
"The only way to have fun and make friends is by going clubbing or attending parties every weekend."
Ray: Okay I'm not gonna lie and say that I never did any of that - I definitely
went clubbing and I definitely went partying, but it was not the only way
that I made friends or had fun.
James: Just being part of the university you'll hear about events
that are going on within the city itself all the time and so
you'll never really be bored if you like taking part.
Ioana: We've got the Bustler Market which is one of my favorite places -
great food, and it's just a great atmosphere overall, you don't necessarily have
to attend events during the evening slash night to be able to have fun so again
just have a look at the things you can do in the city or across the uni.
Nathan: So many ways to develop your social life that are wholesome and constructive.
Ray: "You need to drink alcohol to fit in."
Ioana: No - that's one of the biggest stereotypes and it's just completely, completely untrue.
James: I don't drink alcohol personally and what you'll find in
societies for example is they will run events which don't
necessarily involve drinking alcohol at all.
Ray: And in my friendship group we did have a few people
that didn't drink and they were never pressured or they never missed out
they were always invited and we never saw it as odd it was just
a lot of people are very accepting of that now.
Nathan: I fitted in very well, a lot of people know me in the university
through the different things that I'm part of and I don't drink any alcohol
So there you go. We do have an alcohol free alternative in
the city of derby it's the place called Yada,
and i know one of the founders of that place is a graduate from the university and a good friend of
mine as well, so there you have it.
James: "A bigger city means you'll have a better time."
Ray: To be honest the size of Derby is one of the main things that I
love about where I am right now because everything is in walking distance:
all the clubs are in the same place; all the restaurants are in the same place;
all the cafes. There's parks nearby, literally you can just go out and go anywhere
and there's a very big local feeling like there's so many local events
that are being held so you're always gonna meet people and it's just a lot of fun
to be in a smaller city.
James: The fact that everything is so close together and neatly connected
means that it saves so much money instead of having to spend it travelling around.
Ioana: Makes me feel safe walking around the city center maybe later on
the evening if I'm coming back from an event or from work.
It's a student city it's just a very
it's just a university vibe around the city if that makes any sense it just makes it so much
easier for you to actually meet people because everyone knows everyone so yeah, yay Derby!
Nathan: Being someone who came from London and moved to Derby with
my parents and changed uni, it is very refreshing to
see how communal Derby is. You know it's not too big to the point where
you get lost in it, but there's a nice community feel
and that community feel is further highlighted in the University of Derby
and the various local projects that the university is a part of as well.
Ioana: "There is no point going to uni unless you know the job you want when you graduate."
Nathan: Most students who go to university aren't sure about
what job they want to do when they graduate.
Ray: I thought that I had to find a course that would get me a job straight away,
I had to know exactly what I wanted to do in life, but that
just isn't how it goes and I didn't realise I wanted to go into what I am
going into until my final year of undergraduate, so I think the best thing to do is go for a
course that you're genuinely interested in, have a passion in, and then you'll learn
skills from that undergraduate degree that you can then put into
other fields of interest when you finally know what you want to do.
Ioana: Yeah you don't necessarily have to have a plan for the next 10 years
in your life - just don't put too much pressure on yourself and just enjoy it.
Nathan: From what I've seen and a lot of my friends, they're not sure but yet
they've done great in their degrees and they've gone on to have great job
opportunities after graduating, so you don't have to have your life all figured out
before you start the uni journey - in fact I would argue if you are not sure what you want
to do as a job, you're the perfect person for uni. All I will say is
know what area of interest you're passionate about and something
that you can stick with for about three or four years however long
the degree is and you're gonna be fine, trust me.