Before Sophie Dishman even started her social work degree at the University of Sunderland, she was tapping into her uni’s dedicated social media groups. “The uni had Facebook groups for freshers and for students who were staying in accommodation. I used both to meet a lot of new people before I started, including two of my flatmates – so it wasn’t too awkward when I moved in,” says Dishman.
Whether it’s Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat or Instagram, social media is a means to discovery, not only once you arrive at university – when you can head up societies, keep in touch with family and even run protests via your profile – but before you even choose which university you’ll be going to.
Matt Horne, digital marketing and social media officer at Newcastle University, says students can get a head start on which societies to join by checking out their Instagram and Facebook feeds, rather than waiting for the freshers’ fair. It can help with accommodation choices too, he adds: “Search YouTube for your university and ‘accommodation tour’, and there’s a good chance somebody will have done a guided tour of their halls, including information you won’t get on an official tour. It’ll give you a real feel of where you may end up living.”
On the academic side, many unis have Facebook groups for halls, WhatsApp groups for courses and LinkedIn groups to discuss modules. “Some lecturers are open to connecting on LinkedIn, or have Twitter profiles to follow that give you a flavour of what your course will be like when you start,” says Horne. “We have lecturers at Newcastle who run lecture roundups and revision Q&As through Twitter, which you can eavesdrop on to get a feel for course content.”
However, there’s a word of advice to heed regarding oversharing on social media. “Once images are out there, even on private channels, they are out of your control, so it’s sensible not to share anything that you wouldn’t want to become public later,” says Rhiain Temple, editor at social media agency We Are Social.
‘I had a Skype interview from a Croatian holiday camp’
Philip Bailey managed to secured his University of Greenwich place from a resort on the Croatian coast
Philip Bailey, now in his first year on the University of Greenwich’s BA in landscape architecture, was on a road trip to Croatia when he received an email from the University of Greenwich asking to see his portfolio. “I remember being in the back of the car trying to organise it all and send it over,” says Bailey, who had applied through Clearing to study at the university.
Liking his work, the university asked for a face-to-face interview the following week, but Bailey wasn’t due back in the UK for a fortnight or so. “They suggested a Skype interview, which was cool,” he says. “I was in a holiday camp on the coast near Pula [in Croatia], so I had my interview with the head of the department as I sat in the on-site restaurant. Thankfully, I passed the interview. It was good to know I had somewhere to study.”
In the run-up to getting on the course, Bailey also used the university’s live chat facility to find out anything he wanted to know. “I preferred to use that as it was more casual and easier than ringing up and waiting on the phone.”
He took a “long-winded route” to Greenwich, he admits, quitting Coventry University when he failed a module on the architectural technology course he was studying. It was then that he found his true vocation – gardening. “I really got into it after getting a job looking after the lawns at Clare College, Cambridge.” It was this newfound interest that spurred Bailey on to apply to the University of Greenwich last year.
