Why it’s better to go to uni without your friends

Just because everyone from your school and the surrounding areas are going to same university together doesn’t mean you have to also. There are so many reasons why, however nerve-wracking at first, going to university alone will be the best decision you’ll ever make.

Make friends that are completely yours 

Although for some, the prospect of going to university with random strangers is terrifying, once you manage to push through your social anxiety, you’ll be glad as this is the place you’ll meet your friends for life. Whether they’re your flatmates, course-mates of just people you’ve stumbled across during a wild night out, you’ll make a group of friends that you can completely be yourself with. And the best bit is these people are yours, and are separate from your established group of home friends.

The mandem

No judgements of you, no judgement of others 

The people you meet at uni know nothing of your past, such as your list of embarrassing get-withs. Likewise with them, you have no previous opinion of the people you’re going to be with for a minimum of 3 years. All you’ve got to go on is the awkward conversations on the Fresher pages. You can get to know people for yourself without anyone telling you what they’re like, and truly be friends with anyone you want.

Being who you really want to be 

After years of going to school with the same people, it can be hard to shake off a certain image. Back home, people have a preemptive assumption of how you’re going to behave and what you’re going to say. When you go to university alone, you go with a clean slate; no-one knows who you were before. You are able to be yourself without the need to live up to some sort of expectation. It really is a chance to be the person you actually are, rather than who people think you are.

Doing what you really want to do 

Even at sixth form or college, it can be scary to get involved in things such as sports clubs or political groups with fears of what others will think, or maybe you just become too comfortable in your daily routine, doing the same things with the same people. Once you get to uni, you can really participate in society’s that you are passionate about, or even find new interesting past-times that you didn’t even think you’d be interested in before. For some this could be trampolining, for others it could be being a part of a radio show.  This is your chance to be a part of things you actually want to be a part of, not just some meeting your friend dragged you along to.

Radio extraordinaire

Experiencing life outside ‘the bubble’ 

Sometimes, when you stick with the same people, you catch yourself living in a bubble outside the real world. In this bubble, everyone knows everything about each other, nothing is kept a secret longer than the time it takes to tweet the 140 characters and a whole group chat can be dedicated to one piece of gossip.

When moving away from this group, not only can you experience a life with no threat of rumours rapidly being spread across the canteen, you actually can meet a diverse group of people who are radically different from you. By branching out of your comfort zone and coming into contact with individuals from varying backgrounds, who all have their own life stories and opinions, it will make you a more well rounded and tolerant person.

Doing it for yourself 

It’s time to make decisions for yourself, do the things you really want to do. Yes, it can be petrifying to move away from home alone, away from the people you grew up with, but going to a university just because all your friends are doesn’t mean it’s the right university for you. Once you’ve made the choice to go at it alone rather than sticking with the same friends you’ve had for years, you can be proud of yourself that you went against the grain and did something that would be more beneficial for you in the long-term, rather than staying in your own safe shell.