Socialising

[Hellrocks]

Hi,

I wonder since most people pick different subjects for a biomedicine/science course, would there be friends that you hang around with all the time? Or is it mainly just during the time you have a lecture/tutorial/lab you will meet each other?

[aes_999]

Apparently (I think), people who are enrolled in a biomed course at Melb. Uni do stick around with each other a lot. Definitely not for a science course, since many people have different passions for their major.

[Hellrocks]

Sounds like MED students, they have everything identical so they stick together whenever they are at uni.

[simpak]

...well most people take the same subjects or some of the same subjects, at least in first year, so I see the same friends each day for the same lectures at Uni.  And then, often, you schedule your tute times so that you can be in a tute together.

However, I did find that closer knit friendship groups are supported more by smaller course size.  I have a tighter friendship group from Media Comm than I do from Science.

[dc302]

Depends entirely on the individual. Some people have a lot of friends going to the same uni from high school, so they may hang with them. Some make new friendship groups from people doing the same subjects. Some just have a lot of friends from everywhere and go do whatever is convenient for them. Some have all of the above etc.

[slothpomba]

It really is what you make of it.

A lot of people have at least some people they know from highschool and they tend to stick around these people quite a bit.

I've noticed this especially at monash, a lot of the kids seem to come from eastern suburbs highschools and already know heaps of people by default.

All great for them but i'm from the west and no one i knew in HS went there, so it wasn't quite as easy as having a "ready made" social network.

Most of the time the people you meet in the first couple of weeks of both semesters are people you'll likely to see more of if you keep it going. Tutes/Labs are often smaller in size (eg 10 to a lab bench or tutes of like...20 in arts), so thats another good way to get some social interaction. In the really huge courses though, like science, lectures and subjects are often packed. My bio lecture had...1000 students...just in the one lecture. So, its a bit hard when you're in a sea of people sometimes. You could go all year and not see the same person twice.

Its hard to meet people within lectures themselves unless you want to talk during the lecture but you'll probably get the vibe you really shouldn't.

Tutes/Labs offer a better alternative. My social life in my course this year was pretty crappy but i realise i wasn't really doing heaps about it either (partially because i lived like 2 hours away and it limited a lot of things). You really have to put yourself out there, it is what you make of it. Talk to all the people in your tutes/lab bench and i'm sure you'll find at least some people. Even though i didn't do all that well i still managed to meet a few people, one of them for example i met just talking to outside the lecture theater while we were waiting for it to open and took it from there.

So, i guess if you're worried my main tip is just talk to as many people as you can, don't be shy or worry people usually don't bite. It'll get even worse and worse if you put it off. Clubs (supposedly) are pretty good for meeting people as well, so join a couple of those if you can. I guess you can also try talking to international students which a lot of people i see tend not to do o a certain extent, i guess because they think they'd rather stick to themselves or it'd be weird or something  but most likely they won't know a shitload of people and will probably be happy to know someone.

But yeah, it can be hard sometimes in a course as huge as science. Long as you try you shouldn't do *too* badly.

[schmalex]

I've heard that the biomed kids are generally fairly shy and don't tend to socialise a lot, but that being said, they do seem to all know each other, so you would probably be seeing and talking to the same people lot.

[Hellrocks]

Thanks for the input everyone

The problem is I don't have any friends going there and so I'll need to make all new friends. I don't think I'll end up making friends that are that close, just ones that I work would talk to and work in a group in tutorials and practicals I guess.

[menashiiii]

similar to what kingpomba said... though i'm at melbz going science..
a lot of people doing BSc are from the east and i'm from the west so initially i was basically on my own (had a few people from school, but not close mates) so it was tough during the first few weeks for me.
but if you are keen on socialising, the clubs and societies at melbourne initiate Orientation Week camps, so there you can socialise (and then some;) ) and meet new people who will be doing the same course as you!
I was lucky enough to meet someone in a tute in the first week who from there introduced me to a whole new group of people (most of these people went on the o-week camps) and i now happen to have friends from all over melbourne thanks to this one initial friend. If you don't go on these camps, just be bright and bubbly and people will generally gravitate towards you!

Otherwise, just make sure you get involved in all the activities uni has to offer and the amount of socialising you can do will be endless!

[Bozo]

Which course has all the spanking girls at?

[TrueTears]

^ in Arts, the girls spank you.

[abd123]

^ in Arts, the girls spank you.

stuff, science/engineering.

Dayyum, I wana do engineering/arts @ Monash in 2013, hnnnnnngggggggggg.

[mikee65]

...In Soviet Russia

[acinod]

Kids majoring in Actuarial Studies tend to stick together since we have the same subjects.

Though there isn't much time to socialise if you pick this path...

[Russ]

You'll have plenty of opportunities to socialize. One of my mates was the actuarial society president last year and he certainly had a buzzing social life, no need to worry about that