The power of societies and clubs for international students

I’m originally from the US and Vietnam and I am currently pursuing a bachelor’s degree in science, majoring in data science, at the University of Melbourne in Australia.

I chose the University of Melbourne, or Australia in general, as a study destination for the career opportunities. Its proximity to southeast Asia and Asia allowed me to explore ventures that included a lot of the Asia Pacific region.

Currently, there are a lot of fresh and exciting opportunities for those looking to start careers that are not limited to one region.

In addition, there’s no other field in my opinion that’s as exciting as data science. Using information from a range of sources and turning it into plans that can help individuals, businesses and global communities is an area in which data science is extremely useful.

Buzzwords such as “big data” and “artificial intelligence” are used constantly in the world of business, so this field potentially allows you to influence whatever industry you’re interested in, rather than being on the receiving end of these changes.

Choosing the right subject for you is an important factor to consider when studying abroad, but I think an under-rated aspect of international student life is socialisation.

How joining a society helped me settle in as an international student
Making friends as an international student 
What can I expect during my first week of university? 
What I gained from getting involved with leadership opportunities at university

I was like most high school students: I saw my friends every single day and I never thought about what university life would be like without them. 

The reality is that you won’t know a lot of people going into university – and that’s fine. It’s different from high school, where you mainly make friends through the classes you take. It might sound strange at first, but you need to go out there with the intention of meeting new people.

From my own experience, the best ways of doing this typically involved a mix of these things: 

• Orientation events at university, because they will help you meet other students in your year group

• Student events in your discipline, because it will be easier for you to come up with conversation topics and people are more likely to be in a similar boat to you

• Student clubs and societies, because they’ll provide you with structured times and tasks where you meet fellow members to work towards a goal.

These were the main ways I made my university friends, and if that’s not your cup of tea that’s okay. If none of these activities sound good to you, at least take what makes them successful and apply them to your preferences. In particular, I have found activities that have a structure and a goal of accomplishing something with other people is the most effective way to make friends. This is where the power of societies and clubs comes in. 

The reason that these groups are great for making friends is that the activities have a shared goal. Sometimes it is hard for international students to attend a casual social because it might be hard to find things to talk about. However, these goal-oriented activities allow you to bond with others while working on your teamwork skills.

In this way, you can talk to others about the activity and, by working together, you bond socially without having to put in any extra effort. Afterwards, if you feel like you’ve connected with people, you’ll be more comfortable to speak with them and you can start to develop that friendship. 

Once you’ve made a few friends, maintaining these friendships is one of the biggest challenges that you’ll come across in university life. Everybody has different schedules and your friends won’t always be able to meet you daily. This major change really shifted my perspective on what it means to maintain healthy friendships. So I think one of the things that helped me the most was this – if you want friendships to endure in the long term, you need to put in effort to see those that you cherish. 

Send out your schedules, decide on a time in advance that works for everyone and plan out your day thoroughly. It’s a lot of work, but this allows you to enjoy your time with your friends as often as you can. As everyone gets busier, doing this not only ensures that your plans won’t be interrupted, but it will also give you something to look forward to in the midst of hectic university life. 

Making friends is a unique process for everyone, but I hope that my experience helps you in finding the right way for you.