Warwick, what`s outside studies?

Hola,

As we all know University years are not only about hard studies and piles of books - there is something more :) And definitely my life here is not limited to books (although they do take a lot of time).

Societies 

The first thing which is totally different from everything I experienced until my arrival here is definitely societies. Society is a club where students can gather under any possible common interest. Societies can be about cultural things (Lithunian society, Polish society), academic stuff (law, maths and.... AIESEC belongs here as well), sports, films, music, religion and basically anything anything at all. Who is interested the full list of societies is here.


And the important thing - this concept really works. All those hundreds and hundreds of societies are active and all the time everywhere in university all kinds of events are happening. I can not remember my facebook wall to be so full of events and invitations. 


Why do students join societies? First thing - there is a big push from university. In first weeks I was always hearing encouragement from University staff and professors to join the societies. Because this makes you special and differentiates from other students. All professors here would say - university life is not only about studying, you should be active in extra curricular activities. Still, the most interesting thing for me is that employers really value persons activeness in societies. If you fill a job application - there will be a question what kind of societies you have attended. And to leave it blank is quite embarrassing..


Since I am not the most passive person I just had to join a few societies. So I joined salsa dancing society and debating society. I am not the best at either of those activities but it is still fun to do something else besides studies.

And in the end if there is no society for the activity one wants to do - action is always encouraged. For example the Lithuanians from Warwick Uni have made a team and play in Warwickshire basketball league and, of course, I joined this team as well.

Career


Each University wants students to get a job and a good one. So, there are events that are organised by University on this topic.


First of all, there are career fairs. To be honest, they did not leave a very good impression for me and I think the method of  Tavo kelias which is organised by AIESEC Lithuania is way better than the career fairs here. Although many companies are coming and participating in the career fairs in Warwick, they don't come very well prepared, send people who cant answer even quite basic questions and basically these events are about collecting a few flyers and that`s it.

Fortunately, that`s not all what is done. Companies are invited and they come quite often to deliver sessions or trainings and students are free to attend these events. The ones I have participated left me a quite good impression because they were not only about spreading the message "this is us, we are cool" but actually delivering some interesting insights of the business sector or methods their business runs.

What is more, there are industrial visits organised. So far I havent been to one, but in January I will go to Land rover factory, which is not very far from here. And I am really looking forward to it. Hopefully, I will get to see how cars are made in reality.

Finally,  there are events here I would have never expected. Just yesterday I received an email that this Thursday we can attend the presentation of new Jaguar xJ model in Warwick university. How amazing is that? We will get to hear all about new innovations and techniques applied in the car and, of course, chance to meet and ask questions for Jaguar designers.

All in all, there are opportunities provided by the University to find a job in UK, but as far as I know about it - it is still not very easy for Warwick graduates to find jobs and the process takes quite some time and effort.