When I started at UCL three years ago, I had no interest in student journalism and now I find myself running the Best Student Publication in the UK and Ireland.
I remember walking around the Freshers Fair aimlessly with no real idea of what I wanted to do beyond my studies.
For context I am a Politics student (we notoriously have minimal contact hours and therefore a lot of time to kill). I looked at the Politics societies at UCL, but going along to random embassies or listening to some old man talk about international relations didn’t really appeal to me.
I then looked at the various political parties on campus and it was by coincidence that I saw a Cheese Grater article reporting on the President of UCL Labour, also serving as President of (now disaffiliated) UCL Lib Dems.
There was no greater signal that there was a complete absence of political discourse on campus than that article, so I thought well if there’s no discourse to get involved in, why not join The Cheese Grater and create some discourse.
From that point onwards, I didn’t look back.
The Cheese Grater gave me purpose at university, from writing long form investigations uncovering injustices on campus, to meeting some of my closest friends at university.
I’m not saying student journalism is gonna be for everyone, but you may be surprised at what you get out of it. That goes for any society at UCL, there is over 400, so there is bound to be something for everyone.
So my advice to incoming freshers is to throw yourself in the deep end - there is so much to UCL beyond your degree.