newstudent.org

Newstudent.org is the place to be for students both already at uni and students who are applying. I discovered the website when i was checking ucastrack and saw it as an advertisement. From my own experience, it has helped me not only to decide what university is best for me but also has allowed me to meet new friends. This all helps to lessen the fear of beginning uni as you realise that you won’t be on your own!

Newstudent helps you to do this. It has plenty of features and is improving as time progresses:
Profiles: This allows you to make your own personal profile telling the rest of the world about yourself, age, where you come from, brief description, your favourite motto, type of course and the universities which you have applied to (up to 6). When people access your profile they can see whether you are online and also have the option of sending you a private message and applying to be your friend (this allows both parties to appear on each others list of friends when their profile is viewed).

Search for friends: This is what newstudent.org is all about. This feature allows you to search for friends using criteria such as Must have university selected as the same as mine, must be online, what their looking to study, keywords and interests such as fashion. You also have the preference of showing particular users such as those who have joined in the last 4 days. I am forever using this feature which has proved very successful for me personally.

Security: Security seems to be all good on the website. You can change your password on a regular basis using the account info option. This option also allows you to change personal details such as address within seconds.

Notifications: This website emails you on a regular basis regarding your account. Two options are available. In digest is where the site emails you once a day and gives you a summary of how many new emails you have received in the last 24 hours and also who’s took a peak at your profile J. Immediate is the second option. This instantly emails you once you have received mail, had a new friend requirement, or have a new message on a watched forum rather than summarising it, in one email a day.

Forums: There numerous forums where students can chat about virtually anything, and not all of the website is just for talking about universities the general chat forum is also available. Specific university forums are also available whereby only people who have applied to a particular university are able to post messages.

Shop: You can even shop on this website for a wide variety stuff (exclusive offers). Includes: Laptops, mobiles, insurance, internet and cheap holiday’s.

INFORMATION: Plenty of other useful info is also available from new student on matters regarding employment, health, and money. The ‘money’ links I found to be particularly handy regarding student loans etc.

WARNING! This site is very addictive, I’m always checking it out each time I come online to see messages and generally you can have a great gossip! It would be interesting to see a 'chatroom' on this website.
The only downside to this website is that during peak hours, the site can take forever to load and is extremely slow leading to frustration! However, it is important to not that this is improving as time progresses. Technical support is easily accessible.

Overall, this website is a MUST for anyone that’s at uni but especially for those who are applying. Through personal experience I have found it to be a Godsend and has definitely made joining uni in September 2005 far less daunting- I’m actually looking forward to the challenge!