Opportunities

What do postgraduates do in college?

Whether you live in college or elsewhere, you can take advantage the range of extra-curricular opportunities in your college, including positions of responsibility, enabling you to get the most out of your university experience. In addition, cultural and social events are a big part of college life.

Opportunities

In every college you'll find a range of societies and clubs that you can join including sport, drama, music, outreach and charity work and other interests. The societies in each college depend on the interests of the students.

• Music groups, including jazz bands, big bands, choirs, orchestras
• Theatre groups, with performances ranging from open-air Shakespeare to large-scale musicals
• Range of sports clubs, both competitive and just for fun. College-level participation offers inter-college competitions and leagues for most major sports. College-level sports include: Athletics, Badminton, Basketball, Canoeing, Cricket, Football, Golf, Hockey, Lacrosse, Netball, Rugby Union, Rowing, Squash, Table Tennis, Taekwondo, Tennis, Trampolining, Ultimate Frisbee, Volleyball

• International student groups and societies as well as interest groups such as photography, painting, chess, arts & crafts, poetry, dance, creative writing, pudding appreciation…
• Community outreach projects, including prison visiting, work with local primary and secondary schools, and giving time to the local hospice

You can participate in as much or as little as you want, there's no pressure. You can still enjoy all these activities at University-level, but because every college community is smaller-scale, it is easier to get involved and to try new things.

Leadership opportunities

There are lots of opportunities for you to get involved in helping run aspects of your college. This is a big part of what makes your experience here so unique. You can head up a college society, captain a sports team, run a charity project or even help lead your college's student body.

In most colleges, postgraduates belong to their college's Middle Common Room (MCR) or are part of another one of the college's Common Rooms (e.g. the Junior Common Room or the Senior Common Room). Each Common Room is headed up by an executive committee (the 'Exec'). The Exec are elected annually by their fellow students and have a variety of managerial responsibilities including:

You can put yourself forward for election to your college's Middle Common Room (MCR) Executive Committee. Positions may include President, Treasurer, Secretary, Clubs & Societies Representative and Welfare Officer. Not only does this look fantastic on your CV, but you also have the opportunity to develop your interpersonal and organizational skills.