Anas is a third year LLB Law student at City, and is part of the Chess, Entrepreneurial, and Law Societies.
Hello! My name is Anas and I am due to begin my third and final year as an LLB Law student in September 2020. (LLB is a fancy word for my degree classification). <—– That’s me!
What I learnt during my experience of being involved with student societies
At City I have helped develop the 
Entrepreneurial society which I also happen to be part of (what a surprise), I am a member of the Chess and Law societies, and have been elected to be a LLB student representative. (More on this below.)
During my three subscriptions to these societies I have learned many valuable lessons whilst also making some amazing memories which is why you really do benefit immensely from creating/joining a society. Here are my lessons:
1. Quite simply, if you fail to plan, then you’ve already planned to fail
(Quite a saying to wrap your head around so read it again.)
When I opted to help set up the Entrepreneurial society, I thought all I had to do was spread the word through a hashtag. I was wrong, very wrong.
It took a lot of effort to set up the Entrepreneurial society, mainly due to our team’s failings in foreseeing any rejections at the Societies Board meeting. (There are application processes and periods to setting up a new society.)
What you can take from my experience is that it is worth planning right to the micro detail so you avoid any obstacles in the long run or be able to tackle them straight on without any setbacks.
This rule of planning ahead was one I applied not just to my involvement in societies, but also to my wider studies. I rarely planned for lectures or for the type of exam questions I’d face which left me at a disadvantage as I always seemed to be on the backfoot compared to everyone else.
2. You grow and learn more about yourself
The positives of experiencing the ‘society life’ is that you really get to test out your confidence skills alongside your interpersonal capabilities when part of a society which in turn allows you to learn more about yourself.
I personally developed my confidence skills by involving myself in the chess society where I was able to meet and connect with fellow students who love chess.
Also, engaging with societies allows you to gain exposure to a wide variety of individuals who you can connect with, and these connections can really help you progress in your professional career. I met someone who is supporting a business idea of mine from the chess society!
3. There is a lot of responsibility
I was elected to be a student representative for the 2019/2020 LLB2 cohort which certainly has been a highlight of my university experience so far.
(A student rep is the voice of and represents students on their course. If there are any issues with a course, reps can raise it with Course Officers or Programme Directors and ask for things to be changed.)
Being a student representative came with a great deal of responsibility as I was essentially the voice for hundreds of other students.
This inevitably required me to have strong confidence and communication skills in order to be able to push the views of my fellow peers towards key figure heads within the university so that action could be taken. It also gave me a great sense of fulfilment.
“I developed immensely – the personal skills I developed such as my confidence, communication, and time management skills have reached unprecedented levels, which makes me feel like I’m on top of the world!”
Even though I felt I wasn’t up to the calibre of those students who were being sought after, I threw my hat in the ring and undertook this position of responsibility. And it paid off in ways I could never have imagined.
Proof that being fearless outside of your comfort zone pays off!
Find out about being a Student Rep at university and read about Anas’ day in the life of as a Law student
You can also read Emily’s perspective on making the most of your social life at university and Niffy’s survival guide to making friends in your first year.
