University is so lonely

[Jane]

Because of my health I am isolated to protect myself from COVID. I started uni online to stay connected to other people. Unfortunately I have found university online to be more isolating as most of the university activities are not available to external students. I like my course but now I feel like I don’t belong here either. Has anyone managed to complete university online without feeling like a burden and unwanted.

[Croix]

Dear Jane~

I'd like to welcome you here to the Forum and hope seeing other's views will help.

It sounds like you started with one problem (in addition to susceptibility to covid) and that was isolation

In a very reasonable step you took on a uni course which you thought might put you in contact with others only to find that being completely on-line did not help you interact wiht others and gain new friends.

Now you have two problems:). The original isolation and a uni commitment. The big thing here is you like you course. This is sometihng to be treasured. I taught at uni for 17 years and the number of people that liked what they were doing was relatively small.

Enjoyment of the subject matter helps so much in getting though, particularly as by the time your commence third year most peole are starting to flag.

It i true the number of opportunities open to off-campus students is small; uni radio does spring to mind if there is one as does some aspects of the Student Union as well as study groups or writing in the campus newsletter, however the course will be worth doing for its own sake

There realy is no relationship between study and being a burden, none whatsoever, and as for being unwanted, that is not the judgment of people, it is simply the way courses are set nowadays up to save money, with campus life being sacrificed in the process.

Croix

[BlueLily]

Hi Jane,

Warm welcome to the forum! Sorry to hear you have to isolate yourself. Reading your post I realised it's very similar to my experience last few years but due to different reasons though.

I completed a masters course last year fully online. I wasn't able to attend classes because I was also working full time. I have felt the same like I didn't belong there sometimes because the rest of the class was meeting weekly and hanging around. As my only method of communication was online, I decided to utilise that to socialise. Rather than being shy, I initiated chats with team members and other students and also found subject hangouts via platforms like Discord and Slack. I was pretty lucky to find few great friends too. There's plenty of things you can do online these days to collaborate or discuss subject matter. Miro is highly recommended.

As Croix mentioned it's pretty rare for someone to enjoy a course so I hope you find a way to make it more interesting and socialise with your colleagues. Good luck with the course!