Hi! My name is Angelica and I’m part of the Islamic society (ISOC), as well as the Criminology society (MUCS) here at the University of Manchester.
Given that I’m now in my final year, I can safely say that being part of, and actively attending events that these 2 societies have held throughout my time here, has been instrumental for my student experience.

The ISOC aims to provide services for Muslim students on campus, whether that’s through classes, events, and day-to day activities; whilst doing so, they also ensure to run events engaging with our local community, and for non-Muslims to learn more about our religion.
From the very first big event I attended, namely their Welcome dinner, it was like I was catapulted into a whole different world I’d never experienced before…witnessing the sisterhood, the selflessness of volunteers ensuring the success of the event, and the Islamic reminders were something I didn’t expect right off the bat. And it was so easy to start up a conversation with everyone. Here I was, conversing with random girls, studying completely different subjects from me and coming from countries miles and miles away from mine and yet, whose outlook on life was so similar to mine. And I’m happy to say I still attend ISOC activities with them, 2 years down the line. For anyone looking to serve their community, I’d say it’s worth a shot to attend one of our Friday Socials and even the Concrete Rose lessons held weekly to get a feel of what ISOC entails.

And because I am a Criminology student after all, I still craved events aimed at increasing my understanding of Criminology, ones that weren’t directly linked to the course content, but that still supplemented my learning. So I signed up for MUCS and I was impressed by the range of events on hold: from careers talks with Criminology alumni as guests speakers, to film events, to lectures with ex detectives: MUCS has so much to offer, and it isn’t exclusive to criminology students!
I think one of my favourite events ever was when we heard from an alumni who now works in the probation service, but who started off with a graduate scheme and did her masters alongside it. Hearing about how she managed to find her true calling was reassuring and gave me a few pointers that I’ll be sure to use in the future, or rather, a few months from now!

A word of advice for anyone looking to study here at UoM would be to: attend the freshers’ fair and actively engage with the committee members of the societies you’re interested in joining, and don’t be afraid to try new things!

Written by Angelica Islam, 3rd Year BA Criminology student

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