Loneliness led the poll
Thirty-six per cent selected how lonely university can feel, making it the largest single response.
Indicative student poll
What's the biggest thing nobody tells you before starting uni?
Loneliness was the most common answer, selected by 36% of respondents. Networking followed at 32%, while 28% chose the cost of university and 4% chose the workload.
How did students answer?
Respondents selected one option from four. Percentages are calculated from 250 responses and rounded to whole numbers.
How lonely it can feel90 responses
36%How important networking is80 responses
32%How expensive everything is70 responses
28%How hard the workload is10 responses
4%What does this result suggest?
The result suggests that the less visible social side of starting university can be as important as the practical pressures students expect before arriving.
Networking followed closely
Thirty-two per cent chose how important networking is, only four percentage points behind loneliness.
Cost was also prominent
Twenty-eight per cent selected how expensive everything is, while 4% chose the workload.
Why this result matters
The result points towards social connection and adjustment as a major part of the transition into university for this audience.
Loneliness being the most selected answer may reflect the gap between the highly social image of university and the reality of arriving in a new place, meeting unfamiliar people and building a support network from scratch. Even when students are surrounded by others, settling in can still take time.
The closeness of networking at 32% is also notable. Within this poll, two of the three biggest responses were connected to relationships, social connection or access to other people. That does not prove those issues are linked, but it suggests the social side of university may deserve as much preparation as accommodation, money or academic workload.
Cost was still selected by more than a quarter of respondents. That means the result should not be read as evidence that financial pressure is secondary for students generally. Instead, this poll shows that several different parts of the transition can feel under-explained before university begins.
Because this was an indicative Instagram poll, it is a snapshot of respondents reached through the Unifresher audience rather than a representative study of all UK students. Further research could test whether the same priorities change by year group, living arrangement, university city or whether someone has already moved away from home.
How to report this finding
“36% of respondents to an indicative Unifresher Instagram poll said how lonely university can feel was the biggest thing nobody tells you before starting.”
How was this poll collected?
This was a quick audience poll designed to provide an indicative snapshot from people reached through the Unifresher Instagram audience.
- Exact question
- What's the biggest thing nobody tells you before starting uni?
- Answer options
- How lonely it can feel; How hard the workload is; How expensive everything is; How important networking is
- Responses
- 250 total responses. Raw counts are shown alongside every percentage.
- Audience
- People who viewed and responded to the poll through the Unifresher Instagram audience.
- Collection method
- Unifresher Instagram Stories. Respondents selected one of four fixed answer options.
- Calculation
- Percentages were calculated directly from the raw response totals and rounded to whole numbers. No weighting or adjustment was applied.
- Verification
- The four response counts were checked against the stated total of 250 responses before publication.
- Representation
- Indicative audience poll. The result reflects respondents to this Unifresher poll and is not statistically representative of all UK university students.
- Editorial independence
- No commercial partner directed or influenced the question, answer options, analysis or interpretation shown on this page.
- Reuse and licensing
- Published aggregate findings may be quoted with attribution. Contact the Unifresher press team before republishing a full chart, graphic or substantial extract. See Data Hub reuse and citation guidance.
Cite this result
36% of respondents said how lonely university can feel was the biggest thing nobody tells you before starting. Source: Unifresher Starting University Expectations Poll, 2026. 250 responses via Instagram Stories, collected 23 July 2026. Indicative poll. unifresher.co.uk/data-hub
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