Rumour has it that there’s still teenage dynamics at university – but why?

For many, university life marks the beginning of adult life. With gaps in timetables, living on your own amongst strangers, and of course, the looming prospect of a degree and the future, many students are given full freedom to navigate life and friendships for themselves.

The youngest university students are pushing their 20s. So why do words like ‘clique’, ‘drama’, and, unfortunately, even ‘bullying’ still get thrown around? As young adults navigating the final eras of our education, why do we fall back into teenage social patterns?

Some of these patterns are harmless, like students sharing their ‘crushes’ with The Warwick Tab. Others are social cues – despite having no set seating plans, mutual agreements typically arise on who sits where in a seminar.

But other patterns can mimic the darker secondary school dynamics, ones that we should have matured past already.

Although I am not even halfway through my university journey, I have already heard stories of petty dramas between friendship groups, societies being criticised for being weirdly selective, and false accusations flying around. I have even heard cases of straight-up bullying at other universities. These instances may come with being exposed to such a diverse range of people, all concentrated in one spot.

Past secondary school, there is a stronger incentive to find ‘your people’ at university

At secondary school, students are restricted to a structure: from a teacher’s rules to timetabled lessons and breaks. At university, it is wildly different – a professor you’ve had all year might never learn your name, lecture halls are too big to see, let alone know, all of your peers, and group interactions are freely scattered across campus and beyond.

In such a vast space and with complete freedom of movement, you can meet people from all corners of the world, (willingly) studying different subjects, and from startlingly different lives. This is an eye-opening experience, as many students come from schools populated by local faces. Yet, the new, sheer vastness can also be disconnecting.

As the pool of people increases, students are more likely to split into smaller groups to establish their places in the massive community. Observations aside, a 2024 research study supports this, judging it as natural even in the highly-controlled environment of a secondary school classroom.

And yet, past secondary school, there is a stronger incentive to find ‘your people’ at university. Where divisions between people are apparently an inevitability of university nature, it’s probably just as natural, then, that smaller groups get into scuffles.

Such ‘scuffles’ are probably more verbal than physical. Although I don’t doubt that there are occasional fistfights on campus, I have yet to see any – and definitely not ones with a recording audience, which is more common among hormonally charged and ego-bruised teenagers.

To return to the original statement, this culture of group-making may also be intimidating, especially for shyer students who struggle to join friendship groups which establish themselves early in university life. This can make the quick formation of groups seem ‘cliquey’.

Divisions and disagreements are bound to arise and replay teenage social anxieties

But these groups are united in the shared space of social media, where community can be strengthened, connections formed through interests, and students can chat freely without the daunting breadth of campus to keep them apart. Platforms such as Instagram or TikTok provide ample room for students to find each other and interact – but the ‘protection’ of the screen can also lead to hurtful comments or the spreading of rumours.

For example, The Warwick Tea is an Instagram page where students can submit anonymous confessions, comments, or rants about university life. While this often leads to some funny stories, compliments, and other positive uses of social media, an anonymous system also results in unfiltered criticism or insults directed towards students or societies. This can start to feel similar to secondary school group chats or hate pages, and holds the free rein of the digital world accountable for its part in fostering childish conflicts.

In such a busy environment, you’d think that more university students would be focused on their personal development, a task which should leave no room for social pettiness. But supposedly, that might just be the nature of a busy campus, a busier workplace, and maybe just about everywhere else  – divisions and disagreements are bound to arise and replay teenage social anxieties.