14 BACK TO THEMES U NITE STUDENTS | APPLICANT INDEX REPORT | 2023 Social confidence is higher than it was last year. It is too early to say whether this indicates a sustained recovery from the impact of the pandemic lockdowns, and next year’s data should give a better understanding of the underlying trend. Compared to last year, current applicants are more positive about their relationships with friends, family and other students, and more likely to think they have people they can turn to in a crisis. However half of applicants (50%) are anxious about fitting in at university. This anxiety is notably more acute among applicants who are female, White, LGBTQ+, neurodivergent, and those with a mental health condition. There is a lower overall Social theme score for LGBTQ+ applicants: 61 among LGB+ and 56 among applicants who are Trans (there is some overlap between these groups). Both groups have a more negative score against each of the questions in this theme, and are more anxious about fitting in. Trans students are particularly anxious about this – around three quarters (73%) of Trans applicants are anxious about fitting in compared with half (50%) of all applicants. SOCIAL 65 The Social score measures the strength of existing social relationships and social confidence in the context of going to university. On the whole, I have good relationships with family and friends I have people I can turn to in a crisis I get on well with other students at my school/ college *I’m anxious that I won’t fit in at university Figure 2: Breakdown of responses to social theme questions ■ Strong disagreement ■ Moderate disagreement ■ Neutral ■ Moderate agreement ■ Strong agreement THEMATIC ANALYSIS - SOCIAL 0% 100% 80% 50% 20% 90% 60% 30% 70% 40% 10% *For this question, agreement indicates a negative response; the score for this question was reversed when calculating the index score. +1 from 2022