ABSTRACT
The majority of research into undergraduate student life in the UK stems from Sociology, although it is couched within the boundaries of a number of disciplines, from Human Geography to Sports Studies. Such research typically derives its theoretical orientation from Pierre Bourdieu, who provides the conceptual means by which writers describe student culture. The author describes the construction of the 'typical' student experience as it was imagined and sometimes experienced by students at the University of Sheffield. He refers to those experiences which were thought of as 'typical' or 'mainstream' by many students, who may not have experienced or enacted them at all times. Mobility dictates two key principles upon which elite Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), like the University of Sheffield, market student life. The first is a students' ability to make friends, the second is a student's ability to maximise pleasure.
