I made the mistake of not living in residence during my first year of university. Not only that, I got myself a place to live way too far from campus. That's how I ended up missing out on the proper social life of a first year.
I had to find people to study with, but I didn't know anyone who would want to, and I was too shy to reach out and ask. I still remember someone in our class group chat asking if anyone wanted to work on the Linear Algebra homework together. Later, I asked him if he wanted to study for the exams with me. I believe those study sessions saved me from failing that course, and I ended up getting a good grade.
The following year, I became much better at making friends and socializing. I could confidently ask people to study together, and they helped me get through so many days and nights before exams.
One of the hardest courses I took was Real Analysis. I honestly don't know how I would've gotten through it without my friends. During one of our all-night study sessions for that course, I told two of them about the idea for an app that would help students find people to study with, and thankfully, they thought it was worth pursuing. :)
Qluster has a Queen's reference and a Real Analysis reference: a cluster point is a point where every neighborhood around it, no matter how small, contains points of the set. I liked thinking of it as a place people naturally gather. A few months later, the name "Qluster" came to me, and it felt like the perfect fit.
I truly value my friendships, and I believe they've helped me a lot these years. I built Qluster (qluster.ca) because I hope it helps someone else find what I almost missed: people who make university less lonely, more enjoyable, and more meaningful. If you make a friend using this app, I'll know I've accomplished my goal.