How to Make Friends In College
August 20, 2012 :: Admissionado Team
If you’re insecure about how you’ll make friends in college, keep in mind that every other incoming freshman, to a certain extent, shares your same concerns. So there’s no reason to be alarmed, because everyone else will be looking to meet new people, too. If you’re still concerned, though, here are a couple of tips about how best to make friends when you set foot on campus:
Remember: Always Be Outgoing
This is obvious, and it applies to making friends at any point in your life. Although being insecure is completely normal, there’s nothing to be gained from acting shy and not engaging with other people. This especially applies at orientation events or whenever you find yourself in the same room as a bunch of other freshmen. If you don’t put yourself out there, people won’t see a reason to hang out with you. On the other hand, if you’re outgoing and confident, people will gravitate toward you. If you don’t try to buck your natural shyness, you’re making your college social life unnecessarily hard.
Join a Student Group
We’ve already talked about reasons to seek out student groups to enhance your life in college, and I don’t want to get too repetitive, but I can’t stress this enough. If you join a student group – any student group – you’ll inevitably meet people with similar interests as you, no matter how obscure. Say you’re really into Scrabble and your school has a Puzzle Club. It may not be the sort of thing you normally bring up when meeting new people, but whomever you meet there will probably share your passion for board-gaming – it’ll be something to talk about, at least.
Make Friends with Your Hallmates, but Don’t Settle on a Friend Group Too Soon
The most convenient source of friends when you get to college is right down the hall. It’s people who you’ll see often, who are always close by if you’re looking for something to do, and with whom you have at least one thing in common. Keep in mind, though, that making friends in college is something of an investment in your college life over the next four years. By senior year, you’ll change a lot and so will your friends. If you settle on a friend group too soon, just because your college randomly placed you in particular dorm, you’re pigeonholing yourself. Always try to meet new people – in classes, at parties, or wherever. There’s no reason not to.
The basic gist of this post is that if you’re friendly and outgoing, you won’t have trouble making friends in college. You WILL find people who are like you, but it doesn’t hurt to be proactive and seek them out. It’s better to know too many people than not enough.
