By Joann Pan
Special to Relocation.com
Meeting people at college may be challenging whether you come from a small town, are meeting a diverse group of people for the first time or are just a little shy. If you’re curious about meeting people in college for the first time stick around for Relocation.com’s guaranteed tips to making friends at school. One little known fact is that everyone is scared out of their minds and living out of their comfort zones the first couple weeks or months at college. Even the ever-popular girls and charming boys you knew throughout high school are probably anxious about meeting people at college. So, think about this, since everyone is a little nervous about how to go about meeting people, have no fear, knock on some doors and shake some hands. The people you live down the hall from are the ones you will see throughout your higher education career and the ones who will most likely be your lifelong friends. (The girls that lived a floor down from me, for example, ended up being my roommates for junior and senior year, not to mention my best friends after college.)
We graduated from college with memberships from little cliques and group memberships from throughout the years. There was a group of friends from working the college newspaper, a group of friends from a cultural club, my gym buddies, friends from the communication classes I took, friends that were made from boring literature classes and the friends that we randomly met through other people. We are lucky to have gone to a big school where people were friendly and open. We understand not all of us are so lucky, so we have compiled a guide to making the best of any experience you are in.
Tip #1: Meet as many people as you can at the very beginning of the year or the beginning of the semester.
At this point, there will be no weird looks when you introduce yourself to someone. At the beginning of the year or semester, introduce yourself to a neighbor in class. You can talk about yourself and ask them questions about their major and where they live. It’s crazy how close you can get just by finding a common trait between you guys. People from my university in Buffalo, NY bonded on the fact that they were from the tri-state area or Rochester, NY or Ithaca, NY. There was lots of that going on, and then since there were so many dorms, lots of people were excited to find someone else living close by. Common majors or minors are also great things to bond over. You’ll be surprised.
Tip #2: Go to the parties and the mixers that are offered. Join clubs to network and to meet people with common interests.
Our freshman year was so much fun because it was like summer camp being away from home. The very first weekend we had carnivals, rides, air-filled bouncy things we could jump on, outdoor movies, late night mixers and so many opening weekend events that I will never forget. Go to these events that are offered by almost every college or university because the students you’ll be in classes or the dorms with are here waiting to meet people and have fun. Then when classes start see what clubs there are and join those. Clubs and leadership organizations were the best things we could have joined. If you are as dorky and nerdy as us, which are good traits, mind you, you’ll appreciate having environments where you can grow as a leader or writer or reader or whatever you want to be. For us, writing has always been a passion, so we joined the student newspaper, which turned out to be the best learning experience we could have gotten in college. And we walked away with around a dozen really close friends and about 100+ acquaintances over the years.
Tip #3: Mix your social life with your academic life.
There’s nothing more fun than studying with your friends. We were lucky to find a balance between partying on the weekends and studying in the libraries on weekdays in college. It was really convenient that good grades and fun went hand-in-hand with my closest friends. Being an English major, reading 100+ pages a night was a must, so I found baking an entire sheet of brownie and inviting over my friends for a “study sess” was a great time to get a belly full of junk food while reading Shakespeare, Dante or Philip Roth. “Study Sess” also entailed daily gossip, rants about classes or just chatting about home. We would definitely recommend keeping up those good grades, but don’t forget to make up the effort with friends because with the amount of effort needed to complete college you’ll have to make equal efforts to keep sane. Study sessions are a great way to have both.
Tip #4: Living in the dorms.
Here is where all the kids your age are. We believe no matter how close you live to campus, you should at least get the chance to live on your own for a semester, especially your freshman year. Just being in close quarters makes people fonder of each other (something you’ll learn if you take Sociology 101). So, sharing a bathroom with four girls or guys may not sound appealing, but making four new best friends may be worth it. Also in the dorms, you will have things to do on every night of the week provided that your Resident Advisor is doing their job. In our dorm days, we had smoothie parties, arts & craft nights and game days. No matter how silly they seemed, it was fun to drop the books and talk to the neighborly people that show up to these things.
Tip #5 (and the most important of all): Don’t be nervous! And when in doubt, just smile and introduce yourself.
People love when they aren’t the first ones to stick your neck out there. Would you object someone nice and smiling introducing him or herself to you? We think not.