Everyone always says that you meet friends for life in college. Looking at how my mom is still in contact with some of the people she met her freshman year at University of California Santa Cruz decades later, I believe that statement to be true. But how do you make these lifelong friends? Well, here are some tips on how to make friends in college.
There is no step by step procedure to follow in order to make friends in college. Or in any place, really. When I look back at the friendships I have made over my life there was no pattern I had to follow or procedure put in place. Everything just kind of happened and these strangers became some of the most important people in my life. So although there is no magic algorithm to this process, there are some tricks I learned on how to become more open to people, and in return you might make some of those lifelong buds.
Your first opportunity to make friends when you get to school is with the people you live with. For the first couple of weeks I exclusively hung out with my roommate and my suitemates. It was really nice, we were a girl gang. But as classes began and we all joined different clubs things changed. My first tip to making friends specifically at Emerson College is to join an organization. I have made lots of friends from joining the school’s newspaper, The Berkeley Beacon. My roommate made a lot of friends joining a sorority (and in return I became friends with her sorority sisters without having to do any of the pledge work… score!) So get out there and join a club you are interested in! This is one of the best ways to tell people how to make friends in college!
Another way I made friends early on freshman year was getting to know the kids on my floor. I became really close with the boys who lived next door and down the hall on one of the first nights by just hanging out in the common room and chatting. You want to have a good relationship with your neighbors in general but especially in college. You never know when you need to seek refuge or borrow a vacuum. My suite got so close with the boys next door we made signs and named our little mini hallway the “Babe Zone.” Good times.
The hardest way to make friends is in class. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it. I met some of my best friends in class. It can be a little daunting moving from just being friends in the classroom to then hanging outside of class, but more often than not they are so happy you asked and want to spend time with you as well. It can be easy to make this transition. Just ask them to eat at the dining hall with you afterwards and let it take its course from there. It is always good to have fun classroom friends to make the 2 hour class more enjoyable and to have someone catch you up if you ever miss. I’d advise following them on social media first and progressing from there.
What I realized pretty quickly when I started college is that every incoming freshman is in the same boat. They have left their home, friends and family and want to start this new experience on their best foot possible. Everyone wants to make friends, have fun and go exploring. This is honestly the easiest time to make friends because no one is set in their ways like they were in high school. Almost everyone is open to new experiences and people, that’s why they are at college, right? So be bold and ask someone to hang out. Get coffee. Go to the Dining Hall. Make connections. But above all else, be kind. That is the easiest way how to make friends in college.
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