You want to meet new people in college right?
Everyone does.
Pretty much everyone is nervous about making friends in college as well - you are not on your own!
Making friends is an important part of college. Friends can help you enjoy your college experience, have more of a social life, help you understand some of your modules and they can even be valuable connections later on in life when you want to advance your career.
However, making friends in college can be hard. For many people, it is a struggle to get talking to new people, especially if they are coming into a college where they do not know many people. I am going to show some ways which can help you make friends and enjoy your college experience!
Outline
- The First Few Weeks
- Clubs & Societies
- Social Life
- Making Friends During Covid
- Conclusion
1. The First Few Weeks
Speaking from experience, the first few weeks are the most daunting. I was very nervous going into college as I wanted to make new friends but didn’t know many people in the course I was going into. Before going to college, my mother showed me an article on a newspaper that showed some tips to making friends, like I am giving you now. One piece of advice was to say hi to everyone you sat beside in a lecture for the first 2 weeks. I implemented this advice and it worked wonders for me. It can feel uncomfortable starting a conversation with someone you’ve never spoken to before, but if you push past that uncomfortable feeling, you end up having good conversations and making new friends fast.
Another simple but effective way (when times are back to normal) of making friends in the first few weeks, is to actually come into college. It may seem easy to miss lectures, as first year isn’t really important but coming into college can benefit you more than just academically. If you stay at home or in bed, you don’t get a chance to meet and talk to the people in your course.
In the first few weeks, it can be of great help to reach out to your peer mentor group and chat to them. You can get advice off them on where to hang out in college and advice on how to meet people. Your peer mentors are just like you – they have gone through first year themselves and know how you feel. As a current peer mentor now, I would be delighted to give current first years advice.
Everyone finds it tough in the first few weeks. It is important to remember that like you, everyone wants to make new friends, so if you start the conversation, they will appreciate it a lot.
“Life always begins with one step outside of your comfort zone.”
― Shannon L. Alder
2. Clubs & Societies
A great way of making friends is through joining clubs and societies. The best thing about joining clubs and societies is that you meet like-minded people. For example, I joined the GAA club and the Investors & Entrepreneurs society in first year. I met some new friends that I still have today and I also had some great nights out with these clubs & societies. I would advise every first year to join a club/society of something you are interested in or passionate about - even just join one club/society and you will be happy that you did.
Often your college will have a freshers week and an area/tent where you can sign up to all of the clubs and societies. It is normally as simple as giving your email and paying a small fee such as €2 for societies (possibly a bit more for clubs).
3. Social Life
We all want a great social life. There are a few ways you can help foster this social life in college. One underrated way of having a great social life is to attend the events your college holds for people living on campus. Colleges will hold great events for anyone living on campus, such as movie nights, poker nights, Fifa tournaments, pizza nights etc. A lot of first years attend these events making these a great place to meet new people and if nothing else, you get free pizza or get to watch a free movie!
If you are going on a night out as a first year, I would recommend going to areas where first years commonly go. In Dublin, for example, D2 and Diceys tend to be popular first year spots. It is always a good idea to invite people you have just spoken to in the first few weeks out with you. You are developing your relationship with them and might be helping them make new friends as well.
Class trips are a great way to have a good time and make friends. Normally your class rep will organise a class trip for the course. Often these really create a bond within your course and they can be serious craic. Some of the clubs/societies you will (hopefully) have joined often do 1 or 2 day-trips within Ireland, which are great ways to meet new people.
Here is a good video from Katie Lynch's YouTube summarising some of my points and adding her own on meeting new people in college:
4. Making Friends During Covid
Unfortunately, it is not as easy this year to meet new people. There are a few ways, however, to get talking to new people even if you cannot meet them in person. When you are in your lectures and your lecturer breaks you into breakout rooms – use them! Don’t leave the breakout room because you are not bothered and more importantly turn on your camera and talk. There will likely only be 3 or 4 of you in the room so you can talk away without being too nervous. You will feel better seeing people in your course and talking to them, even if it is just for 5 minutes.
Embrace online activities. Your college should be running different online activities each week, such as Zoom quizzes or playing online games together. Take part in these since others will be participating in the hope of meeting new people on their course.
Use what we have already told you! Many of the tips we have previously mentioned still apply. You can still join clubs and societies and you can still get in contact with your peer mentor for advice.
Here is another article again giving some extra tips on how to make friends in college: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/social-lights/201709/the-lonely-college-student
5. Conclusion
There are so many ways to make friends in college! If you put yourself out there as much as you can, you can meet a lot of new people and have a great time in college.
If you are someone who is living up in college and away from home for the first time, we have another post showing you how to adapt to life away from home:
What do you think of these tips? Let us know in the comments or on our Facebook page if you know any other ways that have helped you make friends.
Share this with any incoming college students you know and help them out!
