Dorm Life 101: How To Make Friends

By Francine Fluetsch on August 21, 2014

Image via https://stlchristian.edu

A lot of people say that the friends you make in college will be your friends for life. When you go to your school on the first day, you wonder how you are even going to make friends.

You don’t know anyone (most likely) and that can be a very scary thing, especially if you are more on the shy side. The thing to remember is that since no one knows you, it is an opportunity to start fresh. Any mishaps that happened in high school don’t matter anymore.

And though it may be a bit daunting, I promise you will meet tons of great people. Just how should you go about this?

Participate in welcome week activities:

Welcome week activities may seem a bit on the lame side, but they are there for a reason: to help you make friends! Through name games and sharing interests, you will start to find some people who look interesting to talk to. You could even bond over how embarrassing some of the games are.

I actually met my roommate and now best friend in college playing one of these games. It was one where we had to rapidly go around and introduce ourselves, and then test our memory skills by throwing a hacky sack to a person and saying their name. Of course I forgot her name and called her the wrong one, but that’s how we got to talking and now it’s a funny memory of how we met.

The first week is a crucial part of setting a friend basis with people, so don’t miss out.

Prop open your door:

While getting to be buddies with your roommates is nice, it’s awesome to expand and see who is cool on the hall. Leaving your door open allows other people to pop in and introduce themselves, and you can do the same if you see some doors open. It might feel a bit weird at first, just going into some stranger’s room, but it’s a great way to meet people.

This is especially important if you are in a single, because you can’t rely on having a roommate at all times to do stuff with. Even if you aren’t very extroverted, attempt to be! Come out of your shell and meet your hall so you can enjoy the perks of having your own room and not feel lonely.

You also don’t want your roommates to be your only friends because living with them and hanging out with them 24/7 may cause some conflicts. You can get annoyed with someone pretty quickly if you are always with them. While it’s totally fine to have mutual friends, it’s also good to have some individual ones so you aren’t always with one another.

Real talk in the bathroom:

The bathrooms are actually a sort of ‘hang out’ place where you can meet people. Not when you’re actually going to the bathroom (Awk-city), but when you are brushing your teeth or getting ready for the day.

I’ve bonded with 8 a.m. class people that way, by seeing a fellow sleepy-eyed person crawl into the bathroom, and the two of us could complain together about how it’s much too early to be going to class.

Hall mate to classmate:

Asking people which classes they are taking may land you with someone to sit with on the first day. This gives you a boost of confidence walking in, because you are probably scared enough about your first college class that you don’t want to have to worry about not knowing anyone.

Though colleges offer tons of classes, chances are at least one person on your hall will have the same class as you, and you can bond together over it.

You could even study together and have a friendship grow from there. This is perfect for when you are shy because if you have a stall in the conversation and don’t know what to say, you can always bring something up about the class, like complaining about the professor, to keep the convo going.

Friends in section:

While it may be hard to make friends in an actual lecture because there isn’t really a good opportunity to talk, making friends in sections is the way to go. Doing this will give you someone to sit next to in lecture, and you will be able to get to know them in section and outside of it.

This is great especially if it’s in one of your major classes, since then you might get a friend who will take multiple upper divs with you.

As you can see, there are many ways to make friends your first year, and the years to follow. The most important thing I’d say is to start right away when everyone is new. You don’t want to try and get on the friend train when everyone already knows everybody. If you’re shy like me, though it may be hard, just get yourself out there. You’ll be glad you did.

Happy friend making!

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