Ask BeeGee: How to Make Friends as a First-Year

By Maddie Garvis//

Hello, first-year students. Your favorite introverted senior is here to give you advice on how to make friends and make the best of college life.

Ironic right?

But who better to give you advice on how to be social than someone who failed at it dramatically as a first-year and has since learned from it.

Without further ado, here is Maddie’s guide to making friends and generally avoiding the first-year blues:

Tip 1: Join some sort of group.

This is the most cliché tip out there, but it works. Join anything. A sports team, a club, the newspaper staff (ahem), make a study group with other students in your impossible biology class. Forming or joining a group is the fastest and easiest way to make connections with other students.

Tip 2: Make more friends other than your roommate.

While there’s absolutely nothing wrong with hanging out with your roommate, do not rely on them as your only friend. People change and falling outs happen, and you don’t want to be left with nobody to hang out with if things go bad. Don’t be afraid to talk to the people who sit next to you in class, they won’t bite, and oftentimes want to talk to you too. Find the other people in your major and set up study sessions. One friend is good, more than one friend is even better.

Tip 3: Absolutely DO NOT retreat to your dorm room every chance you get.

This is what I did my entire first semester (social anxiety is killer) and I really regret it. How are you going to meet people if you lock yourself back in your dorm room as soon as you get out of class? Instead of always taking your lunch to go, sit at an empty table or find someone sitting alone and strike up a conversation with them. Terrifying, but worth it if you end up getting a new pal out of the exchange. Believe it or not, a lot of friends are made at random tables in the dining hall.

Hopefully these tips will help make your first-year of college slightly less panic-inducing. Good luck out there and don’t forget to send your questions for the Ask BeeGee column to blueandgrey@hood.edu.