Tips for Meeting New People When You Start College/University

Are you ready for the full college/university experience?
We’ve compiled a short list of ways to meet new people when you start college/university:

• Turn off your computer/phone. Connect in real life.
• Join a club or two. Find people with similar interests to yours.
• Check out events in your town.
• Go to parties.
• Start a study group with class-mates.
• Join an intramural or club sports team.
• Find the popular hang-outs on campus and around town.
• Talk to people. Ask Questions. Remember Names.
• Get a job or volunteer.
• Find a note-sharing buddy.
• Be-friend class-mates on social media.
• Go to events. Step out of your comfort zone and see who you’ll meet in the process.
• Do homework in public: coffee shops, libraries etc.
• Take an elective such a communications course. Take a lab-class.
• Take the initiative to hang out with the people you seem to click with.
• Take advantage of any previous acquaintances.
• Be approachable. Smile.
• Move early. Start meeting people before school even begins.
• Meet your dorm-mates and floor-mates quickly. Leave your door open.
• Work for the campus newspaper or yearbook.
• Run for student body.
• Don’t “go home” on weekends; stay on campus.
• Ditch the long-distance relationship.
• Find a friend who is more social than you.
• Go to as many Frosh Week events as you can.
• Tag along with groups of people.
• Listen more than you talk. Ask questions.
• Sit with people you don’t know in the dining hall/cafeteria. Strike up a conversation.
• Use course work as an ice-breaker (“Gee, this class is easy/hard/boring”).
• Meet people from outside of your old high school group.
• Don’t come on too strong.
• Be yourself.

Use some (or all?) of these tips to get your school year, and college experience, started off right.  Make this year the best year ever!

Best of Luck!

Did we miss anything?  Share your ideas below!

You can enter our back-to-school pack contest at this link until the first week of September ends.

Some of these ideas were inspired by these two articles on the topic:
http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Friends-in-College
http://www.succeedsocially.com/howtomakefriendscollege