Top Five Ways to Make Friends at Uni
1) Get to know your flatmates: Even if you’re really shy, make an effort to chat to the people you’re living with. Remember everyone’s in the same boat and likely to feel nervous too. But if you make the effort you’ll soon find people start to become familiar and before you know it you may just have a really great bunch of friends around you. If you don’t like your flatmates too much to begin with, it might be difficult, but be persistent. Since moving into halls I’ve sometimes chatted to my now great friends about what our first impressions of each other and our other flatmates were – and it turns out they’re not always right – so don’t take them as gospel!
2) Mingle with other people in your halls: Not everyone will be lucky enough to have flatmates they get on really well with, but if you make sure you go to halls gatherings and parties, you’ll be sure to find people you can connect with. Even if you do have amazing flatmates, it’s still important to do this. That way, there will always be someone around for you to spend time with if your flatmates aren’t about or don’t turn out to be as great as you thought they were.
3) Join a society: This is such a great way to make friends. I didn’t do it in my first year, but having joined the climbing club this year, I’ve realised what a big mistake that was! Not only does it mean I get to do something I really enjoy, but I’ve met a great bunch of people through it and really broadened my social horizons. Also, it means you’re not limited to one friendship group, which could come in handy if your mates in halls let you down or you just need a change of scenery now and again.
4) Talk to people on your course: You’ll probably enjoy your course much more simply by having people you know around you in lectures, seminars and so on. If nothing else, you can have a giggle with someone if you end up in a mind numbing lecture, which, let’s face it, is fairly likely to happen at some stage! This is obviously also useful when it comes to assignments and exams: without people to discuss things with and ask questions to if you’re unsure of what’s expected of you, you might start to feel really bogged down with nobody on your own level to turn to.
5) Chat to randomers: Ok, so by randomers, I don’t strictly mean randomers! But particularly during the first week or two you’re likely to come across a lot of other students on nights out, so chat to people and have a good time. You might even stumble across someone you end up becoming good friends with!
Final tip: Make sure you do all this within the first couple of weeks of uni. At this stage, everyone’s really open; you can talk to pretty much anyone and it’s socially acceptable! As the weeks go by, it becomes more and more difficult to start to get to know people, so make sure you get in there early and avoid isolating yourself. Don’t forget to check back here for the latest student discounts to impress your pals with!