Some people will tell you that you go to college to learn. Some people will tell you that you go to college to party. Some people may even say that you go to college to find yourself.
While all this is true, one of the most important reasons to go to college often gets overlooked: you go to college to make friends.
And if you’re going to Arizona State, there is nowhere better to make friends. With over 50,000 students, there are more than likely several people there that have a lot in common with you.
But sometimes making friends is hard, especially when it seems like everyone already has friends. Don’t let that get you down though, it’s not as hard as you’d expect as long as you follow these guidelines!
- Start early. The day you move in, Sparky’s welcome team is there, a good number of them freshmen. Introduce yourself, start talking to them. They have work, but the freshmen are as eager (and as nervous, whether they admit it or not) to meet you as you are to meet them.
- Your roommate and suitemates. Sometimes it happens where you don’t get along with your roommate. That makes it a hard nine months sharing a not-so-big space. But for the most part, ASU does a pretty good job of matching you up. Even if you don’t like your roommate, many of the dorms (where you should live as a freshman) are suite-style where you share a bathroom with another room. Make friends with them. Then they’ll make friends for you to meet, and you begin networking.
- Talk to everyone. It doesn’t matter if you have a quiet personality. You can be quiet after you make friends. You don’t want to miss out by being too shy to say hello. When you hear people walking down the hall, step out of your door and introduce yourself. It may seem weird, but people will remember you.
- Classes. Most of your classes in your first semester will be primarily freshmen. Introduce yourself to the person sitting next to you. If they already know the person on their other side, well you meet them, too. It’s called networking. It’s also step five.
- Networking (told you). This is the single most important step, but it can’t be done without completing all of the other steps. All networking means is meeting the friends of friends you’ve already made. But you don’t want to be the person that meets everyone but doesn’t have any friends. Introduce your friends to other friends and their friends and make new friends! Confused? It happens. But just keep meeting people.
The fact is, you will meet people you don’t like. But you’ll meet a lot of people you do like. There could be someone just like you: a new best friend, a soul mate, someone that you will regret not meeting. You do NOT want to miss out on this opportunity do you?
I understand for some people meeting people is hard. But you are not alone at ASU. People come from literally everywhere to come to this school, many even more nervous about making friends than you. Conquering fears: yet another reason to go to college.
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