Starting college is a scary and daunting time, with so many new changes to your life you may feel lost on how to find friends in such a big school.
From clubs to sitting next to each other in class, college is a great place to make new friends.
Upperclassmen shared experiences making friends when they started school and what advice they would give new students trying to find their community on campus.
“I had like one friend, then it kind of just went from there,” said Molly Taylor, Oregon State University student who is beginning her fifth year of school, and fourth year at OSU.
She said her friends come mainly from being introduced to other students through mutual friends, as well as meeting people in her classes.
Taylor transferred to OSU right after her freshman year at University of Idaho.
Taylor recalls not finding a solid group of friends until her Junior year, her second year at OSU.
She started classes at OSU at the start of the 2020 school year, the same year that the pandemic hit and classes turned remote in spring.
“It was probably hard though because I was a transfer student, and because of COVID-19,” Taylor said.
For both new and not so new students wanting to make friends and connect to their peers she advised “to not be afraid to put yourself out there, it seems scary or embarrassing but it’s really not that big of a deal, and it’s fun in the long run.”
Megan DeVore, a third-year, began school at OSU as a freshman, but described how it took her a while until she felt like she found her friends and made a community at OSU.
“I really started to feel like I had a solid (group of) friends sophomore year,” Devore said. “I met a lot of them through either classes or clubs.”
DeVore is involved in the Human Development and Family Sciences club, the aspiring educators club, and occasionally participates in crochet club at the craft center. She attributes a lot of her connections at OSU to being involved in clubs on campus.
“Especially seeing people in clubs, and then later on having classes with them and you already know them, there is already kind of a connection,” DeVore said.
DeVore said how she believes the best way to make new friends in class is to introduce yourself to the person sitting next to you when you sit down.
“Get the conversation flowing and then you guys can meet up and work on school work together,” DeVore said.
