“It all starts at corral!” “You’ll meet your best friend here!” “I met my best friend at Corral and we’re still super close today!”
Chances are, throughout Orientation, you heard one or all of these phrases being tossed around by the upperclassmen meant to guide you. And while for some people exploring the wonderful city of Dallas with peers and going through about a million icebreakers can lead to meeting your friendship soulmate, for others, you come back to campus feeling pretty alone. If you didn’t manage to find the group of people you instantly clicked with, it can be terrifying to go into college without a support group, but believe it or not—it’s okay! Here are some reasons why it’s alright if you didn’t meet your BFF at Corral.
You still have plenty of opportunities! Let’s be real—how close can you really get with someone if you’re just playing the Name Game with each other a billion times? Probably not very close. After all, is a simple ice breaker going to reveal your passion for volleyball or introduce you to people who love to write articles for women in college *cough cough*? At orientation, you probably met a bunch of people with extremely varied interests from yourself, and so finding a group of people who share your exact interests can be difficult. But that’s not a problem! Thankfully, there are about a million other ways available to meet people who are much more like you than another random student. Clubs, elective classes, intramural sports, finding another person on their phone at a Pokestop—SMU has something special for everyone. So don’t panic if the girl next door to you hates all the movies you love, there’s a much better chance the girl you’ll meet in your film class will share your passion.
You know people now! So maybe none of the people in your corral group were the types of people you want to go get your nails done with. It can be hard when all you want is a college BFF, but it’s also good to keep in mind that acquaintances have an important role to play in your college life too. That girl you have nothing in common with might wind up in your DISC class and give you the notes when you’re sick, or the boy who is in a completely different major than you might compliment your outfit when you really feel disgusting (thanks constant rain and humidity!). Maybe you don’t have best friends yet, but you do have a large group of people who you at least know, and who can smile at you when you pass them on the sidewalk. It may not seem like much, but sometimes that goes a lot farther.
You might become friends later! People change majors. People change interests. The real point is that people change all the time, and so if you don’t click now, it doesn’t mean you won’t click later. Maybe you and your next door neighbor will connect over a movie that hasn’t even come out yet or sit next to each other in a class you won’t take until next semester. You never know what could happen later on, and sometimes things just can’t be rushed.
Other people might not be friends later! It isn’t impossible to meet your best friend at corral, but it’s also very possible to meet someone who you later realize you just aren’t that similar too. It might seem like everyone around you has a group that’s super close but just wait. In a month, those groups are probably going to change membership.
You’ve got plenty of time! School is just starting. While it may have been much more convenient to make friends instantly in kindergarten just by having a Powerpuff Girls water bottle, in college it takes a little bit of time. But I promise, once you have those friends, they’re worth it.
Feature Image Courtesy Lauren Dudley