When we received our acceptance letters as seniors in high school, the image of college we had in our heads was nothing like the reality we live in now. Many of us didn’t get graduation. If we did, it was probably done in football fields and parking lots instead of inside a fancy auditorium.
So now that we’re online, how do we make this first semester a little less lonely? Well, here are a few things I did this year to make friends as an online freshman!
- School Sponsored Events
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These events were great for getting a snippet of people’s lives. At times I clicked with people, and other times there were pretty awkward and forced conversations. But for me, friends are best made when we’re not in any kind of formal setting, so I set my sights on other methods.
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My first plan to meet people at Rhodes was to follow anyone I could find that had “Rhodes 202X” in their bio. That plan didn’t quite work. As someone who checks their Instagram about twice a week, it was a bad idea from the start. My feed was clogged up with pictures of people I didn’t really know (who took pictures wayyyy better than I could), and a bunch of awkward conversations in my DMs.
- Snapchat
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After the Instagram disaster, I set my sights on Snapchat. This one didn’t end up too bad. I was able to comment on people’s stories, and for some reason, the conversations on there felt a lot more casual. However, I felt limited on the number of people I could meet at once without the conversation becoming an interview.
- Zoom
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One student in my class had a great idea to start doing weekly zooms. These weren’t anything like the ones we’re used to, which have the air of formality. Instead, we talked into the early hours of the morning about whatever we felt was the most fun. And this was when I started real friends in college.
Hopefully, after reading this you’ve gotten some ideas to make friends this semester!