#FresherPressure: Making friends

We took to social media to see what advice students have for making friends as a fresher starting university.

While being a new student can be exciting and offer you lots of chances for putting yourself out there, taking advantage of these opportunities can be challenging and scary. It can start to feel like everyone around you has lots of friends and you’re the odd one out. However, it is likely that the person you imagine is the centre of a tight friendship group is just as worried as you about socialising and making those initial connections. We talked to students to see what they had to say about making friends in the first few weeks of university.

The most common answer to the question ‘how did you make friends as a fresher?’ was…

The more situations you put yourself in to meet new people, the greater the potential is for finding other students who you really connect with. A great way to do this is through getting involved in organised activities and events that spark your interest as you’ll meet like-minded people.

This might involve overcoming worries and pushing against your natural instinct to retreat into the safety of your bedroom. It is worth pushing through this if you can.

If the thought of turning up at university not knowing anyone fills you with dread (a totally normal reaction!), then thanks to living in the internet era it is possible to prepare a little before you go using social media. Some students talk about the help of...

Other students have found that preparing in other ways can help too…

In general, trying to be as welcoming as possible can make you more approachable, meaning you don’t have to do all the proactive work.

So, to get over the #FresherPressure of making friends, make sure to increase your chances of meeting new people - get out of your comfort zone and get involved!