<p>So I live in what is supposed to be the most social dorm on campus...yet I find myself only hanging with people who went to the same HS as me..and we're not particularly fond of one another. Even my roomy came from my HS. Any advice other than joining greek life? (Unfortunately its not within my budget or immediate interest at the moment) </p>
<p>:0 blah</p>
<p>Now I don’t know anything about UT, and honestly it doesn’t matter where you are at. Get out of your dorm room and talk to people. It is right now that people are most open to meeting people. So go out and do it.</p>
<p>I’ve been wondering the exact same thing! Everyone keeps telling me to join a club with something I’m interested in. Maybe look around at those tables that are always near Jester? =)</p>
<p>Grab a few friends of those that you do have and hit up some parties or something and see if you might make friends (and still remember their names the next day!). </p>
<p>Find clubs that don’t really have dues and that’s another good way. Or move into a co-op next year! That’s what I did and I’ve made many a friends living in a cooperative living household. But one needs to research that and see if it’s right for them.</p>
<p>A lot of the non greek sororities/frats have dues that are considerably cheaper and it’s the same relative concept. I’m in one and dues start at 185 versus 700+.</p>
<p>Parent idea - When I was in college, I formed a study/homework group for one of my challenging classes in my major. Our study group quickly turned into the ‘going for coffee’ group, ‘going to the movies’ group and because we were ‘of age’, the happy hour group. We are still friends more than 30 years later. So make friends in your major if you can.</p>
<p>I’ve had good success with people just randomly talking to me and introducing themselves. Granted, I have yet to make any “friends” that I can go to places with, but I honestly haven’t had time for that anyways. I don’t understand how the hell people do it. The amount of reading I’m having to do, plus the unpacking, plus the organizing, plus the navigating of the city, plus the clothes, books, food and supplies shopping, etc… has left me little time for anything. </p>
<p>But good luck to you guys. I’ve been impressed by the friendliness of people in this city and I don’t doubt that if you want to you will find good friends. Remember the old maxim, 90% (or close to it) of any accomplishment is simply showing up, and the same is true for making friends. Show your face and say hello and the rest naturally follows.</p>
<p>Why in heaven’s name did you decide to room with a friend from high school? And I’m assuming that you eat most of your meals and go out on weekends with that same circle of friends from high school. And I’m assuming that you’re probably not involved in much of anything extracurricularly. If so, how could anyone ever expect to branch out in such suffocating and barren conditions as those? And who planned this cowardly and depressing social tomb anyways? The mastermind who organized this permanent high school reunion needs a good kick in the rear. Unfortunately, some damage is done and it’s probably going to take you a long time to build a completely new social circle, like maybe a year. But that’s what living units, clubs, and part-time jobs are for: built-in social circles. It has always been this way at large universities, going back centuries, and it always will be this way. If, by this time next year, you’re not living, working, and socializing with an entirely different circle of people, you only have yourself to blame. It’s not real complicated. It just takes a little bit of courage and faith. And if you have no courage or faith of any kind, you’re probably not worth much of anybody’s time to meet anyways. But I suspect that you are worth knowing. So make a plan and steer a new course for the future and don’t look back.</p>
<p>If you enjoy community service projects (and the fun of running the giant flag of Texas on the football field - remember a giant Texas flag from “Back to Texas” the night before class started?) stop and talk to the people at the Alpha Phi Omega co ed service fraternity table. </p>
<p>If you like to build, sign up with the Habitat for Humanity club.</p>
<p>Did you ever want to learn to ballroom dance? Texas Ballroom is always looking for newcomers.</p>
<p>This school has offers so many opportunities to try new things and get involved. There is way more out there than Greek Life. Definitely stop and talk to the people at the tables. Also, the big party on the plaza activity fair is coming up on Wednesday, August 31. Make an effort to stop by. 200 student organizations will be there. [About</a> the PoP!](<a href=“Party on the Plaza 2022”>Party on the Plaza 2022)</p>
<p>ffhrea - you may want to do your creative writing warm-ups elsewhere. Hammering bottlecap isn’t helpful. Bottlecap - you are not in a “cowardly and depressing social tomb”. It’s early. Classes have been in session for less than a week. Unless you and your h.s. friends have the same major and class schedule, there will be a natural separation occurring over the next year regardless of where you live. </p>
<p>Most UGS classes are organized in cohorts, so get to know the people in yours. Many classes require you attend a study table at least once a week…there’s another opportunity to get to know people. Not sure if you are science major, but in Welch, there is a wall full of organizations related to your major or interests you can join. My son is in an honors program and they’ve had a couple of social events already. So looking for academic connection WILL lead to social connections. </p>
<p>And do as MidwestMom suggests, check out PoP. My daughter went off to UNC-CH by herself, the first and only in our huge Houston school district. She attended the club fair (like PoP) and found herself trying out for and making the UNC NCAA rowing team (coxswain). She also became a freshman member of Student Government. She knew no one at UNC, so she had to work to make connections. But just because you have h.s. friends around doesn’t mean you can’t make those connections too.</p>
<p>I think the situation is common for many freshman throughout all schools. They arrive on campus and somehow immediately gravitate toward anyone with any familiarity, even if it wasn’t who they hung out with in high school. </p>
<p>I also think you’re expecting too much of yourself right now. This is a new life for all freshman and every one is adjusting. Of course people are going to cling to what is familiar. I’d say if in two months you still haven’t managed to get out of your comfort zone, then you might want to reassess what you’re doing. It’s way to early in the semester to fret over this; you need to allow time for things to unfold… as you become more entrenched in your classes, you will find others that you are drawn toward. You’ll start seeing the same new faces in the dining halls, etc. And they will have friends you’ve never met, and so on, and so on. Everyone is worried they won’t make new friends; chances are, if you’re in the dining hall and someone is by themselves and looking for a place to sit, they’ll be so relieved if you suggest they join you!</p>
<p>There’s a whole campus full of freshman who are in the same spot as you. It may take some trial and error, but you will make new friends. I’d be so blunt to say that no one I knew throughout college managed to make it through without finding a social circle that wasn’t solely comprised of people they knew from high school.</p>
<p>Hanging out with your high school friends isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I’m in a very similar situation: rooming with a high school friend, mostly hang out with kids I knew in high school, etc. But having a circle of familiar friends allows us to branch out as a group. We’ll go to parties together, make new friends, and essentially expand our circle. I find that having an established group of friends gives us the confidence to branch out.</p>
<p>Well the most IMPORTANT thing you can do is:
Just chill. Relax. When I was a freshman I fretted over the same thing. I think most freshman, except the ones who come with their bffls, have the same worries. I felt like the world’s biggest loser if I didn’t have something to do Saturday night. lol! Looking back on it now, I was so over dramatic. I even came to realize that frat parties weren’t even that fun to me. (But I am glad I got to see for myself.)
Join some clubs. Try to be friendly, but don’t try too hard. Let things happen naturally and don’t go it thinking “I better make x amount of friends at this meeting” haha
Oh and if it helps, I never made any “friends” just by living in Jester.</p>
<p>@Pioneerjones, so you figured that out in the one and a half weeks you’ve attended UT? Teach us more oh wise one.</p>
<p>Am hoping that BottlecapBlues has not provided an update due to a demanding social calendar!</p>
<p>That’s true… you don’t make friends by living in Jester, but chances are that many of the friends you make in classes and such live in Jester… so living close to them is good.</p>
<p>I live in Jester but I’m trying to switch because it’s just too big and impersonal for me, not because I’m having trouble making friends</p>
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<p>Save your passive hostility for someone else. My intention was simply to share some advice with the OP, whose situation is very similar to my own.</p>
<p>I, for one, would be glad to meet you OP if you’re interested in meeting someone new. I live in Jester East.</p>
<p>Haha passive hostility. XD That’s not a very insightful thing to say</p>
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<p>The irony made me chuckle :)</p>
<p>Regardless, I still don’t understand why you’re so upset.</p>
<p>Dude it was a joke. On the internet. Lighten up. o_O</p>