I’m a fairly social individual who plans on attending a “nerdy” school in the Northeast. Would you say Facebook is an essential to making friends in college or not? I’ve never had a hard time making friends in high school so please lmk 
Definitely not necessary, but useful. There will likely be a class of 2020 FB group where you could find a roommate, and a lot of on-campus events are promoted through there. You won’t have trouble finding friends because you don’t have one, though.
Thank you! I really don’t think I would use it even if I made one so this is good to hear. @SpringAwake15
It is helpful and I would set up a page. It is not necessary to join facebook to make friends, but it is a helpful tool for staying in the loop of things that are going on… Some examples.
–My D became facebook friends with a bunch of incoming freshmen before school even started (students set up a XYA College class of AB page set up) and a group of them got together in NYC over the summer – she is still good friends with a girl she met at the dinner.
–My S joined the same kind of page for his school and got some valuable information from it (ex. information about different dorms from people who knew the campus well).
-Once at the school. many clubs etc. have pages and if you “like” the page you will automatically get information about the group’s meetings, activities etc.
–Even if a group of friends plan something they may do it through facebook.
Bottom line is I would join. You don’t want to miss out on things simply because you don’t know about them and you don’t want to be dependent on others to get that information.
I agree, which is why I’m on the fence about it :(. @happy1 I used to have a Facebook as a freshman and sophomore but I just feel like it’s very distracting and time-consuming. As someone who will probably stick to a small group of friends, I don’t think it’s completely necessary, but your points are valid so idk ;(.
You are more mature than you were as a HS freshman. I would get an account/update your old account and just make a habit of checking facebook once a day like you would an email account (maybe don’t put in on your phone, just check it on your computer so you won’t be on it all the time). I doesn’t have to be that time consuming/distracting unless you allow it to be. There is no need to be a heavy facebook user (putting pictures, comments on constantly) but you don’t want to be left out of anything either.
And even if you have a small group of friends, you may not all be in the same dorm and use facebook to plan something, you hopefully will join some clubs on campus and need information about meetings etc. Consider it a commonly used information gathering tool, nothing more.
Anyway, that is what I got from my college age kids – you can decide for yourself what to do.
Not needed, but helpful.
Both my step-daughters found their roommates through the admitted students page on FB, and they found it helpful to be able to talk to their new classmates and see what everyone was going to be like.
Like everything, it is useful to some, and not so much for others. You can try it and if it doesn’t work for you, let it go like you did before.
No, it is not necessary and honestly will create more problems as a distraction than it will solve. Look at all the laptops screens in a big lecture hall sometime, probably 2/3 of them are on Facebook.
With apologies to Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook is not needed anywhere by anybody. 
You should have it to connect with friends.
It’s not needed, but not useless either. I’m a fan of having Facebook tbh (always have been, I just like to stay connected to people) but there are many who don’t use it. My own roommate, who I’m good friends with in real life, hasn’t even responded to my friend request. So it’s all good. Decide for yourself whether it’s necessary. I would personally get one if I were you.
I think it’s very useful for networking and getting to know people in your classes better, as well communicating about homework, help for classes, etc. As some others have said, your college will probably have class pages, roommate seeking pages, ticket/textbook exchange pages, which are extremely useful. I would get one, but of course it’s not necessary to spend hours and hours on it; checking it a couple times a day would probably be good. The bigger your college is, the more useful Facebook and social networking sites will be.
I know you said you didn’t have trouble making friends in high school, but college is different and there’s always the possibility you’ll have some difficulty adjusting at first. I had made good friends in high school, but I found the first 1-2 weeks of college absolutely exhausting and emotionally taxing because I had to force myself to put more effort than I was used to into making friends. Facebook can help a little with making that easier, I think.
I’m probably going to make one after I get accepted somewhere. Thanks to everyone who replied :).
Jumping at the end to say that (while agreeing that it is not necessary) there are lots of aspects to fb in college beyond making friends. It’s where our Ds get a lot of their gear (2nd hand bike, fridge, clothes), etc- there’s a fb page for that at all their colleges; it’s where D2s study group arranges to meet- and to ask questions of each other when they are studying in different places; it’s where D1 has gotten great tips on how to get things done (there’s a ‘self-help’ page at her college) and so on. You can control your usage, but have the option until you know what communication platforms work best for you.