<p>At any state school, a lot of freshmen come in already knowing some classmates from high school who have also enrolled there.</p>
<p>Given this fact, is it tough for an OOS freshman to find a social niche at Carolina? Any advice on the best way for a slightly shy kid (who is not interested in going Greek) to make some connections quickly?</p>
<p>Many thanks in advance for the input!</p>
<p>Hi Bookmobile-- In the Where’s Everyone Rooming thread I offered a cautionary tale about housing for OOS students that you might find helpful. My OOS son found UNC hard (socially) the first semester. He randomly landed with an extremely anti-social roommate and lived in a dorm with a lot of sophomores. Also, he’s not much of a “joiner” by nature and that definitely hurt him. You hear about the hundreds of clubs at colleges and how joining a few is the best way to meet people. I think that’s true, and my son’s failure to engage this way disadvantaged him, especially as an OOS student. My advice to OOS students is to live where the freshmen live and to commit to finding/joining a few clubs early on even if “joining” does not come naturally. I think one of the first back to school events for all students is a huge activity fair/party where you can put your name and e-mail address on club lists. Also, you might consider using the roommate search program UNC offers through its housing site. My son preferred to take his chance with a random assignment and got unlucky. He moved dorms and roommates at the semester and is enjoying himself much more!</p>
<p>I’m an instater, but I didn’t know anyone coming to UNC. From what I’ve found, it’s been very easy for me to make friends, but harder to find my “niche.” IMO- finding and making friends generally isn’t the problem-- the problem is that UNC is so big that it’s hard coordinating plans, seeing people, etc. when you all live on different sides of campus and have totally different schedules. I think it’s totally normal not to find your niche or group of friends until your sophomore year (at least, that’s what a few have told me), but the more activities you try and clubs you join, the closer you are to finding them. Hope that helps, feel free to PM me.</p>
<p>There are definitely in-staters, even those coming from UNC “feeder” high schools, that are looking to break away from their high school identity. Those kids will be more than happy to let you into their circle–they’ll be a little lost too.</p>
<p>It depends if you are trying to join ‘elite’ circles or not. If you just want to make a bunch of friends you shouldn’t have too much trouble, but if you wanted to get involved with top frats and sororities or the fake castle, then being from OOS might make that harder. But that isn’t an issue for you.</p>
<p>But in general, I don’t think it’s that big a problem. UNC-CH is primarily a local college for north carolina, but even those who come from central NC with 50 friends likely don’t just want to hang out with the same people they knew from high school.</p>
<p>Main piece of advice: go to the big fair in the first few weeks of the fall (fallfest). Very many of the clubs and societies are not very active and (especially) don’t keep websites. The pages listed on the UNC ‘student orgs’ thing are mostly empty templates or very out of date – a bit sad, really. So go to fallfest and join many things, and you’ll quickly have lots of friends.</p>
<p>Honestly, yes, it is extremely tough. Though what you need to consider is that even though people have known each other for years, once you know some people it’s easier to get to know the friends that they already spend a ton of time with.</p>
<p>Keep your dorm room door propped open whenever you are in there for the first week or two of class. Play some music or something to make it seem inviting. People will drop by and introduce themselves.</p>
<p>It isn’t impossible. Although UNC is 82% in-state, you will find that many people at UNC either don’t know people from their high school coming here, are trying to meet people that aren’t from their high school, or might even be the only people from their high school at UNC. </p>
<p>When I came to Carolina, I ended up rooming with a sophomore who I didn’t know. He and I were by no means great friends, but we got along well enough. I lived on North Campus my first year, but ended up making a lot of my friends on South Campus. I know people where the reverse has happened as well. </p>
<p>As far as other ways to make friends, I’d say Fall Fest is a must. Even if you don’t want to, put yourself out there and join clubs that you might remotely be interested in. If that really isn’t for you, I’d recommend joining the OOS Student Association. And as nerdy as it may sound, go to the summer reading book discussion. There were a total of 4 people at my discussion two and a half years ago, and one of them is my room-mate right now.</p>
<p>Also, if you’re shy, but interested in service related things, I highly recommend the Campus Y. Or even if you’re not interested in service things, they usually have weekly dinners (that are cheap! 4-5$) through fundraising for various organizations. Even if you don’t get involved with the organizations themselves, you can meet a lot of cool people.</p>
<p>Campus y also holds a two or three day “camp” for new freshman - you have to register as soon as it opens … as it fills fast, but this would be a great way to meet folks. My S is OOS, and has not had problems meeting folks. He’s not that outgoing, but he’s met a lot of people. There is also a new society that is forming … Sigma Phi Society - one of the oldest frats in the country … doesn’t sound like it will be a typical frat, there is a FB page you can find … maybe worth checking out too.</p>