How to Make New Friends in College: A Hack Your Teens Will Love

Making new friends is hard under any circumstance, but the pandemic has added a layer of complexity to our lives, making it even more challenging, especially for college kids.

A few weeks ago, a mom in the Grown and Flown Parents group told us that her daughter was a college freshman living in the dorm. She was in a single with no suite mates, so she was living alone and struggling to forge new relationships.

Her daughter was delighted to find a card under her door that read:

HEYY! This is Hannah and Candace we live in X and we are looking tor some NEW FRIENDS cuz rn we have a grand total of 2 any way come knock on (one) our doors or hit up our Instagrams!

This appeared under a college freshman’s door. (Allison Chrisman Matney)

Mom and daughter thought, “What a fabulous idea! There is hope! #pandemicdormlife.”

A few weeks later, another mom in the group wrote:

To whoever posted a couple weeks ago or so, about thier kiddo receiving a notecard looking for friends — THANK YOU!! My daughter’s college moved in the freshman first, with lab and clinical student from the other years. She’s in clinicals, so is on campus.

She’s in a junior dorm, where there’s a grand total of 20 kids in the entire building so far. She’s a very social extrovert, with no roommate and has been soooo lonely the past few weeks. I had screenshot the sample to her — and she got to work!

She handed out 10 to the girls in her dorm last night, and she’s heard from 3 already! She called me all excited — I could hear the change in her voice. So THANK YOU for sharing such a simple yet great idea (she’s going to hand out to the guys too, without all the hearts n such).

My daughter gave these out. (Photo via Randene Johnson Tapio)

We love the community on Grown and Flown Parents, partly because of terrific ideas like this. First-year students need to understand that they are not alone in their desire to connect. Nowadays, a hack like this is perfect. Pass it on.

About Helene Wingens

Helene Wingens has always been passionate about painting pictures with words. She graduated from Brandeis University with a degree in psychology and three years later from Boston University School of Law with a Juris Doctor. In a year long clerkship for an appellate judge Helene honed her writing skills by drafting weekly appellate memoranda. She practiced law until she practically perfected it and after taking a brief twenty year hiatus to raise her three children she began writing a personal blog Her essays have been published in: Scary Mommy, Kveller, The Forward, and Grown and Flown where she is Managing Editor. You can visit Helene's website here

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