What to Do If You Don’t Click With Anyone During Introduction Week

Introduction Week is often presented as the moment when everything starts to fall into place. You meet your new classmates, make friends, explore your university and discover the city you will call home.

But what happens when it does not quite work out that way?

Maybe you do not immediately click with your introduction group. Maybe everyone seems to have found their people except you. Or perhaps you attend several events and still go home wondering whether you will actually make friends at university.

First of all, you are not doing anything wrong.

Introduction Week Is Not a Friendship Deadline

There can be a lot of pressure around Introduction Week. Social media can make it look like everyone is having an amazing time and making lifelong friendships within a few days.

Real life is usually very different.

Some people meet their closest friends during Introduction Week. Others meet them weeks or even months later. You might spend the first few days with one group and eventually discover that you have much more in common with people from another course, student association, sports club or house.

Your first week is an introduction to university, not a deadline for finding your best friends.

So if you finish Introduction Week without a new best friend, do not panic. You have plenty of time.

Give People More Than One Chance

Sometimes a first impression is not the whole story.

You might have a short conversation with someone and think you have nothing in common. Then you happen to sit next to them again during a lecture and discover that you actually have the same sense of humour, hobbies or interests.

Friendships often develop through repeated interactions.

Instead of asking yourself, “Is this person going to be my friend?”, try asking, “Would I enjoy talking to this person again?”

That takes away some of the pressure and gives connections room to develop naturally.

Look Beyond Your Introduction Group

Your introduction group is only a tiny part of your university community.

If you do not immediately connect with the people in your group, start exploring elsewhere.

Join a sports club. Go to a student event. Attend something organised by your programme. Talk to someone in your lecture. Check out a student association or simply spend some time in places where other students hang out.

University gives you many opportunities to meet people, and you do not have to find your social circle in one particular place.

In fact, some of your best friendships may come from people you never would have met during Introduction Week.

Find People Who Share Your Interests

Making friends becomes easier when you have something in common.

Maybe you love travelling, going to the gym, playing football, discovering new restaurants or attending concerts. Maybe you are looking for people who speak the same language or are also new to the city.

This is where finding fellow students based on shared interests can make a difference.

With the Studinty app, you can discover fellow students at your university and in your city, explore what is happening around you and connect with people who have things in common with you.

You do not need to connect with everyone. The goal is to find a few people you genuinely enjoy spending time with.

Do Not Compare Your Experience

One of the easiest ways to make yourself feel like you are falling behind is to compare your university experience with someone else’s.

You might see classmates posting photos from parties with a big group of friends. Someone else might already have a new friend group, while you are still figuring out where everything is.

Remember that you are seeing a snapshot, not the whole story.

People can look confident while feeling just as uncertain as you do. And the people who seem to have everything figured out during the first week may still meet completely different friends later in the year.

Your university experience does not have to look like anyone else’s.

Keep Showing Up

If Introduction Week does not immediately give you the friendships you hoped for, the best thing you can do is keep putting yourself in situations where connections can happen.

Say yes to another event.

Sit next to someone new.

Join that activity you were curious about.

Send a message to someone you had a nice conversation with.

Try something outside your usual routine.

You do not need to completely reinvent yourself. You simply need to keep giving yourself opportunities to meet people.

Because sometimes the person who becomes your closest friend at university is not the person you meet on day one.

It might be someone you meet in week three, during your first group project, at a student event, through a shared hobby or simply because you happened to sit next to each other one morning.

So if you do not click with anyone during Introduction Week, take a breath. Your story is only just beginning.