How To Make Friends at Uni After Being in Lockdown

Get yourself around some uni clubs, coffee shops and online groups!

This post is presented in partnership with RMIT University.

If you started uni during lockdown, you might never have set foot on campus—let alone interacted with your peers.

While it may feel as though you’ve forgotten how to interact with humans, there are still plenty of ways you can make friends at uni later into your degree.

Join a uni club that interests you.

Pretty much all universities have a thriving club and society scene made up of every niche imaginable.

Whether you’re into sport, academia, volunteering, music or languages—there’s something for everyone.

RMIT University has an awesome line-up including the RMIT Journalism Society, the RMIT KPOP Club, the Waterski and Wakeboard Club, and plenty of spiritual and cultural clubs, too. You can check out the full list here.

Once you join a club, it’s super easy to meet new people—especially if you actively attend events. It can be daunting at first, but if you attend just one of those sausage sizzle sundowners, you’ll be sure to walk away with a new contact for your university life.

Try to join a club or society which genuinely interests you. You'll be more likely to find people with common interests who you’ll get along with.

Become a regular at the campus coffee shop.

If you’re already going for a caffeine fix every morning before your 9am tute, why not ask along a classmate?

It's easier than you think to simply ask someone after class if they’d like to tack a coffee onto a seminar or lecture.

The RMIT University Melbourne City campus has some great spots like The Bean Project, Café @ 57, Standing Room, Little Bang Espresso, or the popular STREAT—a not-for-profit social enterprise that trains and employs people under 25 to tackle youth disadvantage and homelessness.

If coffee ain’t your thing, there’s Boost Juice and plenty of other food and drink hotspots!

Ask a classmate to be your study buddy.

Sometimes all it takes it asking that random person you sit next to if they’d like to exchange notes.

You'll be able to engage in a bit of banter as you carry on your studies. Just make sure they’re reciprocating and are keen to do so!

This can also work well in groups of people from your tutorials. You can all head to a collaborative study area in the library so that you’re not working on your assignments alone.

Join social media groups and chats.

There’s a lot of interaction happening on the world wide web which you may not have even explored.

Student-created university groups and pages are great for posting things non-academic related, and potentially meeting some new people.

One example is the Facebook “RMIT Students” where you can go for all the latest student updates, or the “RMIT Together” group which focuses on mental health and wellbeing in the RMIT community.

The past few years have been isolating for many, but there’s always an opportunity to link up with new people and have that uni experience you’ve always wanted.

So don’t stress and get yourself down to some sundowners!

Header Image: Keira Burton via Pexels