10 Easy Ways To Make Friends After College
Looking for ways to make friends after college? Post-grad life is so exciting, but it can feel a bit lonely if you move away from your college friends. In this post, we’ll go over 10 easy ways to make friends after college.
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One of the amazing benefits of college is having an abundance of opportunities to form new relationships and friendships. However, when you graduate from college and friends move away, finding new friends can be quite a significant challenge.
If you’ve recently graduated or left college, you may need some advice on how to make friends after college. Well, you have come to the right place!
In this post, we will answer the following questions:
- Is it hard to make friends after college?
- Why is it challenging to make friends after college?
- What are 10 ways to make friends after college?
Is It Hard to Make Friends After College?
The short answer to this question is yes, making friends after college is more difficult than making friends in college.
Almost everyone struggles to make friends after college, which can be a lot to deal with on top of going through a major life transition. If you are struggling to make friends after college, you are not alone.
Why is that? Well, let me tell you.
Why Is It Challenging to Make Friends After College?
From elementary school through college, we are constantly around people who share our age, interests, and schedules. College is an especially unique experience because everyone is looking for new social connections, which can help you build a large network of friends.
Sadly, when college ends, friends move away, get new jobs, have children, get married, and generally have less time to spend with the friends they gained during college. When these relationships aren’t nourished, they tend to disappear.
While it can be sad to think about those relationships fading, making friends after college is truly important for your mental health. Though it may be more difficult than making friends in college, it is not impossible. Continue reading to find out how.
How to Make Friends After College
Making friends after college isn’t easy, but there are a few ways that you can meet people and form new relationship as a college graduate. If you have been struggling to make friends after college, here are 10 ways you can go about creating new relationships in the adult world.
1. Get Involved in Your Passions
One of the best ways to make friends after college is to get involved in your passions throughout the community. Find something you enjoy doing and join an organization for that hobby.
For example, if you enjoy gardening, try joining and helping out at your local community garden. If you enjoy singing, join the community choir. If you like workout classes, start going to your local yoga studio every week.
When you do things that you enjoy in a community or group setting, you are more likely to find people that share your interests, which is a great way to form an initial bond with other people.
2. Befriend Your Coworkers
If you’ve graduated college and moved onto a full-time job, you most likely have a bunch of coworkers that you see all day, every day.
You should not view your coworkers as only coworkers. You already spend over 40 hours a week together, so you might as well make the most of that time by getting to know them and gaining some new friends from it.
In addition, befriending your coworkers can make work a more fun and less stressful place to be which can reduce burnout, increase productivity, and help you avoid making work enemies.
3. Volunteer In The Community
Volunteering is not only good for the community; it is also an incredible way to meet some new people. Volunteer opportunities are usually group activities and the people volunteering with you typically share your interest in that volunteering organization.
Volunteer opportunities that occur on a regular basis can help you get to know the people you are volunteering with because you already have time set aside every week or month to be with that group.
Find volunteer opportunities by searching on your town’s website or googling “volunteer opportunities near me”. There are always organizations looking for help no matter what time of year it is.
4. Connect Via Social Media
One of the great benefits of living in the age of social media is that you can stay connected and get connected with anyone no matter where they live or what their schedule is like.
Use apps like Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat to stay in contact with the friends you made in college and to find new people to connect with.
Facebook groups are a great way to meet people who share a common interest or background because each group revolves around a certain topic.
You can also try messaging people that you’d like to get to know on any social media platform. This can be somewhat anxiety-producing, but you never know who you’ll get the chance to meet.
5. Try Friend Finder Apps
Social media isn’t the only way to find friends online. There are numerous friend-finder apps available today for the sole purpose of finding new friends.
These apps function sort of like a dating app where you create a profile and swipe through potential friendship matches.
It can be difficult to put yourself out there and talk to random strangers in person, so being able to meet people looking for friends online can reduce some of your anxiety.
Try apps like Meet My Dog, Bumble BFF, and Wink to start finding friends right away.
6. Take Some Classes
I know; taking classes right after you graduate college seems like a bad solution for needing new friends but let me tell you what I mean.
When I say classes, I’m talking about the fun classes like workout classes or art classes that are offered in your community.
These types of classes are attended by many people which gives the opportunity to meet individuals who share your interests. You also get the added benefit of learning a new skill or getting a workout in while scouting for friends.
7. Join a Church or Spiritual Organization
You don’t need to be religious to join a spiritual organization. There are many different types of spirituality including intellectual spirituality, mystic spirituality, social spirituality, and so on.
Finding some sort of spiritual connection has been shown to have a positive impact on mental health and increase overall happiness. Attending a spiritual organization is also a great way to meet people that think similarly to you, which can be a great opportunity for new friendships.
These spiritual organizations can include churches, meditation centers, and yoga studios. Explore to find what fits you in your community.
8. Join Your School’s Alumni Club
Most colleges have an alumni club where past students can meet with other past students to network and form connections.
If your school has an alumni club, join it and become an active member of the organization. This can gain you not only friendships but also new work opportunities and important relationships.
Alumni clubs also typically have fun events you can attend throughout the year, which offers another great chance to meet new people.
9. Connect with Existing Friends Virtually
While not seeing friends in person can be really difficult after college, it doesn’t mean you can’t see friends at all.
There are more options for connecting with people virtually now than ever before. You can play games with friends over Zoom, watch a movie together, cook together, or just call to have a long 3-hour chat.
It is up to you to keep and maintain the friendships you have made, and it can be done despite the distance. So, reach out to some of your closest college friends and plan your next zoom party!
10. Say “Yes”
One final way to make friends after college is to say “yes” more.
We often turn down opportunities for social experiences because we’re tired or we want to stay home or we don’t feel like it; but when we turn away from these experiences, we also turn away from potential opportunities to make new friends.
Say “yes” to more of the social experiences that are offered to you. For example, if a coworker invites you out for a drink after work, have a drink with them. If a concert is coming up that you find interesting, buy a ticket, and check it out.
You need to be willing to meet new people to meet new people. Start saying “yes” more and you will find yourself with a wide network of friends.
This post was all about how to make friends after college.
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