During high school, your teen didn’t have to think much about how to make friends. Friendships developed naturally out of middle school connections, and with luck, they flourished in high school classrooms and activities.
But after high school graduation, childhood friends start to go their separate ways. It’s at this point that your child (whether a quiet introvert or a people-focused extrovert) may start wondering—with some nervousness—about whether it’s possible to make new college friends before college starts.
Show the ideas below to any student wondering how to make friends before college starts.
1. Use social media to start connecting with other students months before classes start.
Search “[College Name] class of [your year of college graduation]” on Facebook, GroupMe, Reddit, or Discord. Ask your admissions office if the college has an official group for your class on one of these platforms.
When you get to campus, create a post inviting everyone in the group to the same coffee shop at the same time. They won’t all show up, of course, but some will—and this will provide a great opportunity to connect in person.
2. Use the ZeeMee app.
ZeeMee is one of the safest and most effective apps currently available for pre-college social networking, and it’s free. It’s widely used by college-bound students to get to know people before arriving on campus.
Colleges and universities use ZeeMee to create moderated, safe, verified communities for incoming students that include sub-chats organized by shared interests. Months before college starts, you can find other students in your class gathered around topics such as “pre-med,” “out-of-state students,” “musicians,” or “Smith Hall 3rd Floor,” to name a few. There’s even a roommate finder with a swipe-style interface if you’re looking for a roommate.
To get started, download the ZeeMee app and create an account with your name, photo, and intended college. Enter your college name and join your class’s group.
(To have the best experience on ZeeMee, stick with school-verified chats, avoid external invite links to unverified group chats, block and report offensive DMs, and of course, don’t share your personal contact information in public chats.)
3. Connect with your roommate weeks before college starts. (I promise—he or she is also thinking about how to make friends before arriving.)
During the summer before dorm move-in day, the college housing office will usually provide you with your future roommate’s name, phone number, and email address. Reach out, introduce yourself, find each other on social media, and start talking about your room. Who will bring the dorm refrigerator? Who will bring the microwave? Is one waste basket enough, or do you need two? Get to know this person a little bit ahead of time, and you’ll lay the foundation for what could end up being a lifelong friendship.
4. Connect with older students from your area who are already students at your college.
Your high school guidance counselor may know of students who’ve already put in a year or more at your future college. Reach out and ask a few questions. (“Who’s the best, most inspiring professor you’ve had so far?” “What’s the best outside-of-class activity you’ve been involved in so far?” “When you think about majors—which ones seem to be leading most directly to jobs after college?”
The student you reach out to may be very helpful, answering your questions and eventually introducing you to a whole network of current college students you might never meet otherwise.
5. Attend college-sponsored virtual events, webinars, and in-person meetups.
Search your email for the word “orientation,” or get into your admissions portal to find your invitations to virtual or in-person “meet your classmates” or “summer welcome” events.
If your college offers in-person regional meet-ups for new students—go! A regional meet-up is a great way to make new friends before college starts. (And who knows, you may find someone to share gas costs when it’s time to travel home for weekends or school breaks.)
6. Participate in your college’s orientation.
If new student orientation is voluntary, plan to attend and participate wholeheartedly. Attend the earliest one scheduled if possible—not just to get started early getting connected with new friends, but also because doing so will allow you to register for classes earlier (giving you the best chance of getting the classes you want with the professors you want).
7. As early as possible, ask this question: “Do you have a program where brand-new freshmen are trained to orient other new freshmen to campus?”
Call your college admissions office and ask this exact question.
If you’re one of the specially-trained freshman student leaders that conduct the program that welcomes other new freshmen to campus, you’ll give yourself 4 powerful advantages:
A) You’ll move into student housing earlier than most other students do. When hallways and cafeterias are less crowded, it’s easier to strike up conversations. One way to introduce yourself is to say, “Hi, I’m Austin. Why did you get to move in so early?” (It might be for athletic practice, or for some reason other than being in the same leadership program as you.)
B) Your training for this program will give you a chance to meet other “go–getter–mover–and–shaker” freshman student leaders—in a small group setting where you’re working on a big project together. These are the kind of people you want to be friends with if you’re planning to have a great life.
C) You’ll be immediately branded as an enthusiastic campus leader, and this can lead to other opportunities for you in the future.
D) It will be great to have your participation in this program on your LinkedIn profile and on your resume. It’s always helpful to have the word “leadership” associated with you.
If you’d like to see an example of this kind of leadership program, here’s one—at the University of Wisconsin Whitewater, where it’s called “uLead.”
8. Plan now that when you get to college, you’re going to go to where small groups of students gather.
Go in person to locations where students with your interests are gathering. Put these gatherings on your calendar and go to them over and over again.
If you’re wondering how to make good quality, close lifelong friends on your college campus, this is it.
Remember, if you’re wondering how to make friends on campus, other people are too.
Be the friend everyone hopes they’ll meet when they get there.
The summer before college starts involves far more than just thinking about how to make friends.
For more info on what to do during the summer before dorm move-in day, see pages 303–325 of my book:
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Read just one chapter of LAUNCH every 1–3 months while your child’s in middle school and high school, and you’ll know every viable strategy for debt-free college at exactly the right time to implement it.
And if your child’s already well past middle school? That’s OK; you can run to catch up. But the process of getting your kids through college debt-free goes more smoothly the earlier you start it—especially if you’re not planning to save up any money to pay for college.
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Who is Jeannie Burlowski?
Jeannie is a full-time academic strategist, podcast host, and sought-after speaker for students ages 12–26, their parents, and the professionals who serve them. Her writing, speaking, and podcasting help parents set their kids up to graduate college debt-free, ready to jump directly into careers they excel at and love. Her work has been featured in publications such as The Huffington Post, USA Today, Parents Magazine, and US News & World Report, and on CBS News.
Jeannie also helps students apply to law, medical, business, and grad school at her website GetIntoMedSchool.com. You can follow her on Bluesky @jburlowski.bsky.social.
No part of this article was written using AI.
This article was updated on June 10th, 2025.