Kathryn's Guide to College Dating

        After spending my first year at UCSD, I have realized that meeting people in large universities can be fairly difficult.  Everyone is separated into different sections of the campus, and there is often little interaction amongst students outside of class.  Large lecture halls of hundreds of people also make meeting new people very challenging.  UCSD is known as the University of California for the Socially Disabled, because in general the students at UCSD are not very social beings.  If I can find a date in such a socially dysfunctional environment, anyone can! Here are some tips on how to meet people on your campus and hopefully find that special someone.

1.    Get Involved in the Greek Life:  I have never really thought of myself as the typical ‘sorority girl,’ but going through rush last year and joining a sorority helped me meet a bunch of new people.  If you don’t think that you would fit the mold of the typical person in a sorority or fraternity, you’re wrong.  The different sororities and fraternities that your school offers are very diverse, and once you go through the rushing/pledging process you’ll easily find your place in one of them.  Formals, parties, and other events are great ways to socialize with people of the opposite gender.  Even if you don’t end up joining a fraternity or sorority, you are bound to meet tons of people in the rushing process and will probably click with some of them.

2.    Join a Club or Sports Team:  Clubs and teams are other great way to meet people that have the same interests as you.  There are probably many intra mural and recreational sports teams at your school, which are not too competitive and often are co-ed.  Even if you don’t think that you would like to date anyone in these clubs or teams, the people you meet at these activities may have friends that you would like to spend some one-on-one time with.

3.    Go To the Orientation Events: As a freshman I decided not to go to any of the orientation events because I thought they would be useless, and now I regret not going.  The orientation exercises and games are usually pretty lame, but making a few friends at the beginning will make your first weeks at college less overwhelming.  And, you never know, there might be some hotties in your orientation group.

4.    Study in the Library/Make Study Groups: As weird as it may sound, at many universities the library is an ideal place to meet new people.  Even at UCSD, it seems like most of the students are doing very little studying and much more socializing in every section of the library.  Forming study groups will also help you get to know the people in you classes on a more personal level.

5.    Go Out on the Weekends: Don’t stay in and study on Friday and Saturday nights (unless you have finals or a huge project due the next week).  Everyone is capable of going out at least two nights a week and getting good grades at the same time.  You just need to learn how to manage your time.  Partyin’ it up on the weekends is a great way to meet people, extremely important for your social life, and super fun!  You’re in college, you’re supposed to party, so have fun while you can because the real world is only four years away.

6.    Smile A Lot =): This sounds pretty cheesy, but it can’t hurt right?  Everyone likes friendly, happy people, so try to be nice to strangers and smile a lot (especially during the first couple of weeks of school when everyone feels awkward and out of place).