Everyone remembers their first day at school, right? The first day jitters, unable to be yourself, feeling watched by every eye. Each time I go to a new school (I’ve been to at least four schools during my middle and high school years), I am always worried about not making friends, about being the odd one out.
College is much bigger and more populated than a local high school, so technically you are bound to make a friend or two at least. However, what matters is not quantity but quality. In her 2016 book, Ms. Janice McCabe, a professor at Dartmouth, showed that friendships can either hinder or help student success at college, friend networks can be grouped into types, and how loneliness is present in most college students’ lives even if it does not appear so.
Three Types of Networks
While McCabe conducted her research, she concluded that there were three overarching types of college networks: tight-knitters, compartmentalizers, and samplers.
Tight-Knitters
Tight-knitters generally have one overarching friend group, where everyone knows everyone. McCabe noticed that behavior was most contagious with tight-knitters, making this type of friend group most influential, for good or bad. For example, a group of friends formed out of mutual hardships may lead to a supportive and encouraging friend network, leading to a more fulfilling college experience. On the contrary, having friends that party a lot or sleep during class may hurt your college life.
Compartmentalizers
The next network McCabe introduces is compartmentalizers, which are students with several groups of friends that know each other within those groups, but rarely do friends from different groups know each other. Some examples of friend groups could be hometown friends, friends from biology class, and frats or sororities. Based on the subjects McCabe interviewed, she concluded that compartmentalizers are more at ease with college life, succeed in college without much support from friends, and have a more advantaged background. A problem compartmentalizers may face, however, is keeping up with all the groups. It may take more effort to maintain all these friends, which could create stress and guilt if not maintained.
Samplers
The third and final type of network is the sampler which will pick and befriend individuals from various places and times. This produces the least connected network of friends among all three types. McCabe characterizes samplers as individuals who achieve academic success independently. Unlike tight-knitters and compartmentalizers who may easily be swayed by an unhealthy friend group, samplers do not. However, samplers can feel lonely even though they have friends and are involved on campus.
Feeling Loneliness
Loneliness is a very common feeling among college freshmen, especially because it’s their first year away from family, thrown into a completely new environment. Bombarded with courses and projects, it can feel like time for friends is lost.
To better manage time with friends and academics, you could intentionally block out time in your week to spend with friends. Or, you can combine the two, scheduling a study session with your friends at a cafe. To keep up with friendships, engaging in school events together or greeting them around campus are small but enormous steps to a long-lasting friendship.
What To Take Away
After her initial interviews with students, McCabe interviewed the same students again five years later to observe changes or lack thereof in their network of friends. What she found was that most samplers were not samplers after five years. They had gone to create closer groups of friends. Furthermore, the types of people who statistically maintained their college friendships the most were tight-knitters.
There is no right or wrong way to create friends because each type of friend network has its pros and cons. What is important is for students to understand and recognize the types of friendships they have and become aware of when it’s taking a negative toll. Understanding networks of friends can help one better navigate academic and social life. Relationships are complex, and one friendship may sprout in a different way than another friendship. What works for one relationship may not work for the next, which is why college is the perfect place to be yourself and find the people for you.
Writer: Isara Moriya
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Very impressive write up Isara...👏👏🤩 You've really shared all the experiences which i had whilst on campus (College) with regards to connecting with others from different environments.
You've also given important guidelines in helping people to navigate successfully when such moments occur.
Well done.