Choosing to attend Hopkins meant leaving my family and friends back in Texas to live somewhere I’d never been before. The thought of being in a place where I knew no one was daunting, but when I made it to campus, I quickly realized everything was gonna be okay. Between extracurriculars, school support, and serendipity, there’s plenty of opportunities to make friends at Hopkins.
I’ve found the easiest way to meet new people is by joining clubs. Everyone is always extremely welcoming and looking to recruit more members—even in the middle of the semester! Clubs are especially nice because they connect you to people who share your interests. When I joined the club basketball team, it reminded me of playing back home with all my friends and instantly gave me a group during my first semester at Hopkins.
Similar to joining groups on campus, finding small ways to get out of your room helps with finding friends. Something as simple as studying in the library instead of your room can lead to new friendships. I myself have met a ton of people just by shooting baskets at the Rec Center. Even when I had my AirPods in—and I wasn’t trying to be social—random groups would approach me to play pickup games. Eventually I began to recognize the same people every day.
Although joining clubs and getting out helped me a lot, sometimes I still found myself scared to take the initiative of approaching people. Thankfully, Hopkins did a lot of that work for me! For starters, random roommate matching during my first year was a big help. Some students have friends from high school at Hopkins or nearby schools. Since I didn’t, I was really happy to be paired with random roommates. My RA held lots of events for us throughout the year, making it easy to know the people on my floor. My favorites were always the more relaxed events like decorating succulent pots and having game nights.
In addition, all first-year students are required to come to campus a week before everyone else for Orientation. This is a great introduction to the school with fun events designed for students to get to know one another. During this time, students are introduced to their First-Year Mentor. This is a person who’s there to provide support with adjusting to life on campus and help direct students to proper campus resources. My mentor gave us a lot of advice about extracurriculars, classes, and having a social life.
The other way Hopkins has helped me make friends is through my classes. During my first year, I took a course called Introduction to Hopkins: Arrive and Thrive. This class was designed to help students adjust to life in Baltimore and get to know other first-year students. My labs sometimes assigned random partners, which is where I met one of my friends. I also met another good friend through one of many group projects.
Through all these resources from Hopkins and seeking out people in my extracurriculars, making friends hasn’t been a struggle. One of my favorite people I’ve met happened through pure luck! I was testing participants for a study as part of the lab I’m involved in, and she just happened to volunteer to participate. We talked a ton, exchanged info, and two weeks later she went to the aquarium with me and some other friends.
Thankfully, I’ve had nothing to worry about when it comes to meeting new people at Hopkins. I thought it would be hardest during my first year, but once I realized everyone else was just as eager as I was to find their place, it was easy. Countless people exchanged phone numbers after two-minute conversations and were happy to invite me to explore campus with them. Like many other nerve-wracking moments of my first year, there’s really nothing to worry about!
