High school may have been easy because the social scene is so straightforward. Good looking people, those who wear the nicest clothes, drive the nicest cars and have the most money tend to be the most popular. These are the kids whose parents buy them everything, and they, in turn, have parties and all sorts of other functions that they can invite people to, in the attempt to win their friendships. By the time people reach college, the key to popularity lies more in who you are as a person and the kind of person you are than anything else.
Here are some suggestions to help you be the most popular freshman on campus.
1) Leave your dorm room door open.
By keeping your dorm room door open, you are sending the other dorm residents a message, and the message is a welcome. You are inviting other students to stop by so that you can talk to them. The open door gesture can be taken as an effort to be hospitable. Other students will naturally gravitate to a place where the door is open.
2) Invite people to sit with you.
If you are eating in the dorm or one of the college food service venues, invite someone to join you for a meal. You can stop by someone’s room to invite them to join you, or you can invite them when you see them walk by your room. No one wants to eat alone, and if you are willing to invite someone, you will make them feel more comfortable, and other students will take note of that and want to hang out with you or eat with you.
3) Get involved in campus organizations.
One way to get known and to become popular is to get involved in campus organizations. Campus government is likely to give you the most overall exposure, but there are other ways as well. If you are an athlete and are involved with a sport that is very popular on campus, that will also help. If government and sports aren’t your interests, get involved in the college orchestra or marching band, the school paper or some other organization.
4) Do some sort of volunteer work.
Volunteer work is a good way to prove to yourself, to other people, and to the world at large, that you are not the typical self-absorbed college freshman. Being able to step outside of yourself and do something to help others very commendable. You can volunteer to read to kids at the public library, volunteer to visit sick kids in the hospital, volunteer to work in a community food bank or anything else.
5) Extend a helping hand.
Another way to become popular and recognized for good reasons is to show that you are a caring person. To do that, you can extend a helping hand to people. This can mean anything from carrying a heavy load for someone who is obviously having difficulties, to taking time to help a fellow classmate who is working hard but struggling just to pass. You can also extend a helping hand by listening to someone who is upset about something and who obviously needs to talk about the thing that is upsetting them.
Popularity on a college campus is not gauged as it is in high school by all of those exterior and materialistic/superficial qualities.
To be popular on a college campus, you have to be friendly, kind, open to meeting new people and willing to get involved in a range of activities. The more versatile your involvement in things is, the easier it will be for people to see you as a genuinely caring person who wants to do something to make the college and the community as a whole, a better place.
As long as you are getting involved in these activities with sincere motives and a pure heart, people won’t misinterpret your actions as opportunistic and self-serving. Most of all, be yourself, because popular people are never disingenuous.