5 Types of College Friends You'll Make

By Marina Krivonossova on August 9, 2018

Coming to a new school always gives you the chance to take on a new identity — be whoever it is you’ve always wanted to be. It’s your chance to finally take a risk and try out for cheerleading, even though crowds make you nervous. It’s your chance to join the robotics club and put your knowledge to the test, even though you’ve only been coding for a few years. And most importantly, it’s your chance to put yourself out there and meet all sorts of awesome and interesting people.

College — the place for education, friendships, and opportunities (Image via pexels.com).

A college campus is one of the most diverse and unique environments you’ll end up in over the course of your life and you’re bound to make all sorts of unexpected friendships. I’ve gone to four different colleges — an American four-year university, another one abroad, and two community colleges) — and I wanted to give you an idea of the sorts of people you’ll meet along the way in your journey towards higher education.

1. The completely unexpected best friend. I met my best friend through social media when I was looking for somebody to dorm with before my first year of university. She was shy and I was outgoing, she was interested in the humanities while my passions lied in the social sciences, she was a dog person and I was a cat person. But, as the saying goes, opposites really do attract, because we’ve been best friends for years. Maybe you’ll find your unexpected best friend in line at McDonald’s at midnight when you’re procrastinating studying for finals and desperately craving a burger. Or maybe you’ll end up sitting next to them in a general education class you’re taking out of obligation. No matter where you’ll find them, you’ll be happy that the planets lined up the way they did, and that this awesome human became such an integral part of your life. This person will be your ride-or-die, your shoulder to cry on when the going gets tough, and the one you’ll spend 90% of your time hanging out with. Whether you find them before college starts (like I did!) or in your last year before graduation, you’ll find them, and they’re sure to stick around for years on end.

Some of the best relationships start off as friendships, but some of the best friendships were also once relationships (Image via pexels.com).

2. The friend, turned romantic interest, turned friend. This one’s a rollercoaster. You’re in a new place, you’re impressionable, you’re ready to try new things. And this person comes into your life unexpectedly, just like the best friend, but you might not hit it off immediately. You keep seeing each other around campus, and eventually the communication starts moving beyond the occasional “What’s up?” in the hallway. You start bonding over your mutual interests, the hangouts get more frequent, and next thing you know — you’re in a brand new relationship. The first friendship-turned-relationship in college is always exciting because it’s pretty much your first time dating as an adult. But in this particular situation, you’re quick to realize that maybe staying friends is ultimately the best option. While dating in college can be exciting, you soon come to see that diving into something with a friend might not be the ultimate best move. Luckily, in this situation, the friendship stays alive, and the relationship of the past becomes a fun story to reference and retell.

3. The egotistical, manipulative maniac. Doesn’t really sound like someone you’d want as your friend, right? Unfortunately, when this person makes their way into your life, you’ll probably have no way of knowing of their malicious intentions until it’s too late. This person will make their way into your life quickly, and it may even come as an overwhelming experience — on Monday at 9AM you’re just meeting them for the first time, and by 10:30AM the same day, they’re sharing their whole life story with you, telling you their innermost secrets, and trying to get as much personal information as they can out of you. This isn’t meant to ward you off from talking to open people — in fact, I love when people feel they can trust me enough to share personal anecdotes with me. But this egotistical maniac “friend” is likely to try and make you feel pity for them through excessive sob stories, convince you that you finally give them a reason to live, and even start pushing other people out of your life to keep you isolated for themselves. Ultimately you’re probably going to push this person away when you learn of their disturbing intentions, but not before they drive some good friends out of your life, or before they take you to hell and back with all the drama they stir up. Just remember: these are generally sad, lonely individuals who crave attention and excitement. These sort of “friends” come around to remind you that staying careful in regards to whom you trust is always important.

pexels.com ; no attribution required

You don’t need to see this friend daily to know that they’re still your friend (Image via pexels.com).

4. The phantom spirit. No, you didn’t summon this friend with a Ouija board, but you honestly might as well have. You seem them around about as often as you do the ghost of Abraham Lincoln. You meet this person at the start of the year, you talk a lot on day one, and then they disappear. You’re friends with them on Facebook and you added them on Snapchat, but they never surface on either one. Ever. You two never text, you never see them around campus, and none of your other friends ever have anything new to say about this phantom friend either. But then, 9 months later, the school year is finally coming to an end, and they pop up again. You fully expect them to say they were hibernating for the last several months (or hiding away in Switzerland, or trapped in a cave in South America), but they start to tell you about how great their classes have been, how amazing their new significant other is, and how they have 7 internships to choose from for next year. This friend will never cease to amaze you with how much they have going on without you or anybody ever noticing. But, at the end of the day, they’re a fun and nice person to hang out with (whenever you find them, at least), so you probably want to keep this phantom spirit friend around.

“Did I ever tell you guys about the time I got lost in the wilderness for a week with nothing but my car and 12 cans of soup? No? Ohh man, you had to be there!” (Image via pexels.com)

5. The storyteller. When this friend starts talking about their past, you start to wonder if they’re actually secretly 200 years old instead of just the 20 they’re claiming to be. I mean, this person will tell you of the time they went scuba diving and almost got eaten by a great white, the time when they bungee jumped and landed on Bill Gates’ house and proceeded to have dinner with him, the time they rode their motorcycle from northern Canada to the southernmost tip of South America (that’s a story a storyteller friend of mine actually shared a couple years back), and so much more. They’ve probably lived a life crazier and more enticing than anything you’ve ever read about in the wildest novel, and they’re more than happy to take any chance they can to tell you and everyone else all about it. These friends are the best to hang out with, because they have plenty to talk about without gossiping or stirring up drama (like the egotistical maniac friends). And, if you get lucky and spend enough time with them, they might end up taking you on an adventure that’ll give you your own story or two to tell.

These are just 5 types of friends you’re likely to make when you make the decision to go to college. However, I can think of at least 10 more that aren’t on the list, and I’m sure you could write your own list based on personal experiences as well! But one thing that I’m always wondering about after thinking about the kind of friends I have, is what kind of friend do others consider me…

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