The Purdue Family: How to Find Yours

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No matter how far away from home you are, coming to a new place and starting over can be scary. Here’s a secret - everyone feels this way when they first start college. Despite these feelings of uncertainty, there are so many ways to make friends on campus. Here are a few of them:





Talk to People in Your Classes


As intimidating as it sounds, one of the easiest ways to make friends on campus is just to simply put yourself out there and talk to people. Especially in classes with other first year students, it's important to remember that everyone is new here. Getting to know the people around you in class is extremely helpful, as these are people you can work on homework with, attend office hours with, etc.

Group projects in class are another way to get to talking to new people, especially in your ENGR 131, 132, 161 or 162 or EPICS class. In these classes especially, as you are in the same group all semester, so you get the opportunity to know your group well.


Join Clubs and Organizations on Campus


There are hundreds of clubs and organizations on campus, giving new students the perfect chance to make some connections. These range from professional organizations to philanthropic ones, to just for fun organizations, giving new students plenty of options. This is a great chance to meet new people who have similar interests to yourself.

The B-Involved Fair during Boiler Gold Rush has hundreds of clubs that attend and set up booths, and new students can walk around and see which clubs interest them. There are over 1000 recognized student organizations at Purdue, all of which can be found here: Organizations - PURDUE UNIVERSITY | BoilerLink.


Boiler Gold Rush


Luckily for new students, Purdue has one of the best orientation programs in the country: Boiler Gold Rush. Boiler Gold Rush and Boiler Gold Rush International are Purdue’s version of a “Welcome Week,” where students are placed in groups and assigned a team leader to guide them around campus for a week. Students are introduced to several Purdue traditions, such as the fountain run, throughout the week while also learning important information in the sessions through the week.

The groups students are placed in are made up of other first year students from a variety of locations and majors, who all live in similarly located residence halls. This gives new students an opportunity to connect with other new students and form friendships. I still have friends from my Boiler Gold Rush group, and I know several other people who are also still friends, or even roommates now, with people from their group.


Your Residence Hall


For students who live on campus, residence halls provide a great community for new students. Residential Assistants host several events promoting community within the floor which provide a great opportunity to meet new people who live near you. Outside of these events, just going out into the common area and chatting with people is a great way to meet people.

Joining a learning community is another great route to take when looking to make friends. There are several based on majors, programs, etc that can all be found at Learning Communities - LC Profiles (purdue.edu). I personally joined the Women in Engineering learning community in Meredith South, and had a great experience living there, as I was surrounded by several other women in first year engineering, many of whom I still am friends with today.


Women in Engineering Program Events


The Women in Engineering program here at Purdue provides many opportunities to connect with other current students, especially through the Mentors and Mentees program. This particular program provides students the chance to be matched with a mentor or mentor group, led by a current upperclassman.

Mentors and Mentees also host one social and one meeting every month, allowing students to network with one another and make professional connections. Taking the ENGR 194 seminar is one more way to make connections with other women majoring in engineering, as it is a seminar style class offered to first year students that features a different speaker every week. The speakers range from current WiE students to Purdue graduates working professionally in the engineering field.


Overall, there are so many ways to find friends here at Purdue. The most important thing to remember is to be yourself and don’t be afraid to put yourself out there.

Emily Helmuth, Civil Engineering
WE Link Leadership Team

Stay Connected With Purdue WiE Program!
Facebook: Purdue Women in Engineering
Instagram: @purduewiep
Blog: purduewiep.blogspot.com
Email: welink@purdue.edu
YouTube: Purdue Women in Engineering Program - YouTube


Purdue Women in Engineering

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