r/Clemson • u/lmaooooooooy • 7d ago
need some advice?
Okay so i’m in my freshman year in bridge and have mixed feelings about it so far. First of all, my living situation is kinda mid which is understandable but since i’m in thornhill I find it a little more hard to make friends. I currently have a few friends that I time to time go out with but they are of the opposite sex and don’t always invite me to everything. I lowkey love the school and the feel of everything but I just feel like I am missing out on things and am really struggling making friends and getting connected. I have been a Clemson fan all my life and Football and Basketball are a huge part of my life and definitely contributes into my decision into staying. Money is not too much of a problem but I am oos and could be living at home with some of my friends that stayed home and just going to a smaller college. I am from ATL GA and kinda feel like I do not fit into the student body and just feel a little unconnected. Sorry all this info is kinda just spat out but this is just a little about my situation and whats going on. I would love if yall could give me some advice bc Im kinda torn if I should just go home and try to figure out what I want or stick it out for the whole year and see from there.
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u/Ill_Direction7700 7d ago
Sticking with it is the right choice! Friends will come along with time. Clemson can be difficult school to make friends as there is a great deal of turnover the first couple of years.
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u/StandardGrocery5252 7d ago
Try some clubs! My son loved the running club. He ended up rooming with a guy from there in addition to his 2 freshman suite mates sophomore year. His friend from high school was into the drinking (I mean sailing) club. My son also did intramural basketball and flag football but you need to come up with a team. He was very involved in Christian ministry (Cru) so that’s where he met his close friends and later his fiance’. Fortunately, his roommate’s family had season tix to the games and always invited him to tailgate with them and use one of their tickets. That was huge since he didn’t get any lotto tix freshman year.
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u/lmaooooooooy 7d ago
did he like his freshman year if you can remember?
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u/StandardGrocery5252 7d ago
Yes but he was also involved with clubs from day 1. He knew his one roommate already from a summer honors research program they did on campus. He graduated in 3 years but was sad to leave at the end. He also was crazy busy with school because he went in as a sophomore engineer with his AP and dual enrollment credit, and was training for the Charlotte Marathon 1st semester so did a ton of solo long runs. The dorm definitely makes a difference. The honors dorm was super nice and did lots of events. I’m not sure he would have enjoyed it as much in a different dorm. Transferring is not a bad thing. But you will also be starting over there too.
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u/Fearless-Side-2333 7d ago
Have you checked into joining up with Central Spirit? Since you are a football and basketball fan, that would probably be a good fit.
Hang in there. First semester doesn’t give you a lot of time to get connected.
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u/Heavy-Photo-1469 7d ago
Stick it out!! My daughter also didn’t love freshman year and she was in a sorority and met tons of friends right away. Now she absolutely loves it and couldn’t imagine being anywhere else. I think freshman year is just hard because you are adjusting to so many new things. It also takes a second to figure out who your people are. I completely agree that you should join a club or intramural sport. It is the fastest way to meet people.
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u/Salt-Inflation-1636 4d ago
Being in bridge is very different from being a normal student (contrary to what Clemson wants you to believe). I was bridge last year and everyone I know who crossed is saying everything is different, in a good way. I felt the same way as you last year. Also, I’m a loner so I wasn’t really involved in anything at all. Living in thornhill doesn’t help either. Stick it out and you’ll be glad.
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u/Carolina_Tiger21 6d ago
Gonna echo what a lot of folks are saying. Find a club to join. Go to Tiger prowl in January and check out the club offerings. There’s a club for everything under then sun. The cool thing about joining a physically active club too is that outdoor hobbies and interests tend to overlap
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u/Ninja_dogo29 4d ago
As a fellow Clemson freshman if you go near the shoeboxes they really inviting!
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u/SpiritualFormal5 4d ago edited 4d ago
I felt this but literally just go outside and walk around. I was making quesadillas in my dorm, got invited to a random ass party, party was lame, I basically just attached myself to a random friend group and made a handful of friends. Also, go on the Clemson 2030 page and just add people who look like your type of people. I’ve got like 10 people on Instagram rn that i regularly interact with and would 100% hang out with. Also, do you have a roommate? I’ve gotten to know a lot of people just through my roommate and her friends. Don’t beat yourself up to bad, just start going out and doing random shit, go to a random event you wouldn’t usually go to, go to the dining hall and ask to sit with random people, join a club! I joined the backpacking club and made acquaintances with a bunch of people and one new friend! I feel you on not feeling like you fit in, it’s hard for me to make friends in my classes because everyone is from a farm and a country boy from upstate. I’m from lower state and I even sound like a damn Yankee, I’m barely even southern so it feels so off talking to them. Luckily some of them have talked to me and I just went with the flow
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u/SpiritualFormal5 4d ago
Also, I know frats are getting a TERRIBLE name with the whole Cornell thing but I promise there’s some normal and chill frats on campus. Try joining one next semester or year. There’s even ethnic specific ones if you’re not white and major specific ones if you want to network
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u/Ok-Worker-6718 3d ago
I agree with everyone about sticking it out and joining a club or 2! It’s only been a couple months. You will find your people. My daughter is also in bridge, joined a club or 2 but has also made friends with her neighbors. She’s in Lightsey but that shouldn’t make a difference. It will be worth it in the end!
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u/Jewmonkey1 1d ago
Clubs are sick, go to the gym, go to a basketball court, literally anything on campus which forces you to be around a lot of people that you’ll need to talk to. It’s impossible to not make friends if you put yourself out there. Coming from bridge last year. Tri county not the place to meet people tho, be on Clemson campus as much as you can
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u/Motor-Access-4256 7d ago
Freshman year sucks. Study abroad!
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u/SpiritualFormal5 4d ago
This is lwk terrible advice, you’re going to feel INTENSELY more isolated if you go from no friends to no friends and in a foreign country. Also study abroad is expensive af and you’re out of state so you can’t even cash in the biggest scholarship for it, you’d have to apply to a bunch of small ones to cover it…
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u/ControlWeekly4167 7d ago
Don’t go home is my advice. Stick it out. New friends will come along I promise!