About a month ago I packed up and left home (read: Texas) to move to the big city (read: NYC). 

Apart from the challenges of finding a job and an apartment, which I could spend another four articles writing about, one of the biggest hurdles has been meeting people and making friends. After all, when you’re no longer a student, your opportunities for talking to strangers (and it seeming normal) are more limited.

This got me thinking about all the ways I made friends in college who weren’t from my school. Sometimes they weren’t even students anymore! Even if your school is in a smaller college town, there might be some recent graduates who stuck around that are worth meeting.

My closest friends in college were always those who attended school with me — those people who I lived with, had class with, and studied with. With that said, I think it’s also important to broaden your circle and meet people in other areas of your life. After all, it’s great practice for when you leave school and no longer have that buffer. 

Here are some of the best ways to make new friends outside of school, and some methods I’m using now that I’ve graduated:

Table of Contents

Take community classes

This can mean anything, from attending cooking classes to hip hop lessons at the local dance studio. I met a group of really cool girls going regularly to drop-in classes at Ballet Austin in Texas, most of whom were recent graduates. 

If you have an interest, why not meet some people who share it with you?

Sign up to volunteer

Not only is volunteering a great way to spend your free time serving others, but you might meet some cool people if you end up serving in a group! 

You can choose an organization based off your interests and as a bonus, you might end up with some experience you can talk about during interviews or on applications.