Uni halls experience not what I expected

A few things:

1. What you see on facebook and the 'mad uni life' that you seem like you think most people have is really not representative. Lots of people don't have this experience, others end up with more people round as a one off for a birthday or something and then you see that as their 'norm'. Don't feel like you're the only one not having this.

2. You're a long way off being 'too late' to grow your circle of friends. Making some friends from societies and off your course is still an easy thing. People are also generally friendly at uni so if you want to invite people round for pizza and beer you can do still without looking like a weirdo and it doesn't take too long to integrate yourself with a group if you are open and friendly. If you feel like your friends aren't offering everything you want, keep them cos they sound nice but you can find another circle through the things above too.

3. You're right to be thankful for not having a problem flatmate!

Yeah, the media don't really talk about the quiet periods between the liveliness, do they? :P But to be honest, it'd be ridiculous to be wild all the time, and you'd probably get sick of it sooner than you'd think, right?
And hey, there's nothing stopping you from getting out there and seeing what's going on, right? Sometimes I'll go walking around campus if I'm bored and see if anyone I know is doing anything exciting. I've had some good nights out through that method.

I'm starting university in 2017, my biggest concern is that things will end up like this. I currently don't have any close friends so I would love to be more involved and less socially isolated in uni. I know it's what you make of it and all but does anyone have any tips to maximise this? I know there are things like joining societies you're interested in to meet new people which is commonly mentioned, by any other ideas? Obviously it's never going to be like you're having massive parties every night until 4am, but it would be nice to have an active social life and close/'best' friend(s).

As well as societies, think about sports, volunteering, part-time jobs - stuff that gives you something to do, with other people. Don't be surprised if you don't instantly make friends for life with people - it takes a while to find the people you really click with, and that's OK. The big thing to be aware of with uni is, it's a lot more unstructured in terms of your time, versus school/college. There will be big chunks of time when you don't technically have to be anywhere in particular, and have to figure out for yourself what you want (or need) to do with your time. But, it's also a really good opportunity to try stuff you haven't had the chance to do before, and if you do that you can meet people at the same time. If it feels sort of awkward and boring and lonely to begin with, don't worry - that's actually pretty normal! But, over time, things just start to click into place.

I'm starting university in 2017, my biggest concern is that things will end up like this. I currently don't have any close friends so I would love to be more involved and less socially isolated in uni. I know it's what you make of it and all but does anyone have any tips to maximise this? I know there are things like joining societies you're interested in to meet new people which is commonly mentioned, by any other ideas? Obviously it's never going to be like you're having massive parties every night until 4am, but it would be nice to have an active social life and close/'best' friend(s).

What you're describing is really pretty normal. And I bet if other people looked at your Facebook, the stuff you have on there probably looks different to your day-to-day life, because the stuff that ends up on there tends to be the more notable bits, not so much the 'this is me reading a book and drinking cocoa' moments.

I probably exaggerated a lot in this because I definitely have more close friends at uni than I did at home (and I had a pretty big group of friends at home). I didn't mention the fact that I'm really close with my course friends and spend a lot of time with them so that's one way. Also definitely make the most of freshers - get to know your flat but also those around you, I really really regret not making more effort with people outside my flat. Talk to people on your course, invite them out, same with any clubs/societies. Another way to meet new people is to go out with your flatmates' course friends (if they invite you, which if they don't I'm sure they would if you invite them) - that's how I met a lot of friends at uni and also don't necessarily go for the nicest looking halls as often it's the more basic ones that tend to be livelier (that might just be a stereotype though, there are many exceptions). But most of all don't worry, it's really rare that you won't make friends