Robert Medhurst used up much of his orientation week browsing through social media, viewing updates about peers enjoying evenings out.
"I stayed indoors," Robert explains, depicting those days as the most isolated period of his life.
The people he lived with seldom socialized, and his program didn't seem very sociable.
Although he tried by participating in sample activities for different clubs, he was unable to locate like-minded individuals.
"I began losing my self-assurance," he says. "I believed people didn't want to form friendships with me, or they didn't like me."
Initially, Robert wasn't considering of going to university and had a job offer for post-secondary education.
But then he saw his friends having great fun as college students online.
"When you must rise for work on Thursday at 9:00 and you observe peers partied on midweek, you start feeling the grass is greener," Robert explains.
Television programs and online platforms can idealize the notion of university living.
Lots of people come to university with strong assumptions for what they believe could be the greatest period of their lives.
Certain attendees begin their studies with "rose-tinted glasses," explains a mental health professional.
A different attendee's social media content was full of videos of students enjoying themselves while cohabitating in college residences.
However when she relocated from her previous location to campus to study journalism, she found initial days "overwhelming" because of how much alcohol it involved.
She abstains from alcohol and had never been clubbing before.
"I actually passed much of orientation in my room," she says. "I just felt slightly disconnected."
Through current studies of numerous undergraduate students, nearly one-third reported they contemplated dropping out.
The primary factor was their mental and emotional health, succeeded by economic considerations.
"Worry regarding these multiple factors is extremely prevalent, and normal," explains a counselling expert.
Eventually, the students eventually adapted and formed relationships.
She built connections during classes and through TikTok, while Christina felt happier once she was able to share accommodation with peers.
In his case, currently in his mid-twenties and in his concluding studies, it was participating in theater activities and employment during studies that helped him make friends.
Robert's advice to new attendees finding social interaction difficult is to just "get out of your room" and attend organization sample activities.
"Subsequent to periods of consistently showing up, individuals become familiar with you," Robert says, "you notice their presence, and friendships begin forming."
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