Are colleges clique'ish?

apumic
Sat, 25 Feb 2006 18:36:38 +0000

Depends on the university–attitudes of students toward cliques, what the university does to facilitate mixing and diversity and so forth.
My advice would be to not be afraid of getting to know people outside your “clique.” Also, look for places that other interesting people might hang out.
One office here that actually focuses on diversity is called Multi-Ethnic Programs (MEP). My entire freshmen year and first half of my sophomore yr, I avoided that office because I’m white! But a number of my friends (Caucasian, Asian, African-American, and Hispanic) work there and other students go and hang out there. The office is built to facilitate hanging out (i.e., all the desks face inward and there are couches facing inward as well with the 2 doors right beside the couches and an old Super Nintendo and TV sit in the corner–although they rarely get used because people love to just hang in there and socialize).
So anyway, look for hidden gems on campus. Student Unions and so forth can be great at some schools as well. Don’t be limited by cliques!