<p>Thank you, Muddslinger, for your thoughtful elaboration. Your observation about your calc 3 classmates is interesting. The outer vs inner dorm thing is interesting too – my son spent the night in an outer dorm during pre-frosh, but ended up spending most of his free time at one of the inner dorms because he felt more welcome there. But his personality and interests are very compatible with at least some of the geeky stereotypes.</p>
<p>I think your experience points up the need for visits and overnight stays, the chance for a prospective student to just hang out with Mudders for a while and see how it feels to be among them. And yes, maybe it doesn’t work so well to be suitemates with seniors. If the suite provided most of your social network last year, I wonder if you missed out on some of the bonding that happens when frosh are thrown together and all have one thing in common – being a little nervous about where they’re going to fit in.</p>
<p>I’m glad your roommate is a friend. So sorry to hear that you haven’t found “your people” yet. It sounds like you’re doing the right thing, getting out and spending time with different groups of students. I hope this will pay off and you’ll find a comfortable circle of friends in the coming years. Maybe once you’re done with the core and into upper-division classes, you’ll have more time to venture out further, perhaps off campus.</p>
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Ha, well said!</p>