<p>Thats a start, e-c. But venting or talking to a faculty member about the social problems at Knox is very VERY different than going to counseling/therapy on an ongoing basis for either individual and/or group therapy with a trained professional to work on YOUR SOCIAL SKILLS. </p>
<p>While your social skills may work for you in some places, they apparently are not working for you, for the mostpart, at school, and that is the source of your tears, loneliness and feeling out of place. They (your classmates) arent the ones (for the mostpart) needing to change. You need to change. You can’t change your peers- you can only change how you interact with and respond to them. Your initial interaction with them with the FB page caused their initial response, and hopefully there is now some water under the bridge. And surely not every freshman was on that page and has a preconceived notion of you. You can reach out to others, but you really DO need assistance from a professional on taking what is called an ego-observing stance and seeing how others might see you/how you come across to others. </p>
<p>Social skills development takes WORK. and TIME. and PRACTICE. Make that committment to yourself to do this, not informally by venting with peers or chatting with the dean of students, but with a therapist trained to help you see where the work needs to be done and helping to guide you through it successfully. You owe it to yourself. As they say, this is the first day of the rest of your life. Dont tell yourself (or us) that your skills are fine or that you dont have the time. If your social skills were more polished, this wouldnt be such a challenge.</p>
<p>You are not the only person who has to work on these issues. Its common, along with general adjustment issues especially in college students, which is why your counseling center addresses it directly on the front page of their counseling webpage.</p>
<p>I am going to stick my fingers in my ears and say “lalalalala” so I don’t hear any excuses 
JUST DO IT. You will be glad you did.</p>
<p>A social skills GROUP is, IMO, the best approach, as the members can give each other feedback, and possibly establish some friendships in there as well (if that is allowed-- that varies from group to group).</p>
<p>**** ETA**** Their site says they offer individual and group therapy, and its free <a href=“http://www.knox.edu/offices-and-services/student-development/health-and-counseling-center/counseling-services/counseling-services-faq.html[/url]”>http://www.knox.edu/offices-and-services/student-development/health-and-counseling-center/counseling-services/counseling-services-faq.html</a></p>
<p>Any more advice and my meter is going to start running :)</p>