I currently attend North Dakota State University in Fargo, North Dakota and am transferring to Portland State University in Portland, Oregon for the fall of 2015. This has been a plan of mine for a very long time with many reasons, however, one of the bigger reasons being social life. Recently, I have been reading negative reviews about PSU’s social life saying things as far as “people do not care about each other, do not come here if you want to make friends, and the college is basically a community college called a four-year college” I was just wondering if this is just a hoax or if it truly is extremely hard to make friends. In high school, I had a lot of friends, was on the homecoming court, played sports, was in clubs, and felt very involved. College has been the opposite, yet others seem to be fitting in/making best friends just fine. I am a very extroverted person to people once I know them but have been struggling finding quality friends that are like me at NDSU (adding to me wanting to transfer out west even more). I have much more of a west coast, liberal lifestyle, whereas North Dakota, my hometown, is more into manly, conservative, “FOOTBALL” lifestyles.
I am worried about moving there (Portland). Will I be setting myself up for disaster because I have heard the social life is not good? Social life and making a ton of new friends was one of the aspects I was most excited for about college. I guess my main question is for people that live in and attend Portland State University or have knowledge about the area or any of this: is it impossible to make friends or are those people I have read about just looking at things from the wrong angle? I have made some “friends” but do not feel connected in any way other than parties to them, which is not why I came to college. Also, if you have any advice for me to meet people and create strong, possibly life long relationships, (places to hangout, how to approach people, where to go during the day/night, etc.) that’d be amazing since I have only been to Portland a couple times in my life (all when I was not thinking about college life).
Some info about me… I am a psychology major with a sociology minor, male, 19 years old (so I will be a sophomore when transferring there), and living in an apartment with a friend I met at North Dakota State University (so dorm life is not an option).
Also, Fargo has a completely non-existent night life (no clubs, bars, or anything for people under 21) other than house parties so I am not used to going out at night to clubs or any of that.
Thanks!
Just curious, why Portland State? There are a lot of great schools, so wondering if it’s the actual program at Portland State you are interested in…
Portland State is considered a commuter college, so that is why the social life doesn’t have as high reputation, most likely. People still living at home are often expected at meals and have things to do there so they don’t hang around as much as students at entirely residential campuses do. Also the average age is high, like 26 which implies a lot of working adults who just come for class and split because they have work and home too.
Portland sounds wonderful, I haven’t been, and is reputed to be a friendly city and there is lot of stuff to do, I’m sure you will find it. When you go off to college you start over with making friends. Some people just have acquaintances for the first year and the second year when you come back from break start to really pick friends, that’s how it seemed for my kid who is very friendly but picks close friends carefully. Now you will start over again, so expect it to take some time.
I guess Portland state is fine, but the OOS tuition is way to high.
Have you tried applying to Lewis&Clark? Much more residential. Or UPortland?
There’s still time. And I think L&C has some transfer scholarships - but it’d depend on what your budget is and what grades you got.
http://www.up.edu/
http://www.lclark.edu/
Portland State is, if you want to be harsh, a glorified community college that last 4 years, in that it serves the local community with mostly “practical” 4 years degrees. It’s a legitimate university but it is, indeed, primarily commuter, and it’s thus difficult to meet people. However, if you’re outgoing, it should be easier, and there may be a “transfer seminar” (1 credit?) that helps new transfers meet people and that, if offered, you should take even if you don’t “learn” much in the class per se since it’s an opportunity to make friends and figure things out about the university and the town.
I attend a primarily commuter college (as an introvert), and have found myself in one of the most amazing social situations you can ask for. Find a club (not a sorority/fraternity) that is very active, inviting, and sticks together very well. I found Circle K International and we do service projects, study and hang out together everyday, have spontaneous/planned socials, travel to other schools and cities (often on larger scale events / attending other clubs’ meetings)… I’ve been to lively college towns and sure that’s nice, but it might be harder to develop the deeper relationship with so many people in clubs and so many clubs for people to be in. I feel the relaxed environment works well with both extroverts and introverts that I’ve met if you can find/create the right social setting.