At
Rice, you’ll have the opportunity to meet a whole range of fascinating, cool
people with diverse backgrounds and intellectual interests. The most important
thing to remember about making friends is to keep an open mind. You might be surprised - you never know who
you might end up hanging out with or bonding with over something unexpected!
What makes a good friendship?
What
makes a good friendship?
Many of the
fundamental qualities that make someone a good friend apply to other kinds of
relationships. But different people may have different hopes, needs, and
expectations for their friends. Healthy friendships thrive because both parties
mutually respect, trust, and are considerate with one another.
Some of the characteristics of a good
friendship include:
- Respect
each other
- Trust
each other
- Are
honest with each other
- Communicate
clearly with each other
- Willing
to compromise/negotiate
- Support
each other
- Don’t
hold grudges against each other
- Enjoy
spending time with each other
- Feel
safe and comfortable with each other
- Maintain
healthy lives and other relationships outside of this relationship (friends, family,
activities, extracurriculars, identity, etc)
Some of the characteristics of an
unhealthy friendship include:
- Trying to control or manipulate you
- Making you feel bad about yourself
- Ridicules, blames, or calls you
names
- Does not make time for you
- Criticizes your other friends or
some other aspect of your person, supports others in criticizing you,
either in front of you or behind our back
- You’re afraid of the other person’s
temper
- Ignores you when you’re talking
- Are overly possessive or get jealous
about ordinary behavior
- Controls your person’s money
or other resources (e.g., car)
- Push, grab, hit, punch, or throw
objects
- Uses physical force or threatens to
prevent you from leaving
Tips on making friends
- Try something new – there’s always a ton of stuff going on
at Rice. A great way to meet people is to get out and explore Rice through
different events and activities. Check out calendar here:
- Act in a play – plenty of the colleges, as well as the
Rice players, put on productions of all sorts. They’re looking for all kinds of
people and participation to put on a show, and it’s a great way to work with
and meet people.
- Join a sports team – you don’t have to be athletic, or have
ever played before, to take part in a sports team. There are different levels,
both within and outside of your college – from IM to college to club. Talk to
your college sports rep for more info!
- Join a club – Rice has over 300 clubs that you can
check out here.
- Get involved at your college – in something related to your interests,
or something entirely new.
- Advise/Participate in O-Week at a
different college – this
not only exposes you to a whole new group of people, but an entirely new
college culture!
- Keep an open mind. Don’t judge whether or not you will be
friends with someone – or even like them! – based on just one interaction with
them. You never know.
- Realize that people change. – for better or for worse, although
most of the time, as people grow and mature, for the better. Don’t assume that
someone you didn’t click with freshman year is exactly the same person now.
- Volunteer – check out Rice’s many volunteering
opportunitieshere: RiceStudent Volunteer Program http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~rsvp/Welcome.html, Centerfor Community Involvement http://cic.rice.edu/
- Go an ASB trip – ASB, or alternative spring break, is a
fun, fulfilling way to meet new people while doing good for a community. For more information about ASB, check out the ASBwebpage here: http://cic.rice.edu/asb/