For many students, college is a major transition — they’re stepping into a new school, a new community and a new lifestyle. With so much change at once, it’s easy for students to feel out of place, leaving them unsure of where they fit in.

In fact, a February 2026 report from Trellis Strategies found that 57% of college students said they “sometimes” (45%) or “always” (12%) feel lonely.

Students at Northwestern are navigating this uncertainty in real time.

Weinberg first-year Nikhil Quintin said he is always surrounded by people, so he doesn’t feel lonely in the traditional sense. However, when he first came to college, he felt significant pressure to establish close and immediate bonds.

“It definitely didn’t feel great,” Quintin said. “I was thinking, ‘When is this gonna happen? Is it suddenly gonna click, or are things gonna change?’”

He said he coped by repeatedly telling himself it was a shared transition others were also navigating.

Quintin said Wildcat Welcome proved especially difficult because, without classes, the pressure felt magnified, and it was all he could think about. In retrospect, he said he had built the issue up to be a lot bigger than it actually was.

“Talking with a lot of people now about their Welcome Week experiences, a lot of people have said that it just wasn’t fun because there was a lot of that pressure to find the perfect friend group right away,” Quintin said.

Weinberg first-year Shatakshi Chatterjee said the transition felt familiar.

Chatterjee began attending a boarding high school in 10th grade, so she said the adjustment many students face during their freshman year of college, she experienced in her sophomore year of high school. To her, arriving on campus felt more like a continuation than a fresh start.

“I definitely think that going to boarding high school prepared me very well for the transition,” Chatterjee said. “I felt less pressure to fit into a friend group right away because I realized from my experience in high school that your Welcome Week friends look nothing like your graduation friends.”

Instead of trying to force herself into friendships, Chatterjee said she was a “floater” during Wildcat Welcome, using it as an opportunity to meet new people without any pressure.

Still, she said the first few months were challenging, especially when social media made it seem like everyone had already found their place.

“Seeing everyone on Instagram and seeing people go out in friend groups — it kind of did get to me a little bit (because) I didn’t have that solid, solid group,” she said.

Psychology Prof. Wendi Gardner said social media platforms like Instagram can be especially detrimental for people experiencing loneliness.

In person, when the brain’s loneliness signal is triggered, there’s the option of approaching a group and striking up a conversation, Gardner said. Online, however, that path to action doesn’t exist, often leaving the need for connection unmet.

“It gives us the illusion that we’re socially connected without actually fulfilling our needs for social connection,” Gardner said. She said online interactions are similar to vending machine junk food — artificial and unfulfilling.

It’s completely normal to feel lonely during major transitions such as starting college, she said. Still, there are small, intentional steps students can take to ease those feelings.

One simple strategy Gardner suggests is putting phones away at the start of class, because doing so signals an openness to interaction. If two people are sitting next to each other unplugged, it can be the perfect opportunity for connection, she said.

“Everybody is a little scared to be vulnerable — you don’t want to be the one who reaches out,” Gardner said. “But the truth is, most people want to be open. They’re all scared of reaching out.”

Weinberg first-year Christina L’Hommedieu said based on her personal experiences and conversations with friends, she sees loneliness in college as a nearly universal experience — and nothing to feel embarrassed about.

L’Hommedieu said it took a few weeks for her to get settled in, especially because this was the first time she had to intentionally make friends.

“You’re in a spot where everyone is in the same position as you,” she said. “You probably think, ‘Oh my gosh, I have no friends.’ But it’s not like you’re the new kid in school where everyone else has friends and you don’t have any. No one has any friends. Everyone’s in the same position.”

She said joining clubs and building friendships across different spaces helped her feel more grounded at Northwestern. Having different people she can turn to for different reasons has strengthened her sense of community, she said.

L’Hommedieu said she encourages students to introduce themselves to as many people as possible, emphasizing that new connections are always waiting to be made.

“Never be done making friends because you never know what’s gonna happen,” she said. “You can never have too many friends. Just make more friends. I am so pro everyone get more friends.”

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