| Maybe your college looks like this, maybe not. Either way, there will be attractive people who you might want to talk to. Source |
Today is the first day of classes at Western Michigan University, and that means that tons of new people are around. It’s sometimes overwhelming, and it sometimes feels like you’ll never get to know anyone. Things will be okay. I promise.
Here’s my secret to holding a conversation with anyone in college. I meet new people pretty often, and conversation usually follows this template.
Me: Hi, I’m Samantha. What’s your name?
Them: I’m [name]
Me: What are you studying?
Them: [major, minor] What are you studying?
Me: I’m studying public relations. What made you want to study [their major]?
Them: [personal story about a life-changing experience]
Me: Wow, that’s fascinating. [question that shows I’ve been listening]
Them: [answer, giving more depth about their personal experience]
From there, I ask more about them, including where they’re from, what non-school interests they have, what kind of movies and books they like, that kind of thing. Our conversation usually meets a natural end when one of us has to leave.
Here’s how I end the conversation.
Me: I’m sorry, but I have to go to class now. It was great to meet you, [name]
Them: It was great to meet you too!
Me: I hope I’ll see you aroung [our current location] in the future!
Most people like to talk about themselves, especially to an interested audience. It’s vital that you are engaged while they’re telling you about why they’re a pre-med or music therapy or accounting major. Make eye contact, nod, react to what they’re saying. If they feel like the thing they’re majoring in is boring or useless, affirm them by telling them that it’s interesting and useful to society.
Sometimes they’ll turn that question back around to you, so have your answer prepared. Depending on the vibe I get from my conversational partner, I’ll use one of these stories.
“I started out in furniture design, then switched to industrial design, then collaborative design, then English, and somehow I ended up in PR. I like writing, and PR has a lot of writing in it, so it fits me.”
“The only thing I’m decent at is writing, and I didn’t want to be poor, so I picked PR.”
“I watched a lot of Mad Men when I first transfered to WMU, which made me want to study advertising. I went to the business college, but they said I’d have to do two years of pre-business credits before I could even get into the program, and I thought that was ridiculous, so I did PR instead.”
“I really like writing, and I started blogging when I was 14. I’ve always liked social media, so all of those things sort of gelled together for me in PR.”
A great thing about being in college is that new people are around you all the time, and everyone has different experiences. I learn so much from talking to people – the things they know about, and the people they are, and their views on the world. People are fascinating. Once you get over the initial challenge of starting a conversation, you can get to know people better and understand things that you never would hear about otherwise.