I took a yearlong break between completing my undergrad and starting my master’s. This was also the year of the lockdown, so I spent the entire year working from home. Everybody warns you about how it will take time to adjust to being a student if you take a break after undergrad. However, nobody warned me about how making friends during master’s is a whole different ballgame than making friends during undergrad. For starters, everybody is a lot more focused on their work which means finding a day and time suitable for a big group of people is almost impossible. There will always be at least a few last minute no shows by people who remembered a reading or an assignment they were meant to complete. This is not to say you cannot make close friends during your master’s, all you have to do is switch up your socialising strategy.

By the time the master’s rolls around, most people are over their “partying” phase which is a bummer because that is the fastest way to make friends. If you can go on a night out with a group of people and have a good time, you can most likely have a good time with them in general. I did my undergrad at Warwick and there were only a handful of clubs and pubs for us to choose so we were bound to run into one another. This is not the case with London, of course. This is why I suggest hanging out at the LSE pubs as this is the best way to meet people who you go to uni with. There are a number of options ranging from The Three Tuns in the Students Union building to the George IV pub on Portugal street. There are also various restaurants and cafés all over campus so there are enough social spots for you to meet new people from LSE.

If you are slightly pickier and looking to meet people with similar interests or those in your department/ course, I suggest keeping an eye out for department socials. These are a great way to not just meet your peers but also to interact with your faculty in an informal setting. If you cannot find any information about a social, feel free to email your department, they will surely help you out. Another great way to meet people with similar interests is to attend LSESU Society taster sessions and socials. If you are not sure whether a particular society is for you, once again feel free to drop them an email or go find their stall during Welcome week and have a chat with the executive members of the society.

Finally, if you are an introvert and need a slight push when it comes to socialising, I suggest venturing beyond your academics and joining a society, or taking up a leadership position like course representative, or participating in an interdisciplinary project like LSE Change Makers. Basically, these are all ways to push you to interact with people outside your classroom and can diversify your LSE experience. I joined the Student Education Panel and met so many like-minded people across the school. A master’s degree is extremely demanding in terms of time and energy hence it can be difficult to take out time for socialising. Therefore, it is best to incorporate social activities into your week as opposed to waiting for the weekend and finding yourself buried in work with no time to socialise. What’s more, one year will pass by in the blink of an eye so do not keep delaying socialising. In order to have the best possible master’s experience, find a balance between work and socialising as early as possible.