My Experience with the Rutgers–Camden Incoming Class FB Group

| Written by Kayleigh M. |

The Rutgers University–Camden Incoming Class of 2020 Facebook group is now active for undergraduate first-year and transfer students starting in 2020. Join the group, connect with your peers, and stay-up-to-date on events and deadlines!

Mason Hopkins

The summer going into college can be very stressful and overwhelming. As you’re trying to get your life together in three months (e.g., packing up your room and gathering school supplies and clothes for the upcoming school year), you are also bombarded with the typical 12 a.m. late-night What If’s: “What if I get lost the first day?” “What if I didn’t buy the right text book?” Or, the most daunting, “What if I don’t make any friends?” This was my biggest What If question. I began worrying about it the second I enrolled. As a commuter, I wondered how I would be able to meet and become friends with students if I was only going to be on campus for a portion of the day. This worry grew over the summer but it finally stopped the day I came across the Rutgers–Camden Incoming Class Facebook group. My fears about my college years ended with a single click.

When I first came across the FB group, there were about nine members and two posts total. The page seemed kind of barren at the time, but I requested to join the group in case it turned out lit. Over the course of the following week, I was added to the page and decided to post a little awkward blurb introducing who I was and what I would be pursuing at Rutgers–Camden. As awkward as this was, it started a trend. More people started posting, engaging in conversation, and asking questions. I slowly but surely started to feel like I was a part of the Rutgers–Camden community six months before school even started! As more people started to post, I came across girls who I felt were just like me. I took this as an opportunity to start making friends.

Before I knew it, I was in my very first Rutgers–Camden group text thread with Rutgers–Camden friends! I asked all the girls I was Facebook messaging for their cellphone numbers, put them in a group message, and found out they have all been messaging each other, too! As time went on and as more people were added to the page, the bigger our group text thread and the bigger our friend group became. Soon, ten of us comprised the group text thread and we all clicked instantly. Toward the end of the summer, we organized a beach day to officially hang out before the school year started. It turns out everyone was as awesome in-person as they were over text.

As the school year started, I realized how lucky I was to have found these girls the Rutgers–Camden Incoming Class FB group. I had a group of girls to explore different opportunities on campus with, such as Raptor Welcome, IMPACT day, sorority recruitment, and more. I always had someone to eat lunch with, rant to after a tough class, and a group text thread to laugh at throughout the days. Today, two years later, the original group drifted and branched off into new friend groups. The majority of us are still close, but the differing majors, interests, and extracurricular activities tend to get in the way. We do still have the group text thread to discuss different things happening on campus, ask each other questions about classes and professors, and of course to send each other pictures we’re thinking about posting and confirmation on outfits we’re considering buying. I thank the Rutgers–Camden Incoming Class FB group every day for providing such an amazing start to my college years and friendly faces wherever I go. I’ve got a familiar friend in every class and closer friends to share this amazing college experience and explore the world with me. Introducing yourself to a FB group of complete strangers and reaching out to them may be out of your comfort zone but you should consider it, because it could change your college years instantly.