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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]So you can's draw lessons from anyone else's experience.

Got it.

These freshmen are suffering more than any generation before them.

Got it.

I think you parents need to take a breath.[/quote]

As a professor, I would say this is the worst college fall for socializing I can imagine for US students in decades--not the worst suffering of any generational experience broadly.  But that's a pretty big deal, especially given how much it costs and many of them will be endebted for this experience for at least 10 years after school.  Glib, facile advice given to all first years is not terribly helpful.  People thinking creatively through current conditions and offering advice is.

I would say look to make connections in his dorm where possible, eat outside his room in the outdoors as much as possible, if any face to face classes try and assert to connect.  Go to corny virtual group meetings and socializing opportunities--the point is not to enjoy these, but to see a face that maybe you see in another context that you can say, weren't you at x.  Go to office hours in classes.  I know as a professor I have been more mindful of thinking about ways to have individuals in my virtual class get to know each other through break out rooms and telling them to exchange info with at least a few people, asking people who want to form study groups to put their names on a list to share with each other etc. Maybe some of his profs are doing the same?

Good luck to him. [/quote]

The comment you highlighted was not meant to be unsympathetic to current students. It was directed at the person who told the parent recalling how lonely they were as a freshman to shut up because they did not experience a pandemic in college. The parent meant to be helpful and share what worked for him. I thought the respondent was wrong.[/quote]

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