Finding your community during grad school | School of Graduate Studies

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Some might come across this article and think to themselves, “Did they seriously write a piece about how to make new friends? We’re grad students not toddlers." While this is a completely natural thought to have, those of you who have moved away from home in the past will probably know how big of a challenge it is to create social circles in a new place. While at home, this may go without saying: you have your family, your friends, you might know the person working at the supermarket near your house or the bus driver. However, when coming to a new place, this network may need to be built from scratch. Even for locals, Quebecois or Canadians from other provinces, establishing a new social circle can be challenging in grad school, especially in a multicultural and multilingual setting such as Montreal.

We're all on the same boat. We all want to have a person checking on us if we feel sick, a group of friends to hang out with, a colleague for long nights of studying at the library, a fellow student who becomes your collaborator in a cutting-edge research project, someone to laugh with and someone to have your back when you feel down. But how do we establish these relationships in a new place?

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One of the key factors to succeeding in creating new connections is finding common ground with people. If you think about it, we all have things in common. We just need to discover what passions or hobbies we share to establish a friendship or at least a nice chat. This may seem obvious when we think about it, but we tend to forget this simple fact and instead worry about what the other person will think of us and get tangled in our own thoughts.

Below, we make some suggestions on how to find common ground with people in a new place to create meaningful relationships. We hope these ideas will serve as a guide to finding like-minded people and establishing your community in your new home.

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1. Attend ISO events

Concordia’s International Student Office (ISO) organizes events and activities such as walks, movie nights, game nights and tours around and outside the city. Get to know fellow graduate students from different programs while enjoying a night off from your studies.

2. Join student clubs/associations

Are you a fan of board games? Join the Concordia Games club! All about reuse and recycling? Check out the Concordia’s Centre for creative reuse! There’s a recreation or athletic student group to cater almost every possible interest. And if the one you want doesn't exist, you can go ahead and create it: deanofstudents.office@concordia.ca.

Check out the list of Concordia's many student groups and initiatives to help you start building your community.

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3. Register for GradProSkills workshops

Enhance your skills through diverse and engaging GradProSkills workshops on topics ranging from project management and job search strategies, to improving your writing and delivering an outstanding presentation. And why not make friends while you're at it? Attending the same workshop says two important things about the particpants:

You are interested or dealing with the same thing
You are motivated and curious students

4. Look around you

As you walk through the city, keep your phone in your pocket and simply look around. We bet that in a short stroll outside, you’ll see at least five posters announcing exciting events around the city – whether a spoken word competition, or a mud race, there’s something to suit every taste. Keep your eyes (and mind) open to try new things and make sure you invite people to tag along.

5. Social media groups

Social media (aka, the reason for your procrastination), as its name suggests, is meant for socializing. This means using social media as a tool to find places to meet and interact with people in real life. You can find diverse Facebook groups to make friends in Montreal or find an exciting event happening near you. Just remember to always use caution when interacting with people online, ensuring you always stay within a safe and friendly environment.

6. Finding your people in the city

As mentioned earlier, you are creating your home away from home. While it’s nice to meet people from different places and cultures, maintaining your traditions and speaking your language is often comforting. This common ground serves as an easy way to create friendships in a new place, providing you with the confidence to extend your social network. At Concordia, the Multifaith and Spirituality Centre organizes events and brings together different communities, so if you are interested make sure to check them out.

Attending festivals, looking for online groups that gather people from your country, practicing your faith, finding a restaurant that serves the food you love, volunteering in the community, etc. There are endless ways to get together and find your people in your new place!

7. Apprendre le français

As a French speaking province, speaking French is not only a means of finding a job, but also essential for settling into your new home, getting to know Quebec and its people, and making meaningful connections with locals.

There are endless resources to learn and improve your French, courses offered by the university, courses offered by the government, Udemy courses, all free of charge. Concordia’s Réussir en Français is a must visit to learn more about how to excel in French.

Find your French buddies, practice together, get to know new people, and do it bilingually — Montreal style!

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8. The city of festivals

Besides Concordia’s own initiatives for art and culture lovers, there is always something happening in Montreal – whether these are sugar shacks and the famous nuit blanche (the city never sleeps, Montreal edition) during the winter, or the Jazz and Just for Laughs festivals in the summer, there is always something to do. The cherry on top is that most festivals offer affordable or free events to attend, so just go and have fun!

Stay on top of the events agenda and invite people to join you. You won’t believe how much appreciation you will get by just helping people to keep track of everything that is going on in the city.

On a final note, as for everything in life, practice makes perfect. It might not work on the first, second, or third try, but it will work out eventually. Remember that you are not alone, and just like you are struggling to find friends, many other students find themselves in the same position, meaning you already have something in common, hence a potential new friendship is underway.