AspieSaurus

People with Asperger's syndrome usually don't have the best social skills and making friends in college can be difficult even for NTs, and may seem almost impossible for aspies. There are some things you can do to make it easier to form social connections with other students at your college.

If you're like me, you might be tempted to just get away from campus as soon as you can when you're not in class (especially if you commute). Why would you want to stay there when you don't have to be there? But if you want to make any friends, you almost have to be on campus for at least some amount of time when you're not in class.

Most colleges have student lounges all over campus. A good way to make friends is to become a regular at a specific lounge and talk to the students there. You might find that people with certain interests tend to congregate in certain lounges. For example, gamers might all sit together in a certain area playing video games (if your college provides TVs for students. Sounds weird, but mine does) and other types of games. If you see someone who seems to have a common interest with you, go up to them and start a conversation about the topic. They might want to talk or they might not, but you will never know unless you take the risk.

If you do decide to talk to someone, try to keep the conversation a dialog rather than a monologue. If you keep going on and on about your interests, as aspies tend to do, and don't allow the other person to contribute to the conversation, they will get bored very quickly and will become annoyed with you.
This blog post from PsychologyToday might help you to make sure that you are not boring the person you are trying to talk to: Eight Tips to Know If You're Being Boring.

You also might want to join a club. Colleges usually have many student clubs that meet on campus. It shouldn't be that hard to find something you're interested in. There are usually clubs for every interest from anime to computers to religion. Clubs can be a great way to meet like-minded people with similar interests.

You can also make new friends in your classes. Classes that require you to work closely with other people, such as those that include labs, while intimidating at first, can be a great way to form relationships with other people. Classes that require discussion amongst students, such as English classes that focus on reading and discussing literature or your own original work (such as fiction or poetry writing classes) are also good if you want to make friends in classes. Certain classes that focus on physical activity, such as sports or fitness classes, may also provide an environment that makes connecting with other students easier. Asking classmates questions pertaining to classes, even lecture classes that don't allow much socializing opportunities during class time, can also help break the ice and lead to conversations about other topics.

If you aren't on social networking sites like FaceBook, it may be beneficial to create a profile. Even though FaceBook does seem pointless, it does make it easier to keep up with friends. Especially if you don't like talking on the phone, FaceBook can allow you to keep up the appearances of actually wanting to talk to people. It is also usually easier to talk to people online via social networking sites, instant messengers, and email rather than on the phone before you get comfortable around them.

Even if it doesn't seem that important to you to make friends, having social connections can greatly help you in finding a job later.