High school and college differ in a number of ways, and making friends in the two places tends to be different based on the nature of the population in each and the nature of the potential interactions one may have with others in each setting. The change from high school to college entails a large number of adjustments for each individual, and an awareness of the differences to be encountered should prepare the individual for what will be encountered and should enable the individual to make friends more easily than if he or she were thrown unknowing into the college world.
Making friends in high school is generally easier than making friends in college because the population is smaller, more compact, and more interactive at the high school level. The student in high school is one of a certain number in a given class level, and the size of most colleges is far greater than the size of most high schools. The individual in high school is more likely to know a large percentage of his or her class, at least a larger percentage than they will ever know of their college class level. In high school, the individual knows a certain number of other students from his or her classes. The student in high school moves from one course classroom to another and so is exposed to more people than in the lower grades where pupils remain in the same classroom all day, but it is still true that a certain number of students will encounter one another more than once during the course of a day as they find themselves in the same classroom again and again. This fact creates a proximity and familiarity that leads to friendship.
Another aspect of high school that helps in making friends is that most of the high school population comes from the same neighborhood, a region in close proximity to the high school. There are many high schools in a given area, while there are fewer colleges serving the same population. Over the last two decades or so, thi...