When I first left school I was somewhat concerned about leaving my friends behind. When I decided to make the move to College, it meant going somewhere different to a lot of my close friends, meaning I didn’t really know anyone when I started. I was thrown into a big, alien environment with only one other person from my old school, and that's scary for anyone. 

It didn’t take long before I made some great friends who I still regularly keep in touch with more than three years after leaving college. Making friends isn’t the easiest thing to do, especially if you are a bit shy and in new surroundings. I found that the best way to do it is to find people that share common interests and spend some time getting to know them, and you won’t even realise the transition between strangers and friends. It’s helpful when you’re on a focussed course like a BTEC because you can know for definite that you will share a few interests. It’s also important to keep an open mind, after all you go through life meeting all sorts of people and you never know who you will connect with.

Keep in mind that during your time at College you still get weekends as well as two days off during the week to meet up with your old school friends. Just because you go to different colleges or schools, it doesn’t mean your previous friendships are over. This same ideal principle can be applied to apprenticeships, university, and sixth form. If you feel like this is holding you back from pursuing what you really want to do then remember good friends you will keep and new ones are likely to be made - is there such a thing as too many friends?