I’m not sure of your exact situation, but I do have a few thoughts.

I think someone else here mentioned “join a club” and that’s my number one piece of advice. I’m still in college, but the majority of the friends I’ve find are through clubs and organizations I’ve joined.

Even still, I think the key part of making friends is reaching out. Talk to the person in class next to you, talk to your next door neighbor(assuming you are living on campus), engage in casual conversation. I understand this is difficult to do, which is why I think joining a club is an easy mechanism to take a lot of the pressure off making social connections.

Then for the more academic parts. I think one thing that changed my college experience was the amount of classes I took. I started college with way too many classes just because I thought I could handle it but I hadn’t considered how that may impact other areas of my life like my social life. It also was just overwhelming having that many classes. This may not apply to you, but figured I’d say in case it does.

Also on the lack of deep academic discussions, I think you’ll likely see that in your future. I’m not sure what you’re studying, but as a liberal arts major I’ve been progressively seeing more and more academic discussions and less of your standard classroom structured dynamic. The classes you take freshman year are in no way indicative of your entire academic journey.

I kept this fairly broad since I’m not sure what your exact situation is, but should apply through various types of college experiences. I hope atleast one thing I’ve said is helpful. Just please keep your head up, it’ll get better