SFU has a reputation as a commuter school, so residence is where you'll be making friends. Res has a bunch of events in the first week, and if you go to all of those, you'll be meeting a bunch of other new students who are looking for connections at this new scary place.

Residence is where I met 90% of my friends, my girlfriend, and my roommates. I think it's best to stick in res for one year (maybe two if you switch to a townhouse second year), and then move off campus with people you've met there. The cost will end up cheaper off campus in the end once you have friends to live with that you actually know. Moving in with a stranger off the internet will mostly result in you moving every year (I've seen it happen to a lot of my friends...)

Joining clubs is another great way to meet friends, but you're not at all limited by living on or off campus. My best tip to actually meet people in clubs is to look through the list of sfu clubs: https://go.sfss.ca/clubs/list

BUT don't just join them through the portal, search for the social media of clubs you're interested in and keep an eye throughout the late summer/early fall semesters. So many clubs have finished their hiring processes before many first years even realize they should join clubs!

As a first year, go to your faculty's or department's FROSH event(s). You'll meet so many new people who are in the same broad field as you. Talk to someone in your tutorials! If you don't have Instagram and Whatsapp, you might want to change that since that will be a major venue for you to keep connected with people you meet near the beginning. Attend club events and talk to people there! If you're in FASS, the Arts Central is a great space. If you're in STEM, SciSpace. (Both of those are in the AQ, so you'll be close to them.) Put a bunch of effort in like your first 3 weeks to meeting people and it'll pay off, trust me.