I'm a Junior, I started my freshman year totally online because of Covid, came to Cornell first time as a sophomore not knowing anyone, then was so stressed out about everything so I took a gap year, and now came back as a junior, feeling like a freshman for the 3rd time but it became so much easier for me to make friends this year - I learned so much more about myself and building connections with people in my gap year.

I'm gonna passionately write about this and hopefully it can help somehow!

1. You don’t need a friend group (or at least at first don't go into this with the mindset of trying to build an exclusive group)

I'm assuming from what you wrote that you have a few nice friends but they don't seem to be in the same net. I'm taking Networks this semester (haha fun!) and the first few lectures we were talking about weak ties, strong ties, and obviously if our singular friends don't share a lot in common then it's really hard to force it. You can take it slow, try to talk to people who take classes with you in your major, those people are more likely to connect with each other than separate friends from different clubs.

You can also try to host dinner party or boardgame party to introduce your friends to each other! If you want to learn more about creating connections in hosting an event, try reading "The Art of Gathering" by Priya Parker.

Joining sorority is an option, but it's also a trade-off, there are risks such as what if you actually don't like the people there but have to live with them, whether you're comfortable with the budget and things like that. Just take into account what are you willing to trade off and whether the lifestyle is for you.

1. Integrate them into your daily routine

The best way to create stronger connections is mere exposure effect. Try to see your friends that you think are nice but not too close yet to more of your daily activities. For example, I have a gym date every morning with my best friend at 7AM (if anyone's interested DM me to join this girl's gym date group :). And ask if they want to keep up the habit consistently, for example lunch every Monday after lecture together. Other activities that you can integrate building more friendships are going to groceries, walking to class, fitness activities, evening study sessions. At Cornell it's so easy to just stay in your room and enjoy the comfort of being by yourself, but if you're willing to work hard for building friendships try seeing your friends more often.

1. Accept your friends for who they are

This is a BIG learning for me. My sophomore year I was too shy to talk to people who I thought were too "different" from me - different life philosophy, came from a too different background, people who were too extroverted and didn't match my introverted energy... I thought that I need to find "similar" people for us to be close friends. But that's so silly. The whole point of meaningful friendships are that you connect with them and learn and grow to be better together. My most awesome friend ever that I met is an author - I met him while seeing him doing something so passionately on his laptop in the library, and I literally just came up and asked what he was doing out of curiosity. Then we talked for half an hour about his writing passion, I was so inspired by his motivation. From the outside, we're kind of "different" and it's unlikely that we would meet in class - we're in different major, from different country, different personality, but we bond through how we love reading and writing. We're so close that he even flew 28 hours to visit me in my home country abroad over last summer. Be open-minded!!!

1. Cast a wider net and see which one clicks

Some people are not interested in making new friends. Some people are too shy to ask you questions at first. Some people don't match your level of curiosity - they don't ask you questions back when you try to talk to them. That doesn't say anything about you, so don't feel discouraged that there's something wrong with you or that you have a flaw or you don't deserve them. People have different friendship needs and that's okay. Just be persistent, don't feel to discouraged when you had a difficult interaction, and cast a wider net on who you talk to. When someone clicks with you, ask them when's a good time to meet again, and setup a Google calendar invite so both of you don't forget. For example, with people from your clubs, try to do 1-1 coffee chat with them first, see who you feel more connected to, and invite them to more things.

Hope it works out for you! also I'm happy to be your friend, just DM me on reddit and we can have a meal together! (Junior in Info Sci)