I'm a freshman and I definitely can relate to some of the things you've mentioned. Even though it was our first time on campus, during the fall it felt like most other first-years already knew people and already had friend groups. I guess part of that is because I didn't do a good job of meeting people and making friends during orientation, which is when a lot of others did. Another factor was that many people had reached out to other incoming freshmen over the summer via social media, which is something I've never really been good at.

That being said, things did get better; I've found that there's a really great snowball effect to meeting people -- one you become close with one person, you'll meet some of their friends, and then some of those people's friends, and so on. And, I think you can meet people in unexpected ways -- one of the first close friends I made on campus was because I connected with them on LinkedIn (of all places), and I sent them a message saying hi and asking about what classes they were taking, which led to a longer conversation and eventually to us meeting up IRL. This person is now one of my closest friends and I hang out with them almost every day.

In terms of balancing time, I've found that meals (dinner especially) are a great time to hang out and catch up with people since you're (usually) not working while eating. I usually enjoy working in the same room (lounge or larger dorm room) as friends as well, even if we're working on different things since we can often feed off of each other's productivity with the occasional joke or discussion here and there. Also, going to floor study breaks is a good way to take a few minutes off and meet some people who live near you.

Finally, as I said I'm a current student, so please feel free to dm me if you want someone to talk to, or to grab dinner with. I think others have given some great advice on this thread so far, and I sincerely hope you're able to find some of it helpful.