How do I deal with eating dinner alone every night in college?

[ShiverMeTimber]

If you want to make a friend, you have to be a friend. Try going out of your way to help or give to someone and ask for nothing in return. Don't sit at a table by yourself, walk over to a table with people and ask "can I sit here?". From there you need to small talk. Having no friends as a freshman is a super common experience so don't feel like it's just you.

[sware2cod]

Get the daily newspaper - hard copy. This is your new dinner date every evening unless someone else shows up to your table.

If you see anyone else eating alone near you, you can offer a section of your newspaper. It's a good icebreaker.

I used to go to lunch alone every day and read the newspaper while I ate. It was very relaxing. Then I started to bring one or two co-workers to lunch with me, so the newspaper didn't come along. To be honest, as time went on and I still ate lunch with my coworkers, I really missed reading the newspaper at lunch time.

Another idea for you - find an eating place that has a COUNTER where everyone sits next to each other and faces the same direction. It's a similar seating arrangement as a bar. Some diner style restaurants have a counter. Lone diners usually sit at this counter and other lone diners sit next to them. Talking and mingling go on and diners come and go. See if you have some restaurants nearby with such seating arrangements. Or see if your lunchroom has this.

[DanArt]

Go to a bar or get married.

[NDak15]

Originally Posted by Sweet Like Sugar

I'm sorry you're lonely right now, but is that really reason enough to switch schools? Since you say things are going great academically, I would say to be patient and I'm sure things will improve socially.

This. Don't switch schools due to loneliness.