Birds of a feather flock together, especially when the birds have the same major.

Amenia Sheriff, a senior in elementary education, said the majority of her friends at NIU are also elementary education majors.

“I was a transfer student when I came here. Once I got into my major (at NIU) I met a lot of people,” Sheriff said.

She has found other elementary education majors easier to get along with, versus people in other majors. Sheriff works on homework assignments and projects with others and also calls them to see how they are doing. She said it has been valuable having friends in her field who have graduated, because they can give her tips on working in the real world.

“Students in the same major bond by sharing,” Sheriff said.

Tom Harmening, a sophomore business major, said he more or less has only business majors as friends, although a person’s major is “not an influence; it doesn’t matter what their major is,” he added.

Harmening said he is drawn to other business majors because they share the same interests and can study for tests together.

Jennifer Van Drese, a freshman art major, said she hasn’t made a lot of friends in the art college, but plans to in the future. “You tend to become friends with the people you study with and work with. It’s more supportive,” she said.

Jim Ryan, a freshman business major, said he imagines the majority of his friends in the future will also be business majors and he has already started to make friendships with other students in his business classes. However, that won’t stop him from trying to meet people from other majors.

As always, however, there are some exceptions to the popular “birds of a feather” proverb. Not every student on campus sticks with people in his major. For example, Jennifer Meisterheim, a senior elementary education major, said most of her friends happen to be business majors. She contends that she has nothing against elementary education majors and even has joined professional organizations, but hasn’t made a lot of friends in her major. “It just turned out that way,” she said.