At some point in everyone’s life, they have experienced what it’s like to be a third wheel, whether it was with a couple or with friends. Some people come to this depressing realization by themselves, while others go through the embarrassing experience of being told. Either way, becoming a third wheel can be avoided.

• Identify: It’s impossible for a person to avoid third wheeling if they aren’t aware of it to begin with. Identifying these types of situations is quite simple, especially since most of the tell-tale signs are obvious. When two or more people are doing their own thing, they won’t want an extra person hanging around. Being the only one who isn’t enjoying themselves or struggling to catch up in both the literal sense and in conversations is the most common red flag.

“When you begin butting in on someone one time after another, it will become very apparent that you’re the third wheel,” junior Armando Andres said.

• Decide What To Do: Once a person knows that they’re third wheeling, what they do next is up to them. They can either stay and accept the fact that they are a third wheel or leave. No one ever said that a person has to stay in a situation were they are not wanted.
• Get Involved: When someone wants to be thought as more than the extra person, they have to stop trying to merge with the crowd and instead be themselves. If a person adds to the conversation rather than agreeing with everyone else, they have an opinion. This opinion makes them unique and therefore crucial to the group.

“To avoid being a third wheel, a person needs to amp up their social skills and begin talking to other people that they have more in common with. You could also always have a back-up person, for when it’s clear that you’re getting third wheeled,” sophomore Francesca Cardinale said.

• Time To Leave: The easiest way to stop being a third wheel is avoiding it all together. In order to do this, a person needs to know when they are welcome. In any friendship, it will happen that someone is going to want time alone, and the best way to handle that is by giving them the space they need.

“I think that when you’re having a conversation with two people and they disregard what you’re saying, you should just leave.  At some point you need to give people some space,” freshmen Juliana Lievano said.

Being the third wheel is the worst role to play in a group of friends, but there are ways to avoid it. There is no need to accept being the third wheel, especially when a person knows that they deserve better.