College networking. Help please.

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I am in college, and I'm constantly told how important networking (befriending "useful" people) is. I've only really talked to one professor (I'm in my second year) that could be considered to be in that category. I really have trouble with networking because of my social anxiety towards all strangers. I also immensely dislike the idea of befriending/getting to know someone simply because they are "useful" to know. I know I need to talk to professors to get letters of recommendation for graduate and professional schools (that's what I'm planning to do), but other than that, is it okay that I don't have much in the way of a network? Also, besides professors, what kind of person constitutes a useful person network-wise? Has anyone else had this problem/experience, and if so, what did you do about it?

I went to a huge school (university of washington) and had very little contact with professors ever.

I highly doubt any professor I ever had there would remember me, as far as they were concerned I was a typical PNW stoned kid with a B average and not much to say, and it troubled me down the road when I wanted to go to grad school.

One out of six schools was what I ultimately got into, and I had like 4 years off to build professional references, but like I said, I got average grades in undergrad (~3.2 gpa)... You didn't specify what you wanted to get into at the graduate level, but regardless you have a solid case if you have work references that are remotely applicable to your field.

It would maybe be best to get noticed by your professors if you have 2 years left, that is what I imagine the fastest track would be, but working or interning in something in your field is probably on the same level. The school I got accepted to ultimately said they wanted nothing but academic references; I sent them nothing academic at all, just some decent GRE scores and some work references.

In my case though someone definitely had to take a chance on me, and most schools I applied to did not do that, so I'd also suggest doing a ton of homework on the best "fits"

I have the same issue, except I am in my final year at college and I am applying to graduate programs. I have not made any significant relationships with any of my professors. I have with a few other professors but thats only because I work in our IT department and I fix their computers frequently.