<p>Hey, I'm an incoming sophomore at Northeastern University. As a freshmen I was very involved in NU social organizations , pledged a frat (and frequented a multitude of other collegiate parties), and drank way too much alcohol. At the same time i also struck a great balance between going out and keeping my grades up. Thus, if you have any questions at all about NU social life, or what an average weekday vs weekend looks like, id be happy to answer it. I know there is another ask a current student thread, but this is purely for social life related questions, sorry if i step on some other threads toes.</p>
<p>Some Info about me : i lived in white hall my freshmen year (loved), and double majored in English and economics.</p>
<p>During the weekday i would wake up angrily for my morning classes, and then usually end around 1pm. I would then hang out with friends for a couple hours (grab lunch, play some xbox, and just ********). Then around 5 or 6 , i’d start doing some work (or earlier depending on the day). I’d often finish 3 or 4 hours later (again depending on the circumstances). After i’d finish id often get dinner with my friends and then just hang out till the wee hours of night. </p>
<p>Though you do have classes and work during the weekday, it is by no means horrible. You will have plenty of free time to do what you want, as long as you finish your work. Also get ready to enter a world of ungodly levels of procrastination (being in college entails having homework from a class on Monday, and not having that same class until Thursday).</p>
<p>The weekend for me would start on Thursday, because as you may know, Thursdays are called “thirsty Thursdays” in college. People often drink too much, and hang around the dorms on thursday. Once the weekend ushers in everyone is in way higher spirits. People hang out for the whole day and go out at night. Everyone is much less stressed and a lot more willing to relax. Weekend partying usually consists of going to MIT or BU. MIT frats, surprisingly are the best party spots. International students will go clubbing because they’re rich and weird (jk). People dont frequent NU frats as much, but they too have good parties. Of course many will also stay in and watch movies or explore the city. The weekend scene is not just based off parties and alcohol, but can be whatever floats your boat.</p>
<p>What your social life is like is going depend very much on your personal situation - who your friends are, the classes you’re taking, what other activities you have going on, and how much money you can afford to waste. You may not be able to spend all weekend hanging out because you have that much work, and you may not be able to afford to procrastinate. You may wind up with an 8 AM class Friday morning, so a late evening of drinking the night before may not be feasible (and on that topic, I’ve never heard anyone use the phrase “Thirsty Thursday” prior to this). </p>
<p>I don’t really hang out with anyone that has the kind of social life irrationalRebel is describing. I’m not suggesting he’s lying, or wrong, just that people structure their socializing and studying in a wide variety of ways, and there isn’t necessarily a typical one.</p>
<p>What is the social life directly surrounding NE? Is it safe? What if you are not a super partier or drinker. What is the noise level after 10 pm in the dorms? :)</p>
<p>Yea wise guy you’re completely right, guess i let my lack of objectivity get in the way. Of course your social life will be based around the decisions you make regarding classes, friends, e.t.c. I was just trying to paint a picture of what a particular one can look like based on observing my peers at white hall and my own freshmen year.</p>
<p>NU campus and its surrounding areas are relatively safe, albeit with a few areas notorious for crime. For example the Roxbury area, close to IV. Roxbury is plagued with a decaying house stock, depressed environment, and lack of economic diversity. This leads to a lot of crime happening in Roxbury. I would warn one to stay away from Roxbury during the night, while the daytime is usually safe. </p>
<p>Other than that the mission hill area, where many NU students live off campus, is a pretty ****ty area. Muggings are frequent, so i would advise not venturing there alone without somebody else.</p>
<p>No you don’t have to be a partier or a drinker, we have so many different types of people at NU that im sure you can find your niche. </p>
<p>RAs in your dorms institute quiet hours, which means after a certain period of time you have to keep your noise level down. By 10 pm on a weekday there will definitely not be too much noise. On weekends RAs are a little more lenient, but nevertheless they still will try to keep the noise level down, telling any loud rooms or people to quiet down.</p>
<p>I will speak for my daughter who was a freshman in the honors LLC in IV last year. Dorms are just generally noisy places - at all hours. She actually used one of those draft things by her door to keep out the noise. </p>
<p>The neighborhood along Huntington is very safe (I would not say the same for Columbus). I think most of the partying is off-campus - the Northeastern residential and security staff is pretty strict on noise, drinking, and pot. </p>
<p>My daughter did not attend either a single party or sports event last year and had a wonderful and happy social life with like minded students - they watched movies, played video games, went out to eat, and hung out in the common areas of the dorm. There are plenty of cheap places to eat nearby and loads of places to go shopping within walking distance. </p>
<p>There are also lots of interesting clubs which have social events - for example my daughter enjoyed being in the food club on campus, but there are clubs for many interests film buffs, game clubs, art groups, etc.</p>
<p>NUPD also has safety programs in place if you don’t feel safe, like being able to call for an officer to escort you somewhere around campus if you don’t feel safe. They want to do everything they can to keep students safe. This doesn’t prevent students from doing stupid things on their own, though. Just check out the crime log in the Huntington News every week for the typical reports of students getting dangerously drunk or cited for being disruptive or smoking pot in the dorms.
But basically, whatever type of social life you want, you will have the opportunity for - from crazy partygoer to super involved in clubs to hermit.</p>
<p>Thank you irrationalrebel, kiddie, and nanotech! D is definitely applying and excited about it. This really helps set our minds at ease for safety.</p>
<p>Okay…sort of off topic but I saw that you guys were responding recently so I figured I’d ask my quick question here. How’s getting into grad school after graduating from NEU? I’m planning on applying as a Health Science major with hopes to go to PA school. Would I have trouble applying to pa school after or would NEU prepare me well?</p>
<p>I graduated a few years ago, but I’ll chime in anyway. </p>
<p>Like everyone else has said, the social scene is what you make of it. If you want to party thurs/fri/saturday night, sleep until noon, and do a hungover lunch at the dining hall, there are opportunities for that. If you aren’t into the party scene, there are tons of other things to do. It’s a big school in the middle of a great city, you can find whatever niche you want-- I think this is a major advantage over smaller schools in small towns. On the other hand, in terms of parties, the size of Boston apartments doesn’t really lend itself to the stereotypical giant college party, and it can take some time to tap into the party scene.</p>
<p>My social life varied. I went through a major Thursday night Flip-Cup phase that resulted in some painful 9:50 friday classes. This didn’t last very long, because I was a science major and didn’t have the luxury of sleeping in or setting up my schedule so that I had fridays off. There were phases when I wanted to go out every friday and/or saturday night, either to house parties on the Hill/Columbus ave, or out to the bars once I was 21+. There were also phases where my liver hated me and I chose to spend my friday nights watching movies with my friends, or walking around the north end, or going out for dinner on Boylston and coming home early. Sometimes it was just staying in my apartment eating pasta and reviewing organic chemistry before going to sleep.</p>
<p>So whatever you’re looking for, you’ll find it, and there really isn’t pressure to be a part of any particular scene. This isn’t a small school-- when you go to the dining hall, people aren’t all going to be talking about that one wild party last night that you missed out on. It’s not a school with a greek scene that dominates social culture-- no one cares if you’re in a sorority or frat. It’s not high school-- you don’t have to prove that you’re cool or find a clique that defines you (although some people still think this way freshman year, it’ll pass). </p>
<p>As for grad school, I’m a grad student now (bio). Get good grades, do things that look good on a resume (co-op, work, volunteering), you’ll be fine.</p>
<p>What is welcome week like? It’s starting next week and I was just wondering if you enjoyed it, if it’s actually fun, do people go out/drink at night, etc.</p>
<p>There were some fun activities, some with useful information, and some you have to go to but are relatively pointless. (What is the purpose of convocation, anyway?) I’d definitely take advantage of as much stuff as looks interesting. You’re not obligating yourself to anything by doing so! Activities fair is also definitely worth going to, if nothing else for the freebies.
Take time to just wander around the dorm and hang out with anybody who’s willing to talk. Everyone is generally really open in the first week since no one has formed their groups yet, to take advantage of it!
I know my freshman year some people were tried to get into parties at MIT/BU frats. I have no idea if they succeeded. I wouldn’t recommend trying to drink in the dorms at the beginning especially. There will be so much going on, RAs will be all over, and getting caught drinking underage is really not the way you want to start out.
There’s a ton of stuff scheduled, so take the time to go through what’s available and find what’s interesting.</p>
<p>I would recommend doing lots of the fun stuff during welcome week - the trip to target, the trash to treasure sale, going to the north end for pastries, game night, the trolley tour - do as many as fit in your schedule - they are fun, free, and you can meet lots of people plus get to know Boston.</p>
<p>On the Target Sale - I’ve heard in years past that the Target has usually already been picked pretty clean by other schools by the time Northeastern’s run is scheduled. If you’re not looking for anything to specific, or just want to treat it as a social outing, have at it, but you may feel it’s a waste of time if you’re going for a few specific things that they’re already out of.</p>
<p>My daughter last year agreed the target was mostly sold out of everything dorm kids needed - however it was a social event for her and she did get the one or two things she needed.</p>
<p>I didn’t read the whole thread but saw some comments on Roxbury and Mission Hill. Seriously, they’re not that dangerous if you have remotely any common sense. The bad areas of Roxbury are not the parts adjacent to Northeastern. The crime in Boston is mostly in Dorchester. The areas near Northeastern are completely safe as long as you know where you’re going, aren’t wearing four inch heels and flashing your iPhone, etc.</p>
<p>Mission Hill is honestly just mostly Northeastern students.</p>
<p>Is there a place near or on campus that I could buy cases of 24 water bottles? Or cases of vitamin water, gatorade, etc…I dont want to buy individual bottles…thanks</p>