Title says it all. I’m a current NU freshman in the Honors College and College of Engineering planning on doing 3 co-ops and graduating in 2019. Ask me any questions you have; I’ll try to answer as best I can.
How does being an honors student effect your NU experience? What is the workload like and how hard is it to get As and Bs in engineering courses? What is the worst thing about NU so far? How sick is international village?
I got into the Honors College, so any information about that would be helpful. Information about food both on and off campus would also be appreciated (best times to eat, when food is literally not available in the school, etc.)
@dvgbhs Being in Honors definitely puts you with a smaller circle of people. You get more opportunities to participate in university events, such as research, volunteering, going to museums etc - a lot of things are only offered to Honors students. In terms of academics, the Honors classes are smaller than the non-honors sections, though my understanding is that once you’re out of the 101 classes, the class sizes shrink considerably, regardless of whether or not you’re in Honors. I have found the workload to be pretty substantial; the second semester classes definitely gave me lot more work, though that could be because I was accepted into Honors after the fall semester. I haven’t found it particularly hard to earn A’s and B’s, though I know that other people are struggling. As long as you’re willing to put in the work and pay attention in class, it’s all good. It’s super important to make sure you don’t fall behind, though, because engineering concepts are built off of one another, so once there is a disconnect, you’re going to have problems down the road.
I have had a pretty good time here so far, though I wish we were a more social school. There aren’t a lot of chances to naturally connect with people like in high school, so in order to make long lasting connections, you need to be somewhat outgoing, which I am not.
I’m a huge fan of INV, best rooms dining hall hands down!!
@emuwrester Is there anything specific about Honors that you’d like to know about? I mentioned some stuff in my previous post.
In terms of food, we have SO many options. As a freshman, you’re either on 10, 15, or 19 swipes a week, plus you get a certain amount of dining dollars per semester depending on your meal plan. I’m on 10 swipes a week with 200 dining dollars per semester. There are three dining halls: stetson east, stetson west, and international village. The INV dining hall has the biggest selection – there’s the sandwich station, allergy section, pizza section, kosher area, grill, pasta area, egg station, sushi, indian section, cereal/yogurt/waffle making area etc etc. Point being you have a million things to choose from, and there are always healthy options. If you lived in INV, you’d most likely go to the INV dining hall almost exclusively.
You can also use your meal swipes at outtakes and Rebecca’s. Outtakes is kind of like a mini-grocer where everyone goes to spend their unused meal swipes at the end of the week. They have bottled drinks, hot food (like burgers and chicken), cereal, fruit, salad, milk etc. Each swipe gets you 8 points worth of food; everything sold has a point value. I usually get cereal and other non-perishables. Rebecca’s is located in the center of campus, and serves amazing food for breakfast and lunch. One swipe will get you a main, a side, and a drink. Most people go there for lunch, and it’s frequently mobbed. I’m pretty sure there are one or two other places you can use meal swipes on campus, but I’ve never been to them.
We also have a huge amount of restaurant chains within campus, including the only Taco Bell in Boston. Here’s the list plus their hours: http://www.nudining.com/hours
You can use dining dollars at pretty much any on campus eatery. Your dining dollars don’t carry over to the next semester, though, so most of us preserve them by buying starbucks gift cards at the end of the semester with whatever is left over.
The annoying thing about NU dining is that there aren’t many options late at night, so you really need to stock up if you’re a midnight snacker.
In terms of off-campus dining, I am not too familiar with what’s available. I’m poor (shocking), so I hesitate to spend money when I can get good food on campus for money I’ve already paid. I do know that there are regular restaurant chains, such as Panera, Five Guys, Starbucks etc nearby, although I’ve never been to any of them.
LMK if you have any other questions!
Although the dining halls and other on-campus eateries may close early - the two supermarkets on campus stay open until midnight - they are very expensive though (food is not cheap in Boston either in restaurants or supermarkets.) There is a 24 hour star (shaws) market down the road. There are a tons of pizza places nearby and chinese places that deliver - some chains she missed nearby are au bon pain, bolocco, and qdoba.
Okay, awesome! Thanks both @NU2019 and @kiddie for the info. You pretty much covered my burning questions, but I am curious about how roommate selection works. I’m in the PT major, and I’d love to have a roommate in the same program so we could serve as study-buddies/mutual motivators.
So…
a) Is it even possible to choose your own roommate/request someone from your major?
b) Is it a good idea? (Any horror stories about roommates who got hypercompetitive with each other/good stories about supportive roommates in the same major)
c) If I’ve got to scout out a roommate on my own, what’s the best way to go about it?
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If you have someone specific in mind, you and the other person can both request each other, and get put in the same room. Otherwise, you fill out an ‘about me’ survey that helps Housing find you a compatible roommate. I had a single for the first semester so I’m not entirely sure if you can request someone from your major. You can request to be in an LLC pertaining to your major, though, which definitely increases your chances of getting paired with someone in the same major as you.
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I haven’t heard any horror stories as of yet. My roommate and I are friendly to each other but pretty indifferent to what the other is doing.
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That’s tough. You can post in the NU Facebook group looking for a roommate, or try to come into contact with another admitted freshman, but that doesn’t guarantee that you’ll like the person. Rooming is kinda a crapshoot.
I read a study a while ago that discovered that students who chose their roommate were significantly more likely to request a change of roommate during the year than students who were randomly assigned. Be careful what you wish for!
I selected my roommate via meeting her on Facebook, as did my suitemates (and we requested them as suitemates, though we didn’t know them as well). My suitemates get along really well and are so happy to be roommates, they’re living together again next year. They’re best friends. I get along well with my roommate, we’re definitely friendly and get along but it’s not like we really hang out outside of our room.
Focus on finding people who have similar cleanliness habits, early bird/night owl habits FIRST and from there you can try and find people you’d like to room with. You will be much happier living with an acquaintance in a room without any tension than you would be living with a good friend who likes to leave her things a mess or wakes up at 6 AM to do yoga.