<p>Hey guys, I'm planning to attend Northwestern in the fall and I was wondering if anyone could share any tips or knowledge they wouldve liked to know when they were freshmen? It could be anything from choosing classes to the rushing process. Thanks.</p>
<p>Just have a fun time. Don’t take being at Northwestern too seriously. Get involved, make a ton of friends right off the bat. Go to class of course, but at the same time the freshman work load is fairly reasonable. So for the first few weeks just have a ton of fun. It’s a great time in your life.</p>
<p>Enjoy yourself. Try hard in class–and then go have a good time. It’s all about balance.</p>
<p>And meet EVERYONE. When you first get here, just meet all the people. Makes it easier to find your people.</p>
<p>I think I stressed about fulfilling my distros and requirements way too much, which is the fault of orientation week. They put a whole lot of emphasis on figuring out that system early on, at least in my PA (peer advisor = orientation group) group. Just sign up for classes that seem interesting to you and have good CTECs. The requirements will work themselves out, seriously.</p>
<p>And welcome to Northwestern!!! See you next fall!</p>
<p>Alright first thing’s first: Academics. Unless you’re in super hard classes (premed in Chem, Math, seminar, and another hard class, or something like that), then it won’t be too hard your first quarter. Don’t take this to mean that you can goof off, because that’s exactly what you shouldn’t do. Try and space out your work, don’t procrastinate, don’t cram, but don’t stress. It’s easier if you remember you have some work each day, and just get it done with. Sometimes I forgot that just because classes seemed easier didn’t mean that work could be done quickly. Easy =/= quick.</p>
<p>As for social life, PieceofToast is ABSOLUTELY right. I would go to tables populated entirely by people I don’t know and just meet them. Say hi, go to events, do stuff. I regret not going to some of the events during WWW just because I was “tired”. You’re not too tired to take advantage of free opportunities with no classes going on.</p>
<p>Parmesan00 must have had an outlier experience, because I didn’t get that feeling from my PA at all and I don’t know anyone that’s that worried about distros and requirements. Take your language for the first two years (don’t wait), and try to get some distros done, but there’s nothing to worry about. You’ve got 48 classes (if you do the average 4 classes a quarter) to get stuff done.</p>
<p>Other than that, I can’t really think of random stuff to point out, so if you have more specific questions then feel free to ask.</p>
<p>USE CTECs ALWAYS AND FOREVER!</p>