<p>So i'm going to be a college freshman at VT soon! What do you guys think of the first year at VT? Hard? Easy? Medium? Or does it just depend on which course you choose during orientation? (Like high school) Will there be a lot of free time as well?</p>
<p>Do you guys think there will be fast and free wifi throughout the dorms? I hope there will be!</p>
<p>Also, for many of you who had no choice but to look into private student loans (banks, such as Wells fargo, Discover, etc.) when do you receive your money? And how do you use that money? I know that the loan goes to the school after approval, but how long does it take for them to give you the excess (i'm planning to buy a new laptop with the loan money, because this laptop barely meets the requirements and it seems to be overheating a lot). </p>
<p>For the second part of your post. I took out Direct Plus loans, they are just like private loans, except from the government. They are distributed during the beginning of the school year. The excess money for me came after the second disbursement was made…so close to the beginning of the second semester. </p>
<p>Most dorms don’t have wifi readily available. The only one I can think of that does/will is EAJ and WAJ. But you can easily get a router and set it up in your rooms.</p>
<p>Difficulty depends on the courses you take and how you manage your time, so do it wisely. As for freshman year, you’ll just have you wait and experience it yourself! Good luck.</p>
<p>And it’s a shame that I have to wait so long for my excess money >.<. I desperately need the money for a new laptop, otherwise I’m afraid this one will crash when I’m doing an assignment. I hope bank loans have different time line though!</p>
<p>Also, I’m kind of confused whether all VT dorms get access to wifi or not >.< because i have received an email on my @vt.edu account on hokiespa stating: Wireless LAN activation. I have already activated my account for free, but I’m confused - is that for certain dorms only? Do I have to prepare to bring my own wireless router? I’m fine with bringing my own (since I’m not sure if the wifi at VT will be fast enough). </p>
<p>And yeah, I hope my freshman year will be smooth sailing! I heard it to be both easy and difficult, so I don’t know which haha xD</p>
<p>Haha I hear you on the excess money issue. Well, there is a place called the Math Empo with like hundreds of Macs open 24/7. So if your computer fails, I think all/most programs are in those computers for you to use!</p>
<p>What you activated was your account to get onto the Tech Wifi, which is only in the academic and some dorms. Or so I think. Logging into the network asks you for a username and a password. Which is what I think you activated just now.</p>
<p>Not all dorms have wifi. Actually most dont. I bought a router, and shared it with my roommate only, and I didnt have any issues.</p>
<p>Achiel - Did you already take out federal loans as well? If you haven’t, then you should look into those before private loans.</p>
<p>I get financial aid and federal loans and get my refund either a week before or the week that school starts in August and January. </p>
<p>Unless your bank loans are going directly to YOU and not the school, you can expect the same timeline. It’s also possible that you could wait longer if you are a new student because it can take a few weeks for the loan to be certified.</p>
<p>Side note, I’ve experienced really slow wifi at times, though it’s not as bad as some other schools.</p>
<p>Dorms come with setup for ethernet cables for internet. Most kids do this with no problem, but a lot of kids also buy a router. </p>
<p>First year at Tech is definitely the easiest. With that said, typically the lowest grades come out of first year due to an adjustment to the work load in college. You will likely notice your GPA go up in the spring, once you know how to effectively study and do homework. I would recommend trying to adjust as fast as possible, because first year should be an easy 4.0 for just about everyone. Most freshmen just want to have fun and socialize, which is great and part of the experience; just don’t do it in excess. If I could redo freshman year, I would take two hours out of the day that I spent dicking around and devote it to my studies. My grades would’ve been much higher. </p>