<p>i know some of the events during NSO are mandatory, but do they keep an eye on students whether they attend or not? I don't really feel like attending a reading discussion. It seems kind of useless.</p>
<p>Question Rephrased:</p>
<p>I don't really feel like reading the summer reading book. Do I really have to read it? Will it hurt me if I don't read it?</p>
<p>No need to be a smart ass. Either answer the question or shut the hell up:)</p>
<p>The reading discussion is only with your hall, so people will know if you skip out on it. No one really knows if you go to the other stuff or not. I went and it gave me opportunities to talk to my hall mates and get to know them. If you're awake, go.</p>
<p>
[quote]
No need to be a smart ass. Either answer the question or shut the hell up
[/quote]
</p>
<p>If you're going to post on this forum you should learn to accept and expect the notorious sarcastic humor that permeates Penn threads.</p>
<p>If I remember correctly, your reading group (as well as group for all the NSO activities) is your hallmates and RA, so you really don't have a choice unless you want refuse your attendance in front of the people you'll be living with for a year and come off as an antisocial ass. Luckily, no one will force you to say anything or make eye contact with anyone, so even an Asperger's sufferer such as yourself can have a good time without having done the 2 days worth of reading.</p>
<p>I'm not trying to be antisocial, ****head. I'm just not sure if I will be able to attend all of the events.</p>
<p>What could you possibly have to do? NSO is scheduled so that you will be able to attend all of the events.</p>
<p>And I suggest you not insult the posters who are trying to answer your questions. From my experience it is not the best way to get help, but maybe you've found otherwise.</p>
<p>fair enough</p>
<p>But I do have some other stuff to do.</p>
<p>is nso awesome?</p>
<p>I'm so important I don't have time for NSO events</p>
<p>it's all downhill after nso</p>
<p>haven't been to CC in MONTHS, but i'm bored at home so i'll chime in with some advice for NSO.</p>
<p>they say NSO events are "mandatory." they're not.... but there are still some events that you should go to. </p>
<ul>
<li>Back to school computer sale: believe it not, check this one out. yes i am generally a cheap stooge (and occasionally a technology nerd), but NOBODY can hate on these sales. and you get too much free stuff. i think me and my dad combined jacked 20 ethernet cables</li>
<li>Any of the "dean's" or "president's" welcome and school-specific events: yes they're corny, long, and generally boring, but its one of the two times you'll ever see your entire class in one place (the other being in 2012) and it's just one of those once-in-a-lifetime things you should try to do. and they'll give mostly good advice (ex. course planning, etc.)</li>
<li>placement exams: self explanatory. don't have too much the night before</li>
<li>library social: one of the two events i wish i went to. free t-shirts, good place to meet people and discuss "plans" for the night</li>
<li>art museum: it was allright, nothing spectacular. appreciate that the university rented out the whole museum. food was pretty good.</li>
<li>penn reading project: go. yes it's boring, yes its long, but you'll be with your entire hall so your absence will be known. the "discussion" will eventually be dominated by two or three toolbags who want to show off their brilliant comprehension of the book with pointless comments. everybody else will be napping.</li>
<li>comedy night: GO! It's genuinely hilarious. They allow the comedians to curse all they want, and not much subject matter is taboo.</li>
<li>toga party: another event that i wish I went to. from what i've heard it was pretty fun. another great place to meet people and plan the night.</li>
<li>student organization fair: every club and organization possible will be representing. sign up for anything you'll be remotely interested in. i came in having a fixed idea of what clubs i would join, and i ended up getting involved in completely different ones. also i'll have to plug in my own pitch by asking you to check out
1) the weiss tech house - if you're into innovations, inventions, engineering, Google, making money, whatever. the house has a ton of money and has great programs and speakers every year... great place to get involved with.
2) the greater philly student film festival - even if you're not into movies (but who isnt?) if you like PR, marketing, event planning (we're talking red carpet events with Hollywood guests and sponsorships here), working with cool students at other philly schools, check it out!</li>
</ul>
<p>i'd avoid any of those events after 9pm. its just the creeps who don't go out and know waaay too much about penn history. just chill in your dorm and go out with your dorm-mates. also don't go gaga over the preceptorials: you'll have plenty of time in the next 4 years to do all your mushy intellectual exploration. and even if you don't engage in "beverages," please go out at night and get your dose of college.</p>
<p>bottom line, NSO is all about meeting people. you'll never have another chance in college to literally go around shaking your hands with every random schhmo saying "Hi my name is venkat89." by the end of it, you'll literally have 150 new numbers in stored in your phone (some of whom you'll awkwardly never talk to again). it's all a blur, and it's very very fun.</p>
<p>and shout-out to venkat, nice to see your still chillin' at CC</p>
<p>are there a lot of parties during nso? where do they usually go down.</p>
<p>if you live in hill or the quad, you'll get quarter-sheets stuff under your door advertising the night's festivities. all of the parties will generally be good, with all the frats spending buckets to try and appeal to freshman. of course you'll remain totally clueless and not remember the names of any the frats you went to during NSO. even notoriously bad frats (i'm not gonna name names here) will have relatively decent parties. you'll end up going from house to house anyway.</p>
<p>thanks for the advice, abhim89 :)</p>
<p>Abhim has a good summary. Of all the events though, I think the reading project is the hardest to skip. It's in the morning/middle of the day, and because the discussion groups will be in buildings all over campus, your hall will likely walk down there together. It'll be awkward if everyone on your hall is leaving or waiting for you and you say you're not coming! That being said, participation in the discussion isn't mandatory and I hadn't even read the book but still went and listened. (If you're taking a writing or english class this semester, I would read the book -- lots of them will make their first assignment based on that book since they assume that all frosh read it.)</p>
<p>Comedy night/performing arts night is fun and I'd go because Penn has a large number of performing arts groups and most people only see them twice -- NSO and Senior Week; you can make an effort to go see their shows every semester but they tend to be close to finals and it often doesn't happen.</p>
<p>I'd go to at least 1-2 of the other events like the library social or the art museum; while they may not sound thrilling, it's a chance to be social. Not to mention -- NSO is pretty long and if you're just sitting in your room the whole time, it will get really boring. Going out at night is totally up to you -- you can hit the various parties or you can chill with the hallmates who don't want to go at all or want to come back in an hr or two and then just hang out in the dorm.</p>
<p>It's good to go to these events also because it'll allow you to have the comfort of hanging out with people from your hall, while meeting others from various dorms; there's nothing that says that your hallmates will be your best friends and if you don't attempt to meet others, you'll basically be counting on meeting others through class which can be harder.</p>
<p>I went to every NSO event, but that might just be because a good number of my hallmates went to every event. It gave me a good opportunity to get to know the people I was going to be living with, and at the same time I was able to meet other people and even made some friends with people I met at things like the museum and library social.</p>
<p>Also, if you're not into partying, don't feel pressured to go out every night during NSO. I would strongly suggest going at least once, because some of the best parties are during NSO, but there are plenty of things to do and people to hang out with if frat hopping doesn't appeal to you. While I was frat hopping the first night I met a fair number of people who were only there because everyone else in their hall was going out. Now that I think about it I wish I talked to that girl from Michigan more...</p>
<p>A lot of people don't drink but still go out during NSO just to see what parties are like and meet people. If you aren't going to go to frat parties though then at least go out with people. Find someone and go downtown, go out for dinner, find a Wii, do something, just don't stay in.</p>
<p>Go to all the events. You get much closer to your hallmates, so if everyone else goes together then nobody really knows you. That includes the library social, the toga party, the trip to the museum, the comedy show, etc. The informational stuff is all in the mornings/afternoons so it's fine to nap through them and they're generally skippable but almost everyone goes (and your RA/GA will probably be watching over you) so I don't know what you would do by yourself. Also, don't treat your RA/GA as the enemy. You always want to be on their good side - for example, they might be the one who decides whether to write you up for serving alcohol in your room during Fling. </p>
<p>My mistakes: I didn't go to the toga party, I slept through a placement exam, I didn't go to the Pottruck tour, and I didn't read the PRP book (I tried pulling off "ha, I haven't read a book in years" but I think that made me come off as an obnoxious slacker since almost everyone else had read at least part of it, and had something intelligent to say). Just focus on meeting people wherever you go, and in particular try to remembering people's names because that will always impress them. Just don't try to be the kid who's too cool for NSO.</p>