<p>How stressed out would you say the average Northwestern student is on any given day? How grade deflated is the school? Is everyone spending the majority of their time studying? Thanks a lot.</p>
<p>The quarter system is a total roller coaster: periods of ease, lots of free time, going out, etc. punctuated by random weeks of midterms, late night library trips, and cram sessions. Typically twice a quarter you will be in "stress mode" when your midterms roll around (between all 4 of your classes, this is generally a 2-week or so period with a few tests), and then finals week. But other than these periods I have found it very easy to cope and found myself with plenty of free time.</p>
<p>good reply, thanks. anybody else?</p>
<p>it really depends on your schedule. Some classes have lab, weekly tests/quizzes, problemsets, other such things. Right now, i'm taking four classes, but everything is due on tuesday and wednesday and although this is going into the third week, i have a huge pile of work to finish.</p>
<p>It's not so bad, unless you HAVE to get a 4.0. If you can live with a few B's (like me), and study engineering (like me), then you could probably get away with an average of 4 hours of class (including lab) and 2-3 hours of homework a day. Which is actually less than I had in high school. However some classes are very homework intensive, and you can spend 10 hours a week on a problem set, or 20 hours a week writing a computer program, so plan your courses accordingly and you'll be fine. I find that the 300 and 400 level classes are actually easier than the 200 level classes.</p>
<p>Classes ramp up severely. I found the first couple of weeks this quarter almost boring.... and if I make it through this week unscathed, I'll be thrilled.</p>
<p>it's a lot less stressful if you keep up on your work/reading. i've been REALLY good about all my reading for my classes so i feel good about them, but i procrastinated on a film project due wednesday day and i'm SO stressed out. it also depends on how many ECs you do. i'm pretty involved, but i find this helps keep me on top of things.</p>