Things about WSU you might wanna know

<p>Let’s start with… dorms!!!
I dont know about all dorms, but I know quite a few since I spent quite some time hanging out with friends while trying to make new ones. So the list isn’t complete. It may not be the most recent info, but from what I hear things havent changed much. Here goes:</p>

<li><p>McEachern seemed like where everybody wanted to go at 1st. You get single rooms (no doubles here) with bathroom shared with only another room right across or next to yours. Its quiet and most students who live there are seniors or grad students. Sounds good? Wait till you actually live there. Building’s old, and the bathrooms are kinda dirty, and in many cases, moldy. DO NOT ever use the communal fridge in the kitchen, things somehow just keep on missing (and its still happenning). Please remember that you have to climb 2 stories building worth of stairs to reach your room from almost any class buildings, and in the winter its almost always covered in black ice, so be careful there. On the good side it is pretty quiet there and its easy to study in your room. One more thing, somebody pleaaasseee fix the darn ice machine. </p></li>
<li><p>Stephenson, yaayyy… yeah right. If your taste run for sensible dorms with actual quiet hours, stay away!!! The towers are where many freshmans go, and typically it became the center of on campus parties. Since drug abuse is rather common there, watch out guys. This dorm gets more police visits and surveillance than all the others combined. It’s HUGE by WSU standards, I believe there are almost 800 students there, maybe more. Apart from the constant alcohol and (sometimes) drug abuse, the hall faces loads of maintenance problems. Most of the time only 1 elevator works, and there’s been occasions when it suddenly stopped workin, trapping students lile a pack of anchovies. The biggest gripe (at least for me): it’s located at the lowest point on campus!!! Yes you’ll have to walk far uphill to reach any classroom. However, if you’re looking for parties, this is the place to go.</p></li>
<li><p>Gannon-Goldsworthy. The 2 are pretty much the same, except that Gannon’s rooms are a bit older than Golds’. Traditionally students here are a mixture of all kinds, from party animals to the so called nerds and goths. It’s located right next to the 2nd best dining hall on campus, the Rotunda where the food is better, altough still bad enough (but liveable). Maintenance is pretty good and appliances like washers and stoves are in good shape. My only major gripe is its impossible to get a single room there. Personally I recommend Golds for its better rooms. Please note, however, that Goldsworthy’s 3rd floor is haunted lol (I’m serious). </p></li>
<li><p>Orton and Rogers. Again the 2 are similar, except that (again) Rogers is much older inside. It’s rather quiet here compared to Gannon-Golds, but not dead like McE. You rarely see freshman here, most students are at least sophomore. Seniors however, are seen more in Rogers. Rooms are big and the walls in Orton are carpeted (for sound insulation, I presume). I suggest you choose Orton as it’s definitely the better (I used to live there btw), and while there are noise coming from rooms (mine for one, lol), most obey the quiet hours. They were all single rooms when I went there, but I heard they switched it to all doubles in 2005. My complaints? Only 2. It’s really far from classrooms, requiring you to walk quite a bit to reach classes. Also, it seemed to neglect the safety standards. during a blackout on campus, Orton was completely dark, no emergency lights whatsoever at all!</p></li>
<li><p>Honors Hall. Hands down for the quietest (by far) dorm of all, and the computer lab is pretty much top notch. Personally however, I find the students there annoying, enforcing their own quiet hours into pretty much 24/7. Most students close their doors and study inside, so… well you get the picture.</p></li>
<li><p>McCroskey. Also reffered to as the international dorm, mainly because at least half the students there are international students. It’s also home to some of the students’ Bible studies group. Mainly created for foregners to experience the college life and mingle with locals. I say they tanked, because most internat students there end up hanging out with their own community. Nice rooms and quiet, but don’t expect too much on making good friends there.</p></li>
<li><p>Hill Halls ( Duncan-Dunn, Stevens, Community, and Wilmer-Davis). Single gender halls all located on top of the campus’ hill. I group them all into one since they’re pretty much all the same, with Duncan-Dunn being the only all male dorm among them. Best described as old buildings that terribly need major makeover (DD was scheduled for renovation in 2006). Wilmer-Davis dining hall’s food is liveable still. Theyre located right next to Greek houses, bars, and some diners. Wilmer-Davis girls are often pictured as kinda lame, not sure why. Not recommended for quality place seekers. Good side: theyre located very close to classrooms, making your life somewhat easier.</p></li>
<li><p>Regents. All female dorm located a bit far from the classrooms, but at least not downhill. Regent’s dining hall is the worst ever, the food is just terrible for God knows why. On the other hand Regents is the only dining hall to also offer vegetarian menu along with the usual meal. Another plus, they have lots of parking spaces compared to some others.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>Another note, this one’s general for all dorms, they NEVER turn on the heater system on time. By the time they decide it’s necessary to warm up the rooms we’ll be half freezing already. This happens due to… ahem… budget cuts that started in early 2000s. They also ban the use of microwaves, inisisting that students use only the available micro-fridge, because “it’ll cut the electricity” they say. I say BS, me and my friends used our own microwaves and nothing happened, blackouts? Nope.</p>

<p>Want to add more? Go ahead, all welcomed.</p>

<p>End of part 1. I’ll post more if there’s a healthy response, so please keep this thread alive…:P</p>

<p>Does a lot of hooking up happen at WSU?</p>

<p>Hmm... depends. It pretty much depends on where you live.
If you live in the "older students" dorm (Orton, Rogers, McE), then I gotta say no.
Duncan Dunn used to have to rep of having really good relationships with sororities around there, but from what I heard things have changed and they just dont hang out much with sorority girls anymore.</p>

<p>Hookups usually happen on weekends. Don't buy the party school rep, it's a myth. Yes they party, but not that much. Be careful as some weekends can be as dead as a darn gravesite (and I'm not talking about breaks).</p>

<p>If you live in dorms, check out Stephenson or Golds, or if you're in apartments CCN is the center for such things (please note tho that CCN apt is just nasty). Greeks are the party center, but you wont get into one unless you're either in a house or know a member pretty well. Another alternative: there are house parties in areas behind Chi O.</p>

<p>How about Scott-Coman?</p>

<p>Are academics really hard or really easy or in between?</p>

<p>Thanks for doing this, I really appreciate it.</p>

<p>Glad I can help. I assume youre an Honors student since youre asking Scott-Coman.</p>

<p>I dont know Scott-Coman 1st hand, but from what I heard It's a pretty nice dorm. Pretty much all roooms are in good condition. It's an Honors students hall so the school give much healthier funding. And here's the good news, so far SC is the honors dorm where actual social interaction still exist. It's still pretty quiet, but compared to Honors Hall its way better. Honors is just dead 24/7.</p>

<p>Academics...well, to be honest it really depends on what youre majoring in. However, in general they tend to give you LOADS of homework for non-honors, honors even more so. I'd say academics are in-between, some are easy, and few drive you nuts within 24 hrs.
For freshman classes you have better chances with TAs as professors are mostly out of reach, and when theyre available you get like 5-10 mins with them max.
If youre majoring in engineering, prepare to sacrifice your free time. The workload is really time consuming, to bad theyre mostly in quantity instead of quality. ChemE and ME are darn tough, EE here is easier I heard.</p>

<p>Here's some insights on early level classes:
The Math classes suck (as usual). The real major gripe is the fact that the professors barely speak english. Exams are pretty tough, and the mediocre teaching only make it worse. Most, if not all, math professors give insane amount of homework.
Chem courses are generally easy if you're willing to read. The workload is ok in general. TAs are mostly so-so, not as smart or informed as I expected. Physics dept is the one where you really need to work hard. Quite heavy on workload, and the exams are extremely tough. Don't get a shocked if you get like 40% on your 1st exam, it really is that hard and the prof curves like crazy.</p>

<p>Let me know if you got more questions.</p>

<p>Dang....</p>

<p>I'm a Neuroscience major and a Psychology minor and I was hoping the chem classes would be nice.</p>

<p>Are the TAs nice? or are they really mean about meeting you after class during office hours?</p>

<p>One thing that NEVER changes in the chem dept is there are always a few TAs who treat you like trash. Why is the question only god knows the answer, but these trashy ones always exist, the good news is there are only a few of them. Over the years experience shows female TAs are generally nicer, that much I can tell you.
I dont know about now but in the past its easy to spot the crappy TAs, theyre the ones who (sometimes) smile and talk friendly but look at you in a condescending way. Asking sophomores is the best way to find a good TA as they have the most recent infos.</p>

<p>Chem in general is pretty easy, Physics and Calculus are the challenging ones. Of course, expect Organic Chem to be hard as hell, and dont expect too much on O-Chem TAs as theyre mostly hard to find.</p>

<p>As for physics, too many TAs barely speak english, some are friendly, few are downright arrogant. Bio TAs are much better and friendlier.</p>

<p>I forgot to mention that Scott-Coman is located at the back of campus, so its not exactly that close to classes, though not as downhill as, say, Goldsworthy. Going to classes can be really difficult if youre majoring in science, as most of your classes will be located on top of or the other side of the hill, literally.
On the bright side, its closer to the gym and the stadium, and there's Regents dining hall nearby. But please note, Regents meal really sucks, it taste terrible and the food oddly always come up too dry or overcooked, hope things have changed there now. If youre willing to walk a bit Wilmer Davis dining hall isnt too far and the food taste much better imo.</p>

<p>Any comments on the WSU owned apartments? How about engineering :) ?</p>

<p>I am actually thinking about major in neuroscience...any comments about the department?</p>

<p>Hook ups would be!</p>

<p>Physics and Calculus are the two classes I suck at...it's pretty disappointing to know that those are the challenging ones.</p>

<p>Is there anything to do in Pullman? Seems like a really boring town.</p>

<p>To be honest I dont know that much about campus apts as I never lived there. I've been to Terrace, Chief Joseph, and Chinook (if I didnt mistake the names) a few times. All they have in common is theyre all pretty old, but not run down, thankfully. Chief was in pretty good shape in the past, not sure now. However choose carefully as some units dont get much sunlight, you can spot such places as the funky moldy smelling ones. I know nothing about costs so I cant help you with that, sorry.
What engineering are you interested in? I was in ChemE, so I can tell you that engineering here in general is darn tough. Loads of challenging homeworks and projects are common starting your sophomore year. 1st and 2nd years are all about weeding out, where at least half the students switched or flunked out. ChemE was known as the most brutal, EE the easiest. Of course being in engineering also means pre-req physics and calculus, which are crazy as hell.
Cant help with neuroscience either, sorry.</p>

<p>Physics is genuinely challenging, Calculus is actually best described as tiring. Physics hws and exams fry your brains, almost literally. Calc hws are quantity based, normally about 20-40 problems or so. The other thiing that makes it hard is the profs, theyre terrible at doing their job and goodluck trying to ask them anything.
Pullman.... is...well... boring :P that pretty much sums it. Theres practically none to do, unless you like fishing. Theres a movie theater, public library, games center and bowling alley. Sadly thats all there is. Thus weekends in Pullman are dominated by parties. Locals on the other hand, are generally very friendly and they accept minorities really well unlike many other small towns. I'll post more soon, gotta work.</p>

<p>Dang..do you know which departments have the best professors?</p>

<p>Also, how'd you get past Calc and Physics? How'd you end up doing?</p>

<p>Thanks again for your help, this is really helpful.</p>

<p>Spartan,
On specific majors, not really. If you need to know some specific classes I can help you a bit, as long as its not too upper level.
Biology dept has mostly good profs, 1 or 2 boring. Economics, too many classes taught by TAs, the profs are nice but honestly I'm not sure they teach much. GenEd, history and art has all the mixture of profs you can expect, from exciting to lame.
WSU is known for its comm school, and I heard the dept has many good profs. Engineering depts, mainly in ChemE and ME, are notorious for their strict profs that are at the same time hard to reach.</p>

<p>As for passing the classes you mentioned I can give you some tips.
For calculus:
1. Ignore the lectures, unless you get the prof who dress like the marlboro man (minus the hat, cant remember his name), hes not so bad but his exams are the hardest. Otherwise bring a pillow to class in case you fall asleep, over the years students kept sleeping- and snoring- in class. Avoid the asian prof like plague (no racism intended, I'm asian too), his english is horrible and doesnt teach seriously.
2. Do the homeworks, yes its a load but it helps your grade quite a bit. They dont usually have any quiz to help your grades. If youre too lazy (for your own good, I hope you arent) or stuck look for answers manual in the library. Just make sure to arrive early as the manuals are always checked out, prepare to get in line for those.
3. Go to your TAs, theyre surprisingly available most of the time. If your TA sucks, go ask another, he/she will help you as long as you keep it secret from your TA. Theyll also help you a lot with the computer projects, which can otherwise result in frustration, wrath, and the urge to kill your prof :P
4. Exams are normally straightforward, with a few grueling problems to solve (these "special" questions are erally hard). Whats in the hw goes in the exam too, so... you get the point. That said, never miss the last lecture week, materials for exam are given there. I recommend reading your textbook and go to TA sessions (theyre far more useful than the lecture itself) if you want to survive the exam.</p>

<p>As for physics:
1. Study hard.
2. Study harder.
3. Before you plan your suicide after getting lousy grades, check out the curves 1st, many times the avg for C is about 45-55% on your exam score.
4. When solving hw problems, try combining 2 related equations or more, they do that a lot to challenge your brain.
5. In the past, "pop" quizzes every friday. These range from easy As to near impossible. Study, but dont worry too much as the easy ones can always cover for your terrible ones.</p>

<p>Me? I ended up getting B- on calc1 (thats math 171 btw), C+ on calc2, and C+ on calc3. It didnt even bother me as I never liked calc, its good enough that I passed. I've done only Phys1 and 2 and I got B- for both. My gpas were never that great, so the easier classes like chem and bio really helped.</p>

<p>HI Madcow...thanks for your informative post!</p>

<p>You know anything mbios 301, 304? Heard they suck...</p>

<p>Gonna take math 273 soon...</p>

<p>Thanks a lot once again.</p>

<p>Any comments or insight re the Hotel Management program?</p>

<p>Thx</p>

<p>Glory, sorry I didnt take mbios at all so I cant really help you. All I heard from some students who actually took them is that they have insane schedule and that profs are trying to cram way too much material into one semester. So prepare to study on your own a lot to catch up with missing materials.</p>

<p>As for math 273, goodluck. The Asian prof I mentioned before usually teach math 273. Just do the homework so raise your grades if you arent great at calc3. Theyre pretty straightforward and consist of about 20-40 problems per week. If you happen to get this guy, his mood is usually affected by the football games. If the team wins, he gets happy and gives less homework. If hes in sour mood, prepare for heavy workload, or worse, pop quiz.</p>

<p>O2B, I know nothing about the hotel management, sorry.</p>

<p>What do you think the best things about WSU are?</p>

<p>To me? The generally friendly environment. Apart from it being absolutely boring its easy to feel welcomed in Pullman. I'm not sure I mentioned it yet but most students there are pretty friendly. I mean, if strangers saying "hi" or "hows it goin?" when they pass each other at night isnt considered as friendly, I dont know what is. That said, there are always the hot headed students who get into fights easily, normally seen around party scenes and bars. Just to be fair :)
It doesnt matter what race or nationality you are, as long as youre willing to mingle, most will accept you as friends. I'm asian and international in a school where 85% of its student body are white american, yet being a total stranger with literally no friends I never had problems making lots of new friends.
The 2nd thing I like is school spirit, theres a ton of it. Even student's parents, grandparents and alumni show up to the football games. You'll have to see it yourself to understand. If you think UW has loads of school spirit, then this one will be a shocker.
Academically, to be honest there wasnt much I like about the school itself. I do however like the fact that they try their best not to have TAs teach classes, even lower level ones.
Last, I may be biased but I think WSU girls are decent, a lot better than UW's. Oh yeah... lol.</p>

<p>How easy do you think it is to succeed? Get A's, hang out with friends, have fun, etc.</p>

<p>Ah well, thats a very subjective question you know...
Personally I think this school is for an average student. Students looking for a challenge most likely wont find it here, unless you're in one of the few notoriously tough majors. The comm school is pretty famous but its not that hard according to the students I know. Generally speaking getting As doesnt require you to be a genius, but not so easy either, just need the patience and hard work for all the workload you gotta do.
Doing the chores can hurt your hang out time, but if you manage your time well, you'll have weekends free. As for having fun... well... you probably need to define "fun" 1st. If your idea of fun is going out, well there isnt much to do and most weekends are too short to head to, say, Seattle ( at least for me). I spent most weekends partying, going to the gym, hangin out with different friends, or during sundays, play video games or pool. It can get that boring, and sundays are pretty dead here since most students stay at home doing a week's worth of homework (yes, many of them are slackers).</p>

<p>Now for the bomb: sometimes when the profs think the classes are getting too easy and students are getting easy As, they suddenly toughened up and getting As suddenly become almost impossible. It happens.</p>

<p>Personally I had an ok time in WSU. Not great but I got a bunch of awesome friends to make up for the lousy life in Pullman.</p>

<p>What are the notoriously tough majors?</p>