North Carolina State University at Raleigh Top Questions

The people you meet on the first days of school may not be your best friends. Everyone gets so caught up in making new friends and belonging to a group that you may find a few months down the road that these aren't the right people for you, and that's okay! It's important to find people to connect with, and they may introduce you to people who could be your group. The best thing you can do is be flexible with your friendships; if it isn't working out, it's okay. There are hundreds of other people on campus that you haven't met yet. And since you're not forced to see people you don't want to every day like in high school, it's much less awkward and uncomfortable.

The most important thing I wish I knew coming out of high school was effective study methods. Many people who go here including myself cruized through high school without the need to study too much for classes and find themselves struggling to effectively study for classes here that are more intense then those in high school. However, I have learned much better study habits and many people at the University have made that transition as easy as possible and taught me many different ways and tricks to study.

I wish that I had known how much more information was going to be crammed into each semester compared to what I was learning at community college. It is extremely difficult to truly learn the massive amounts of information we are taught (not just memorize for exams). If I had known this, I would have taken more community college courses at a time so that I could have lighter loads once I transfered to NCSU.

I wish I knew how much fun I was going to have here. I knew it was going to be challenging academically and a big change from living with my parents, but I didn't know how I would fit it. I took a big risk by not going to college with any of my high school friends. I really liked the campus and the engineering program, but I worried a lot about what I would do outside of class. My classes are great and I am having a blast. It turns out I worried for nothing.

I wish I had known the differences in study methods. There was a huge difference in how to study for high school and studying for college. In high school the course work is not as intensive as college. College expects more out of the student and there is more teaching yourself than the professor teaching you.

I wish I could apply the professional work ethic I hold now to the work I did in college. I was in what we called a "grueling" design program; one that often required us to stay in studio all night and work til dawn to complete deadlines. Now, I complete more work in a week than I was ever asked to complete in a semester. I wonder now what my reason was for staying overnight in the studio - was the work really that hard, or was I really that lazy? I like to think I've grown since then.

Before I came to this school I wish that I had done a little more preperation with my extracurriculars. Volunteering at things that interested me and just getting to know more about myself before coming to college.

I wish I would have none exactly how big this campus is .

I think I honestly knew everything I needed to know before I came.

Leaving high school and beginning my first semester in college was a complete culture shock. I thought I was ready for the next challege. I wish I had been more responsible for more than just my school work before going to college. It has been difficult to conduct tasks dealing with finances, schedules and getting to all my classes on time. Once I became 18 I became an adult inside of a teenager state of mind. Learning to adapt to campus life without anyone to catch me when I stumble is hard. I would have challenged myself more!

Prior to coming to NCSU I wish that I had known how big the campus was. I understood this was a large campus, however it did not register to me until I was nearly running to my classes my first semster due to the distance between them. I quickly learned when planning out your classes, you should have an understanding of where all of the classrooms are. If you do not do this then you will be scrambling to get there on time... and professors do not have mercy on tardiness.

I wish i would've known how you have to watch the time and make sure you get where you need to be.

I wish I had better understood that even though a student can pass a class, the value that a student derives from coursework and how much a sudent learns is on the shoulders of the student. I have seen too many times that someone will complain about useless schoolwork or that their classes did not actually teach them anything. If I could change my experience in any way, it would be to have that made clearer to me sooner. Personal lessons aside, the accesibility of the faculty should be emphasized, and duly taken advantage of.

I wish I knew that it was hard to get access to things online. What I mean is, sites for clubs are usually completely out of date, the dining halls don't post which hours they serve which meals and never show a list of ingredients for the food. Flyers and spray paint or anything in person for that matter aren't effective in my case, whatever the circumstances, online works the best for me.

I wish I had known what major I wanted to go into. First year college is somehwat helpful but ultimately sets you back in comparison to other students in your future major.

Before coming to this school it would have been nice to know how to study. I flew through high school with flying colors. I excelled in the majority of my classes and was the top of my graduating class. I assumed that college would be just as easy. I was wrong. I had a lot of adjusting to do when it came to my study habits.

The number of clubs can be overwhelming, and I did not prioritize well. I wish I had known to just try out several clubs before committing my time to any of them. That way I would have a better idea of what I wanted for the longer term. I would suggest that first you look for the professional societies that match with your major. Then look for clubs that related to your major. Finally look for clubs that just seem interesting. Between these three criteria find some clubs that have overlap and those are the clubs that will be fulfilling.

I don't have anything in particular that someone had not already told me. I talked to a lot of people about college and I have cousins in college as well. So between all of them, I got a pretty good picture of what it was going to be like.

The best way to meet people is in clubs and orginzations if not in class

I wish I knew exactly what I wanted to study in college